Hill Training or Fatigue Training

I have Barry on my mind as I sit down to write this tonight. When he returns home he will have graduated from the hill repeat section of our marathon training.

Sometimes the hill feels like it will never end

I finished mine this morning. What a sweet celebration I had! This has been a big week for us with a 32k run on Sunday, a 6k tempo yesterday and today 10 hill repeats. It is only Wednesday.

Every Wednesday for the past 7 weeks we have ran to a hill and ran up and down it, starting with 4 repeats and adding one every week. I could say that I will miss it but I would be lying. It is hard and sometimes the only thing that can keep you going is mental strength. I had to dig deeper this morning than I ever have before. I have enjoyed the strange looks and waves from those who see me out there, but the most enjoyable part of hill days is completion.

We are following John Stanton's (founder of The Running Room )book "Running" to train and have had fabulous success with it in the past.  We completely trust his training methods and we have and will continue to recommend his books to everyone!

I never really questioned the training method, I just did it , but this morning I understood it more than ever. My body was fatigued from Sunday still, and yesterday, and there I was coaxing my butt up a steep hill over and over again. I kept telling myself that I could do it. Nothing hurt, except the lactic acid buildup. I know that pain. I had to get comfortably uncomfortable 10 times. That may be what it feels like to finish the last 10k in a marathon. I don't know, I haven't been there yet. It is different every time for everybody but this week I have definitely earned mental strength.

Why do I do this? Because I really really really want to run a marathon and this is how I will do it. By preparing my body and mind to connect and help each other to get through the tough parts because the reward is success in finishing upright and smiling.

So here comes the analogy.....

We want to grant a wish for a child and we need you to help us reach that goal. We can't do it alone.

A child with a life threatening illness and a wish on their horizon has more strength to fight through the tough parts.

Well Barry will be home soon, and I will celebrate and congratulate him on completing the hill section. And we will move forward to the next part.

We are going to run a marathon.... We are going to help a child.

Karen