Day 25 - Only 63 Days Left Until the London Marathon

Hi,

Today (Saturday) was a great morning for a run. The sun was out and it was in the high 40s. I went early enough that the streets weren't too busy yet so I was able to venture out on some of the main roads. It was a nice change of scenery but a lot more hills.

I was thinking about hills and their effect on time, pace, fatigue, etc. The thought I couldn't shake is why they seem so tough. Let me qualify this next statement by saying first that I am not a math quiz by any stretch of the imagination. If you are running hills or elevation and returning to the same destination as you started the run then you should have equal downhill (lowered elevation) as you do uphill (increasing elevation) during your run. Seems simple, you go up 100 feet and come back then you have to go down 100 feet. That said, it seems like one would offset the other. The downhill portion would allow you to make up the time lost from going uphill and be a physical break as well giving you ample time to bring your heart rate back down. So why hill runs so incredibly difficult compared to flat runs. I guess it is the spikes in heart rate that you experience while running up hill and your body's ability to efficiently use the downhill portions to recover. Anyways, this bothered for my entire run today. The math of it seems so simple that I was trying to figure out the flaw in my logic.

My legs were still tense from the 8mi run on Friday night, less than 12 hours before I took off on my run this morning. I didn't spend enough time warming up because I was in a little bit of a hurry to get out the door today, spending today as Valentine's Day with Elise. I suffered through the 5 miles with stiff thighs, sore ankles and flaring shin splints. Although my legs weren't cooperating, I can't complain about the run. It was a beautiful day and I felt great afterwards, perfect start to a wonderful day.

If you haven't had a chance to donate to The Children's Trust, please take a quick moment to visit my fundraising page (http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/runflickrun) and make a donation. Thanks to all of you, we've raised £291 so far, a long ways still to my goal of £3,000.

Thanks again to all of my friends and family for the support. Thanks for keeping me motivated.

~RunFlickRun~