Getting it done...

So, today Coach (aka Hal Higdon Advanced I Training Plan) instructed us to do a hill workout. The actual workout is a 2 mile warm up, then running up and down a hill that is around a quarter of a mile long, 3 times in a row, and then cooling down with a mile or two. I had already scoped out the hill that I knew I was going to use. It’s almost exactly 2 tenths of mile, so it fits perfectly. For you Nashville peeps… it’s the hill that goes down Wedgewood before you get to 21st. So, if you see me huffing and puffing on some Thursday morning, honk, wave, and then call 911 for me.

Before I get into the actual workout… I need to tell you a little about my evening last night…

I got to bed fairly early, because I hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep over the holidays and I wanted to try and catch up on some of it. I was asleep by 10pm, I think.

In the middle of the night, I awoke to this crazy, loud siren-y type of noise. At first, I thought it was something outside and I rolled over. But after another minute or two, I thought… that’s not the fire alarm, is it? I got out of bed, opened my bedroom door and the sound got louder…. Yup, that’s exactly what it is. I looked at the clock. 3:03am. Damn.

I took a moment and assessed the situation. It’s 3 in the morning, it’s about 15 degrees outside, and I don’t smell smoke. I could take my chances... but, I'm not a risk taker, so I finally decided I’d better bundle up and head outside. I was the last one outside.

Get this, I live in a 56 unit condo building. Standing outside, there were 3 other condo owners. That’s it. 4 of us total. And all of us live on the same floor. It was a weird experience, because there are about 15-20 cars in the parking garage all the time, but only 4 of us actually live there? After about 10 minutes, the siren went off, and we went back inside. I was back in bed around 3:30am. But… of course, I was wide awake.

I tried to read a little (I dropped Anna Karenina, by the way, April… I’m reading Atonement now), but mostly I tossed and turned till about 4:15am or so. So, when my alarm went off at 6:30, I had just gotten back into a nice deep sleep. I contemplated skipping the hill workout today and doing it tomorrow, but eventually I dragged myself out of bed and hit the streets.

I ran really fast. Like, blazing fast. It seemed colder this morning than yesterday morning, so I think that’s part of it. I also sprinted up the hills. Coach (get used to it, I’m calling the training plan "coach" from now on) didn’t specify HOW to run up the hills, but I’ve read that for hill repeats, it’s good to sprint up them. So, that’s what I did. I ended up with 5.20 total miles in 43:13, which averages a 8:19 pace. That’s crazy for me.

Tomorrow is a rest day and I’m looking forward to sleeping in.