Hills and Burritos

There are four of us from the North Shore that carpool to Saturday practices: me, Mike, Trevor and Brendan.  We try get together for a Tuesday night track workout in Beverly rather than driving to Medford for the team practice.  This week Mike and Trevor could not make it. Brendan and I decided that the track at Beverly High was probably covered in snow after Mondays storm so we cancelled.  It was turning out to be a great day. No boring track workout, yay!  So I was surprised when Brendan, who's affinity for track running is similar to mine, called 30 minutes later and offered a ride to the Medford team practice.  Knowing I probably wouldn't get a good workout in that night without a structured practice, I decided to go.  It turns out Brendan's motivation was Anna's Taqueria in Davis Square.  Getting a burrito at Anna's sounded like a delicious way to recover after a horrible track run.

Well, the track at Tufts was covered in snow and ice too so they made us do hills.  I was not enthused about this turn of events but I was still day dreaming about what kind of burrito I would get at Annas.   Or would I throw that plan out entirely and go with a quesadilla.  It was all very exciting. All I could think of was burritios, quesadillas and tacos stuffed with the various choices of fillings.  The frenzied thoughts of chicken, cheese, rice, beans, salsas and the like all held together in a fresh tortilla were keeping me warm in the 20 deg F night air.   But, due to my burrito induced bewilderment,  I was already running.  Chicken, cheese, rice and guacamole soon faded, reality set in, and I was cold again.

We were told to do 2 loops around the Tufts campus; 3 if we wanted.   The loop was approximately 2 miles.  It started with about 1/2 mile of a gradual climb until we hit a steep 1/4 mile section that on the first pass was a bit taxing but manageable.  Though the second time around I felt like there should have been a sign at the bottom that read "Abandon all hope ye who run up here."  It should be no surprise that I decided to keep it to just the two loops. 

I'm sure I could have done one more loop but it wasn't worth it to me.  I've not been in a race or trained seriously for about a year so pushing it on my first hill workout this early in the season could be disasterous.
Hills are also a good indicator of overall fitness.  It's very much like hitting the weight room.  A good hill workout will strengthen you as much as the gym with the necessary exaggerated knee lifts, pushing off your toes and driving your arms, not to mention the effect it has on the lungs.  My legs felt good but my lungs could not keep up at the top of the hill on the second loop and I slowed down considerably.  The lesson I learned here is to add one hill workout a week to my schedule.  Making it over Heartbreak Hill at the 21st mile will be worth the painful hill training.

So after doing something that felt bad but was good for me, I went and ate something that tasted good but was probably bad for me.  Overall it was good, the burrito that is.  The bloated amalgamation of many of my favorite foods sealed neatly in a thin flour tortilla was my reward for the evening.  The run reminded me of the importance of hill training so I will be adding a weekly hill workout to my schedule. 

Also, other than the burrito, the best part of the night was that my face was not completely numbed from the cold air.  The beard is coming in handy on these cold night runs.