I get anxious when I run down hill. I put the brakes on and my whole body tightens. What if I trip and twist my ankle? What if I become impaled by a rock or tree branch after I trip?
I’m nervous when I push myself outside my comfort pace. What if I can’t get my legs to move? Again what if I trip over my feet and land face down?
These random frantic thoughts.
I think (hope) I’m not the only runner who has them. I’m gently pushing myself to tackle those downhills. I am seriously paranoid about re-injurying my ankle. I’m not entirely sure it’s completely healed. Sometimes if I land hard on my right foot, I feel a jolt of pain. My ankle does not hurt when or after I run. That’s a good sign.
Hill training was never consistent in my running programs. Once in awhile I would do a few repeats here and there but that was it. Fortunately or is it unfortunately … Calgary has no shortage of hills. No wonder Calgary runners are so strong!
As I mentioned before I am focusing on elevation this year. I have a long way to go but I am slowly making progress. I have been running/hiking hills every Wednesday at Edworthy Park for about a month now. There’s this one hill that is a beast that has my full attention. It’s a killer but I know I am getting stronger because I am not huffing and puffing as much as the first time I attacked them. (It also helps that I do a 2K warm up before my repeats.)
I’m also determined to hike/run a mountain every weekend now that the weather is somewhat great. This shouldn’t prove to be too difficult because there is no shortage of mountains in Kananaskis Country and Banff.
Last week I was thrilled to accumulate 3,200 metres in elevation for the week. I know some people can do that in a day but it was a big win for me. I looked back at my elevation over last year and I was randomly getting between 1,200 and 2,200 metres a week or less than 500 metres in a week. It helps that I live so close to the mountains and every run in Calgary is a hilly run. Big win!
Now about … pace …. let’s save that for another post.