It is I! Super Katie!

I’m seriously considering changing my name, just slightly, nothing too major. I mean I do love my name, but I’m thinking it needs a touch of oomph added to it, something along the lines of Super Katie! said in exactly the same way as Super Grover says his name. It’s a worthy name I think, I do have super powers after all – I mean, I am the conquerer of all hills! So what do you guys think? 😀

I know I’ve said it before, but given that last night was the start of hill training, I feel compelled to say it again. I LOVE HILLS! And I know I’m a bit of an anomaly, most people hate hills, and rightfully so. They’re fricken hard, they force every ounce of oxygen out of your lungs, have you huffing and puffing, like you’d been smoking five packs a day for 30 straight years, even long after surpassing the hill, and sometimes they just seem to never end. And I’m not saying that I haven’t experienced the loathing of hills, because I have, I’ve called them nasty names, have thought of feigning injury just to be able to stop, and have made deals with the devil on my shoulder to get me to the top. And yet, the second my feet feel the incline of a hill, any inhibitions with my form are suddenly gone, and any inhibitions with my energy are also suddenly gone – somehow I surge up hills like nothing. (SUPER POWERS!) And when I cross the peak, huffing and puffing to beat all hell, I’m not thinking about hating the hill, quite the opposite. I’m feeling a bit like, I don’t know, Wonder Woman? Nope. She-Ra? Nope. Super Katie? Oh yeah!

Super Katie!

And on a competitive note, there is nothing better than passing someone on a hill 😀

The hills for this clinic are different from previous clinics. Whereas before we were doing these super long, straight up pavement hills that would seriously take forever to power up (that’s when Bon Jovi started playing in my head) and would kill to run down (while I love going up, I absolutely hate going down) this time around we’re doing our repeats on a short, but massively steep hill on a trail run that loops so that you’re not going down on that same steep hill and you’ve got more recovery time over a flatter strip of trail.

Easier on the joints + more recovery = makes a happy runner out of me and you!

The name of the game: run as fast as you can, practically on the verge of puking, and run through the hill, not just to the top of the hill.
Playing a little game of "Catch Pete" (in the lead) who's a crazy fast runner.

The only issue I had with this hill was with the trail being so dry that my shoes slid over a couple of sticks on the incline, causing me to lose position, and almost bailing on my knees once. But standing at the top of the hill, our very own drill sergeant hill coach, kept barking encouragements at us and telling us to run faster until we made it to the top and beyond, which actually helped. Although, I got to say, I really hated it every time she’d tell me how great my form was and how awesome I was doing because then I felt obligated to keep doing repeats – even when I was gagging for air! But I guess that’s the price you pay when you’re a super hero like me 😉

Trail running = majorly dirty shoes 🙁

TODAY’S RUN:

  • 6:45 p.m. BG before 13.1 (my BG was 6.9 an hour and a half before the run, but I had a Quaker granola bar that I didn’t bolus for … guess I’m gonna have to refigure out how to work those back into my training regime. Did a .60 unit BG correction, not the full 1.50 unit it required)
  • No temp basal
  • Distance: 8 km
  • Average pace: 6:48 (recovery)
  • Time: 54:32
  • 8:30 p.m. BG after 4.6 (probably could have used a slight temp basal)

What do you love/loathe about running hills?

2 thoughts on “It is I! Super Katie!”

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