Thursday, May 24, 2012

Run 1.6 - Let's Talk Elevation!

Everybody has been talking about the crazy hills at the Portland Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon. We all pretty much thought it would be a gradual uphill for the first half, then basically a nice overall downhill to the finish. As I was preparing to go on my run I decided to look at the elevation chart on the official website and compare it to my Garmin data.  

After I saw the results I was even more pleased with how well I ran that race. I didn't give my full effort, deliberately trying to treat it like a training run. I noticed I ran up a lot of the hills compared to normal. I saw the comparison and now I feel like a bad ass - especially since I ran my second fastest half marathon that day!  That prompted me to create a 4 mile route with a variety of hills. For the first time in I don't know how long I ran four miles straight with zero walk breaks! Yeah, yeah - for a lot of people this is nothing - but for me it's pretty big! Each of these runs is helping build my confidence going into this summer long journey to prepare for 26.2 

So a nice run. I spent the whole thing pondering hills in general and loved that I didn't shy away from any during this run. And now .... how do the two elevation charts compare? See for yourself!


11 comments:

  1. Great job! Hill workouts aren't my fav, but they def help on race day!!!

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    1. My next race is Seattle ... so I bet this hill training will pay off then!

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  2. I have a photo of me half way up the hill right by the mile 4 maker and it is just a see of peeps down hill. Super crazy.

    Aewsome job knocking out the hills. I really need to prepare better for those.

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    1. Thanks! And I'll have to go stalk your pictures, that sounds like a cool view!

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  3. Yeah, they lied a little bit about those hills for sure.

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    1. They tricked us!

      BUT I can't say that really because I registered over a year before the race and way before they knew the course. But still!

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  4. You rock! Hills kill me every.single.time.

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    1. Me, too!! Happily they are getting easier - that or I'm just on a lucky streak right now!

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  5. AnonymousJune 03, 2012

    Oh my gosh! I still have nightmares about those hills!

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    1. I hear you - but somehow running on those made my home hills seem so small, so I guess that's ONE good thing about them. Not sure I can find more than one good thing!

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