Not over the hill just yet!

My training continues for December 31st's Resolution Run of 10 km under the guidance of Kanata's Running Room staff. Last night was the beginning of "hill training," training that strengthens the muscles. The 10 km group jogged a kilometer or so to the practice hill to warm up. We then had "three hills" scheduled. This entailed jogging down the chosen hill which has a slope of around 8%. Then we were to run up the hill at a steady pace, then down, and repeat three times.

It was quite enjoyable. I monitored my heart rate throughout. On the three uphill runs, my heart rate was always below the maximum allowed rate of 135 beats per minute, with 131 or 132 being the steady rate. For the downhill sections, the rate slowed to 121 to 123.

Over the last four or five weeks, I have become attuned to my heart rate and levels of effort. I seem to be able to run comfortably below the set maximum heart rate. By monitoring the rate regularly, I can readily slow down when needed.

With the addition of swimming lengths on two of the off days for running, (Tuesdays and Thursdays), cross-training is already adding to my stamina. Now if I could add strength training or weight training to the mix, I would attain a better balance of training.