Thursday -speed session

Thursday's easy 4 mile run turned out to be anything but.
I think we are in full force with the speed work now, even though winter is just half way over.
I assumed we were going to take another easy run around the lake as we did last Thursday. Not the case.
We started with about a 2 mile warm up and then the hill workout began. The coach first said that we were to run 4-6 hills, but by hill number 2 it somehow changed to 6-8 hills. The plan was to start off easy and then increase speed as you go. So that's what I think I did. I ended up doing 6 hills and that was enough! It felt great though. I was still very sore and I probably did the right thing by not being over zealous and going for the full 8 hills. We then ran a 2 mile cool down to end the workout.

FIT TIP:
Benefits of Hill Training?
The most common benefits of hill training are: strengthen hamstrings, calves, glutes, hip flexors and achilles tendons. Hill running uses more upper-body muscles than flat running.
Hill Training:
helps develop power and muscle elasticity
improves stride frequency and length
promotes strength endurance
develops maximum speed and strength
How Does Hill Training Strengthen Muscles?
When compared to runing on flat surfaces, hill running forces the some muscles to contract more quickly and generate work at a higher rate. When the muscles contract more quickly and work at a higher rate, they become more powerful. While hill training, the muscles can develop two to three times as many muscle fibers than running on flat surfaces.