I've been starting to work in more hills, so today I headed to South Mountain for some road hill climbing. I started at Lehigh's Goodman campus, ran up the mountain, part way down the other side and then all the way back to Goodman. This is the most I've ever done on the mountain.
The run is tough because it is about 500 feet of elevation gain. That's about what the Run for the Diamonds is, so I want to be prepared. It started gradually uphill and took until almost the two mile mark until reaching the top. Back in July, I ran up to the top of the hill only and then walked back down. This time, I not only went to the top, but headed back down the other side until I came to houses. Eventually I'll keep running downhill there all the way until Bethlehem Steel.
It wasn't too hot even at 11 AM, but that doesn't really matter when you go straight uphill. Luckily, there was a lot of shade as well. I debated running with or without a shirt. I opted to go bare chested and was glad I did. I was sweating quite a bit even without a shirt. The only problem was having nowhere to wipe the sweat.
It is kind of amazing how running a mountain is. Going up is so brutal that you are wondering how you'll ever finish. Luckily, getting to the top in July helped me keep going today. Then when you do get to the downhill part it is so easy. I coasted through the first downhill and flew down the final downhill. The first uphill didn't tax me too much, but the second one was very tough. The different in uphill and downhill pace was an amazing 7:06 final mile after a 9:56 fourth mile. I dropped my overall pace from 9:40 down to 9:05 with the speedy final mile.
I guess I'm crazy, but I just love hill running. I was thinking that it would be fun to have a marathon up that mountain. Starting it at the Bethlehem Steel and calling it "Are you made of Steel Marathon?" would be perfect. It is something I'd love to consider in the future. There are plenty of easy marathons, but not enough hard ones.
I've conquered both sides of the mountain. Now, the next goal is to actually start running it, instead of trotting up it. I'd like to think I can get it under an 8 minute pace in about a month. I'd love to run The Run for the Diamonds somewhere between 7 minute pace and 7:30 pace. That would be great progress.
The other big thing today was the Lehigh Valley Roadrunners Group Run meeting. We laid out some plans for 5 or 6 different group runs. It looks like I'll be heading up the 6PM Thursday evening run. Now I just have to figure out how to work that into my training schedule. That'll be three group runs a week. Eventually, perhaps I'll make the group runs my second runs of the day and easy ones at that. Looks like even as slow as I am now, I'll be one of the fastest if not the fastest group leaders. It should be fun. I'm really enjoying meeting new runners too.
I'm surprised that I'm not really sore. I'm not sure where I'm going to run tomorrow yet. I have a 5 mile fartlek scheduled. I might run somewhere flat around here, maybe Mt. Penn in Reading to keep up the mountain running week, or possibly the state park in Central PA that we are camping at.
5 miles - 45:24 (9:05 pace)
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