Over the Hill Friday's

Friday is my hill training day as I move my way toward the Twin Cities Marathon starting line.  Last week I did 4x up and down the "high" Smith Ave Bridge in St. Paul.  That sucker is about .4 miles long with a steep, steady climb and a heckuva view of the Mississippi River and downtown SP.  My job is nestled twixt some serious hills with the river on the south and the elevated Cathedral Hill neighborhood to the north.   Today I ran 3 laps of the course above.  Starting at the hospital, I ran up Ramsey Hill, (which climbs 110 feet in less than a 1/4 mile, seen in purple on elevation graph), then down Summit Ave past Cathedral, and returning on Kellogg Ave.  Ramsey Hill is a heart thump'n, "I'm fit'n'ta puke" kind of hill.  Running it 3 times over 5.5 miles was a new way to "do hills" for me.

There are only so many ways to build the VO2Max necessary for sustained marathon paces--unfortunately few workouts beat wrestling with gravity.  To those interested folk on my running teams, I'd love some company for what is likely to be the pukiest 40 minutes of your week.  Next Friday at 2:30.