Running Hills For Ragnar Training

After feeling a bit worn out the week before last  I was pleased to have a pretty awesome week of Ragnar training last week. The theme for last week was hills.

Ragnar

On Monday, I did my usual 45 minutes of strength training.

On Tuesday, I met some MRTT women for hill repeats. 

Trinity

That first climb was part of our warm-up. Hmmmm …. 

Tuesday afternoon I went for a run to burn off some of the stress of the day (including spending three hours at a doctor’s appointment for my son, where the doctor was running two hours late!). I forgot my Garmin but my Milestone Pod tracked it well. It’s the first run listed below–it was warm and my legs were tired! 

Milestone Pod Data 3

The run right below it was my morning hill repeats run. I thought it was interesting that the average pace over both runs was the same. 

Have you entered my Milestone Pod Giveaway yet?

On Wednesday, I did a strength workout. I didn’t want to run again since I had run twice on Tuesday, but I wanted to do something energetic, so I decided to do a few rounds of the 7 Minute Workout. I took enough time with each exercise to do 15-20 reps each, and it ended up taking about 40 minutes to do three rounds. 

On Thursday, I went to my favorite 45 minutes Real Ride class at RevovleDC. I brought my gear to go for a run after work, but my friend said she would run with me if I went after work on Friday instead.

On Friday, I did my usual strength routine in the morning, knowing that I was going to go for a run after work. By mid-day my friend had canceled on me. I tried not to be too 🙁 but her tendency to cancel is one reason I sought out and became active in Moms Run This Town. 

We’ve been lucky with our weather this summer, but it was warm and humid on Friday afternoon, so I opted for a shady route along the Capital Crescent trail.

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It was a lovely 5 mile run, but I was dripping with sweat by the time I finished! 

[Tweet “Ragnar Training + a lovely run on the Capital Crescent Trail”]

On Saturday, I faced almost all of the hills on the Custis Trail with one my MRTT friends. There were about 0.2 miles left of the Custis Trail when we turned around, but I really didn’t want to run longer than 9 miles. 

Custis Trail

 This profile doesn’t do justice to all the steep hills!

After those hills, I knew my body would appreciate an ice bath–they really work for me!

On Sunday, I started my day with about 30 minutes of yoga. (You know you need yoga when the very first mountain pose takes you by surprise with how good it feels to stand up tall with good alignment!). After church, I took a friend to a 45 minutes “Body Ride” class at RevolveDC. She’d never done an indoor cycling class before, and I knew RevolveDC would be a great place for her first time.

What’s the longest you’ve had to wait at a doctor’s office? 

How forgiving are you when a friend cancels your plans?

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11 Responses to Running Hills For Ragnar Training

  1. Wow, I knew Custis was hilly but holy cow! You may have convinced me to NEVER run that trail 😉

  2. Carla says:

    I used to NOT BE FORGIVING at all—until I began to choose to view it as the gift of unexpected time.

  3. looks like you logged some serious miles this week! You are Ragnar ready for sure

  4. Ack! 2 hours late is awful. I hate when friends cancel on me too. But, I don’t think it’s happened in a while. Looks like a great training week. You’ve got 2 weeks until Ragnar?

  5. funny enough, i ended up running the first 1.5 miles of custis on saturday morning despite my hatred of that trail, LOL. and yeah, the elevation chart does not compare to how brutal those hills are. you had a great week!

  6. Kim says:

    Our doctor is always running late and we have waited close to 2 hours before – the only reason I don’t switch is because I really like her!!!
    It irritates me when the same person cancels plans over and over or when someone cancels at the last just because they have a “better offer” – do they think I won’t figure it out?!

  7. A 2 hr wait is crazy! Great job with all those hills! You’ll be ready for Ragnar!

  8. THAT’S a lot of climbing… nicely done.

  9. jill conyers says:

    I’ve learned to embrace the hills! Finally. I’m so tempted to try an ice bath but I just can’t make myself do it. Ha!

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