Hills Galore

Having spent the better part of two months building an aerobic base, our training focus has now turned to hills. The idea being to build leg strength by running, bounding and springing on hills. This was a core part of the training of Arthur Lydiard's athletes and remains an important part of many training programs today. While our runners are encouraged to run on hills several times a week, we have also started a specific hill workout modeled on the Lydiard hill circuit. The basic elements include a section of hill running, bounding or springing up a hill, a recovery run of a few minutes along the flat portion at the top of the hill before running fast downhill and completing a series of strides along the bottom. This is a tiring workout as our runners discovered after completing two circuits last Friday. We will continue these workouts for about six weeks, by which time we should be in great shape to take on the hills at the Around the Bay race.


Another new idea this month is the "coach's choice" which will recognize the efforts of a Longboat runner each month. The choice is somewhat subjective, in that it will not be based on race performance alone, but also on participating in training sessions and general enthusiastic participation. So, the Coach's choice for January is John Chou. After a slow start to the season John has been out at all the training sessions, and has been running from the YMCA on Sunday's. The enthusiasm with which John has embraced the training paid off at the Robbie Burns race last week with a huge 6 minute personal best. I expect John to continue to train consistently since he has also won a spot for the 2010 New York Marathon. Congratulations John.