Today I decided to actually try and find a decent-sized hill in order to do the 4 x 10 second hill sprints on my schedule today. Since the river runs are as flat as a pancake several weeks ago I had been reduced to doing these dinky little sprints up and down the “bump” by the B.U. bridge. Hardly satisfying.

So with the help of 20 minutes and a few online mapping tools (one example) I located a hill nearby, “Spring Hill”. (The BackCountryMaps.com interface is a bit grocky requiring manual navigation, and its unclear how to post a link to a portion of the map or I would.) At least from the things I found online it was pretty clear that the topological features in this area aren’t particularly interesting since the maps were all at least fairly old-looking and also not too precise. In any case, lo and behold Spring Hill was exactly what I was looking for: nearby, steep in parts, and blanketed by quiet streets perfect for hill springs. There’s even an emergency bathroom location nearby at Somerville Hospital (probably suitable for other emergencies as well!)

Of course, at the end of the day I discovered what I probably knew in the first place: I am slow on hills.

Start Time: Just after 5PM.
Distance: 3.6 miles.
Time: Around 31:00, or a fairly sad 8:36 mi/mile pace.
Workout Structure: Ran an easy few miles over to Spring Hill, then circled for a bit just taking in the landscape. After a fairly abrupt bathroom break did my 4 10 second hill sprints, then looped back.
Route: Out-and-back to Spring Hill; ran through Harvard Yard up to Kirkland St., crossed to Beacon on Irving, then up to Sacramento, which cuts under some train tracks and turns into Lowell once it crosses Somerville Ave. From there you’re at the base of the hill; run up Lowell to get to Summer at the crest and then across to Prospect (?) at the bottom of the other side.
Pre-Run: Had a bit of a snack around 4PM and probably didn’t give it quite enough time to settle. Focused my stretching on the IT band problem knee (the right) and left my left leg fairly stiff beforehand. Usual bit of water and such.
Notes: Legs felt pretty heavy coming back. Not sure if it was from caloric deficit or just the effect of the hill.
Post-Run: Stretching, shower, water, dinner.

Since this week I’m trying to get back on my non-linear periodization schedule tomorrow’s run calls for some (probably a couple) of tempo miles surrounded by some easy ones, although as usual a lot will be driven by how my knees feel.