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| McDowell Mountain Landscape with Saguaro Cacti |
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| Sneaky hills |
We live in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains. While the terrain in Phoenix is relatively flat, there are portions in North Scottsdale that are quite hilly. Running these hills is perfect for hill-workouts (something I chose to ignore during my New York Marathon and paid for it). I still tend to avoid hilly terrains while running. Basically, my quads are too weak for uphill running. I’m working on strengthening them by constantly cross-training and doing ab and quad work. I don’t think it is working!
I ran some sneaky hills near my house today. It was a bright, sunny and somewhat warm but breezy day. Starting out at The Village, the run was downhill going south and west for the first 3 miles before looping around through Westworld (Horseman’s Park) and back up north and east for the final 3+ miles. All in all, I ran 6.33 miles at a pace of 8:35 per mile. As always, the downhills were fast and easy but the uphills were slow and tough!
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| The Village Loop |
I am not training for anything specific right now. My London Marathon training will begin sometime in December. I want to run a 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day and a 15k Chocolate Run in early December before I start London training. The 5k and 15k will be “C” races. After the debacle at the New York Marathon, I want to run a couple of short races to gain some confidence back.
I am still waiting for additional blood test results to come back. I am optimistic about them but with a small dose of skepticism. I may bring out Trocket (my triathlon bicycle) from hibernation and set it up on the trainer this weekend. It probably needs servicing.