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Looking up one of the many hills
at Alamaden Quicksilver Park |
As I try to find ways to break routine in my running, Sunday I ran the hills of San Jose's
Almaden Quicksilver Park for the first time in over a year. There is no flat at Quicksilver. You're either running up a hill or running down one. No two footsteps are the same and your legs are constantly dealing with the force of gravity in all sorts of new directions not normally experienced on flat residential streets. That's why trail running over terrain like Quicksilver is a great way to develop strength and balance. I also noticed imbalances and slight flaws in my running form over the hills I'll be working on over the next few weeks to correct.
I'm going to need good hill fitness since I've signed up for the
Healdsburg Wine Country Half-Marathon this October 29th and the course has a
couple good sized hills on it: A tough 140 foot climb to start the first 0.6 miles of the race and a steep, 160 foot climb between the 8.6 and 9.6 mile marks that will probably make or break the race. So you'll probably see more of me on the Quicksilver trails and doing hill repeats on some of the highway overpasses in and around my hometown of Campbell.
Hills are tough taxing and tedious. They also make you a better runner.
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