… and its name is “Wilke.” That was, without a doubt, the hardest hill workout that I’ve ever done. Probably the hardest workout. Possibly the hardest run, and yes, I include the marathon.

Sure, its short. A mere 250 meters or so. But that doesn’t include the rise of 60 feet. Yup, 60 - I checked it on the topographical city map when I got back to make sure. The vast majority of which happens in the last half of the hill - the first part looks and feels flat after doing the second (which looks on the map like a little over a 10% grade). It is, well, brutal. I’m sure that there are people out there who do hills like this all the time. I’m sure that there are those of you who run steeper hills.

But I’m jumping ahead of myself. Yesterday, for some unknown yet stupid reason, I decided to do 80 moderately challenging calf raises. Then I got to bed at around midnight last night to get up at 5am this morning. Once I got to our meeting point and stretched a little, we headed off and I had to stay with the leaders because it was my first time to do this run and I didn’t know where we were going.

So, naturally, I had to run fast. The first mile was pretty comfortable at 8:12, but by the second we had started getting into hills and we still did 8:22. Come the third mile (actually just .75) I started to lag a little behind, but kept close enough to see where we were going. The pack finished it with another 8:22, I closed in at a 9:00 pace. Keep in mind that my 5K PR pace is 8:02, and this was a lot hillier than that was - had more obstacles like parked cars to weave around as well. I could have ran faster, but then I would have had nothing left for the workout itself!

So by the time I get to the hill I’m tired, I’m panting, and I’m sweating. Did I mention that it was humid too? Nice temperature, mid 70s, but 97% humidity (its stormy outside as I write this). All told, not the best recipie for success. Still, I jump into the drills and try to get myself back under control for the hill.

The instructions were simple. Run up the hill, to just past the crest. Jog down the hill slowly. Repeat 5-7 times. That’s it, just 1250-1750m (plus recovery). Then run up it backwards two times. No walking, no chatting at the base, just running and recovery. Simple, right? Sure, but this was a whole lot easier said than done!

The first time up I tried to take it fairly easy on the first 150m or so, saving my strength for the last 100. I don’t know if it helped or not. By the time I reached the top I was panting and just trying to keep moving. Pumping the arms, trying to look up, smile, and keep my form correct. Time? 1:30 on the dot, a 10:00 pace. Not bad, all things considered. Then it was back down for the second try.

The second through fourth attempts blur together really. Same basic plan, but by the time I got within that last 50-75 meters all thoughts of good form were gone. It was all I could do not to stop and walk. After number three, I actually took a 15 second break at the top to lean on a trash can and pant, my breathing was so out of control. It didn’t look that hard, but I’ve heard that this is a very common first-timer reaction to the Wilke hill. Oddly enough, my times were remarkably consistent - its just that my recovery was going downhill fast.

By the fifth one, I was out of it. I could probably have done better walking, but I’m damned if I was going to. Even so, I was barely moving forward by the top of it and my breathing was way out of control. Can you say, “Anerobic”? Of course you can. I couldn’t have, but hey, I was living it. I would tell you how long it took, but I forgot to start my watch before it too. Maybe my body didn’t want to waste the oxygen.

Anyway, after those were done I went down and ran the whole thing backwards. Then I found out that we were only supposed to run the second half (the steep part) backwards, so I did that for my second one. The first time I did alright, on the second I was doing walk/run just to keep it moving.

That was it. Simple, right? On the run back, I walked a good mile of the distance. When we ran, we did a little under a 10:00 pace at best. My calves were sore, and my breathing was still ragged. Hitting a 9:00 pace briefly put me into a 2-in/2-out pattern almost immediately. I was beat!

On paper, reading back over it, it doesn’t seem like it should have been that brutal. Its hard to explain. I will, however, be happy to extend an invitation to anyone reading this blog who wants to come out and give it a go one day.

Total running miles: about 8

I’ll be doing this again in 6 weeks, by the way. And bizarrely enough, I’m looking forward to it. That’s six more weeks of speedwork and strength training in the gym. Next time, I’ll be ready. Next time, I will conquer this hill!

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