Well, not easy per se. But fun. Today was only 75 degrees (at six in the morning) but it was humid enough that the 1 mile warmup and drills felt like a workout all by themselves. Still, we got to the base of Wilke and Gilbert took the time to stress that this was all about form, not about speed at all. Makes sense, coach. I asked him about foot position, and he explained to me that I should think about striking with my whole foot - but not worry if I don’t when the hill gets steep. Apparently if you try for a forefoot strike you often end up running on your toes! Good to know.

The workout itself went really well. I did five repeats, the same as I did last month, but focussed completely on my form. I went easy on the first part, of the hill, and just kept doing high-knees the rest of the way; I didn’t even time myself! I will say that this was the first time that I kept the correct form all the way up for each rep, even Gilbert watching didn’t have much to say.

He had some, of course - after my second, he said that I was hitting too hard and that I needed to focus on more power from my quads, really pulling my leg up high as I pushed off. He didn’t mention it again though, so I think I fixed it.

By the last couple of assents I was getting exhausted, and their came a time when I knew that if I slipped back into a calf-oriented push and a kick back that I’d go faster, easier - and possibly hurt myself, and defeat the exercise. I was quite happy that I kept my form correct instead.

After the assents we went up twice more backwards - the first time I used my shins too much, and they were aching, the second time I took Chelsea’s advice and rolled back from my heels, which made a big difference. After that we did something new, three times up the steepest portion focusing on speed while maintaining an exaggerated form - they were a lot easier than they looked!

Tomorrow is my 4-5 mile recovery run, which will take place at the hottest part of the day - maybe 95 degrees. That’ll be fun.

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