Me, Hills, and Wii

Hill training...

On Tuesday, we finally got to the part of the track-club workouts that I was both looking forward to and dreading...the hill workouts in preparation for the AFC 1/2 Marathon next month. Ya-see, the AFC 1/2 is this cruel little race...a pretty steep downhill start for 4.5 miles, and then pretty flat for the first next 7 ...and you're feeling pretty good...maybe a PR coming your way. Then at 11.5 miles, there's 6th Avenue and a mile incline where you go from about sea level to about 200 ft' above sea level in less than a mile.
Last year, I walked most of 6th Avenue. I hadn't done ANY hill training (even though Betty said we should...she was RIGHT!) and it WAS a ridiculously hot morning. My goal last year was to finish in under 3 hours. And since it was my first 1/2 marathon, and since I only barely trained for it, I felt pretty good about my finish time of 2:43:03.

So, I was sort of looking forward to doing SOME hill training because one of my major goals for this year is to run up 6th Avenue (I won't run fast...but I will run), and to finish in under 2:30.

On Tuesday, however, I learned that I have some work to do with regard to running said hills. It didn't seem to matter how slowly I ran, I eventually got to the place where I found myself thinking, "Hell, I could probably walk faster than I'm running right now," so I'd walk for a bit. So I wonder, was it mental? Was it physical? YIKES!

I'm worried that maybe I started running hills too late in the training (I mean, this race is three weeks from Sunday!) Maybe I should have been running hills all along.

Something to keep in mind for the Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon in October...not a flat course either.

In other news, our Wii Fit arrived this week. I trolled websites and obsessed about getting one for most of July. I finally used this website called WiiAlerts to locate one for sale (retail, I was NOT going to pay $200 for one off of eBay!) I was kicking myself the whole time because when I saw it for sale on the Costco website a month ago, I thought something like, "well if Costco has it already, then there will be plenty! I was soooooo wrong.

Anyway, the Wii Fit is all that it is cracked up to be. I especially like the Yoga exercises because I always wonder if I'm doing the poses correctly, and according to the Wii Fit trainer, I am a Yoga Goddess. The balance games are entertaining even though as a ski-jumper, I stink. I do have the best family score on the Giant Slalom course right now! I was on it for 30 minutes tonight. I think maybe it will also motivate me to do some strength training (which I suck at and which probably explains the hill issues).

I DO think it is sort of cruel how after the Wii Fit took my BMI and weight, and created a chubby little Wii to represent me...WTF?

With that in mind, I started the South Beach Diet AGAIN this week. For me, it's the most undiet-like diet I've ever been on...and it works for me in that it re-focuses my eating efforts toward more fruits and vegetables (which I should eat) and less bread (which is what my Italian genes tells me to eat more of).

It's been a way-too-busy week. I'm already looking forward to the weekend when I get to run with Betty, who's back from Tahoe and Momma's place, again HOORAY!

Here's Betty, driving us to the AFC 1/2 last summer...
AND the unveiling of the NEON LIME GREEN RUNNING SHIRT!