best part of the day: hill reps are fun

Wednesday 22 February 2023

hill reps are fun

14th Feb. (Valentines Day Massacre.)

I do have to remind myself that hill reps are fun. Not while you're doing them, of course, but later. After the fear of inducing a cardiac incident passes and you get to eat a big dinner. In fact I really quite enjoy a hard workout on a pleasant day in Holyrood. I must remember this. I keep forgetting, and only when Mary drags me out does it occur the whole ordeal is not so bad. You get a bit of a wheeze in the bellows, and legs feel a bit tired and there is an inclination towards an afternoon nap. But there is also a sense of having fought the beast and if not won, well at least having survived to fight again.

this is the adversary, literally, and metaphorically

sun came out just as we were approaching the venue

this is the hill in question

The session was 2mins at tempo pace from the rough grass at the bottom of the hill to somewhere about the roundabout. It took about 1.50 to return and 10secs to get back in character before repeating. 10 reps.

I was tending to get to this stone. If I pushed the pace I could get another 10 yards before the stop watch beeped, but this was a useful marker so I'd generally turn about there.

This is how far I got on the tenth rep, when I gave it everything.

Clearly I had not been trying hard enough on the first nine!

After ten reps we had a breather then jogged back down to where we'd left tops in the grass. Only I got distracted by a kestrel which landed in the trees nearby. I followed it for a bit but as you can see the photos were pretty poor. I had only taken the TZ100. Meanwhile I'd given Mary a 5 minute headstart and I had to leg it to catch her by Holyrood Palace.