Monday was W-W-Wilke day. I know it's good running medicine, but Wilke is the Gazelles workout that intimidates me the most. I think about it far in advance, and I dread it to some degree. There are other workouts that are more physically taxing, but there's something about that increasingly steep hill...
At any rate, on a tolerably cool morning, in the low 60's, I met up with Rachel and Amy for the long warmup version of Wilke. We had to start at 5:30am from RunTex, but I was willing to give up 15 minutes of extra sleep in order to get a nice longer warmup and cooldown today. After the big effort on the long run on Saturday, my legs needed the extra mile and a half easy running today. We had nice conversation going over, and soon enough, we were at the base of the mountain for drills. The rest of the Gazelles came in soon after, and we commenced drillage. Then, it was time to start.
For many of the Gazelles, this was their first exposure to Wilke. That's always an eye-opener. Still, Gilbert prescribed 7 x Wilke for marathoners, with 3 x backwards Wilke, and 3 x uphill striders at the end. With the numbers programmed, we got started.
I tried to choose a pace that would carry me through the full workout, and I think I found it. All seven of my main Wilkes today were within a second or two of each other. Using the GPS, it seems that the hill is closer to 225 meters than 300m, but it's still steep, so what does it really matter? :-) It wasn't until number 6 that I started making Wilke noises in earnest, but before I knew it, I was finished with all 7 main Wilkes, and I was very happy to be at that point! Some seriously deep breathing later, I made my way to the launch point for the backwards Wilkes. As usual, I made it through the first two backwards hills in strong fashion, and then started having seriously burning quads on the last backwards hill. It really does feel like you're towing your car up a hill by the end of the workout! After that, the 3 uphill striders are actually a relief. It was still good to get off the mountain, though.
Some Powerade and water, and then it was time to head on back. Rachel, Amy and I took the nice trail going back at Barton Springs, since we could actually see the ground on the way back. The conversation going back was humorous, as well, but as always, what is discussed on the trail stays on the trail. :-)
It was a very productive workout day, with a little over 8 miles of total workout. I stayed around with Rachel for the stretching, and that helped finish things off in good fashion.
As usual, I'm happy that I did the workout, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy the hill repeats while we're doing them. Wilke is good for you, builds strong muscles, and gives you mental strength when you encounter hills in a race, but man it's daunting!
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