5 mile hill workout

Tonight's run was my weekly hill workout.  It is very flat here so finding a great hill to run on is challenging.  Malden Park the best known spot among local runners for this type of workout.  The elevation change is about 80 ft over about 1/4 mile.  There are several paths you can take to incorporate hills and distance.  Tonight I climbed this monster 4 times over 3 miles, after a 2 mile warmup.  It was a great workout!  According to RunKeeper, I had a net elevation gain of 327 ft and burned 707 calories.  I know that  based on the intensity of this work out the calorie burn was likely higher but without a heart rate monitor, I have no way to measure.

Our temperature has settled down a little bit, averaging 80 degrees at run time.  I put a G2 and 2 water bottles from my fuel belt in the freezer at work this morning so I would have cold drinks during and after my run.  (Unusually good planning on my part!)  Temperatures are forecasted to fall a little more, down into the mid-70's for my Sunday long run.

I started using RunKeeper Pro for my iPhone at the end of March and find this to be a great tool!  I had been thinking about buying a Garmin 305 at Costco on sale for $169.99.  For business reasons, I was also thinking of switching to an iPhone from my Blackberry.  My cost to switch was $200.00 with my provider. A running friend told me about RunKeeper and the ability to combine 3 devices into one (Garmin, iPod & Phone).  This made my decision easy.  Some say the iPhone is too heavy to take on a long run but I don't find that at all.  I purchased a pouch for my Fuel Belt that fits perfectly.  There is no bouncing whatsoever and the iPhone goes in and out easily (during the 15 second countdown).  And now that I am blogging, the camera comes in very handy too.  The best feature for me on RunKeeper are the audible cues that that can be set within several parameters.  I have a difficult time with pacing and have set my cues to alert me to my average pace at 1 mile intervals.  Last weekend, in my race, I set these cues for 15 minute intervals.  For $9.99 this is an awesome App!

That's all for now.  Till next time, I'm still...

Running to feel young