I fought The Law...
Since returning from my recent and successful training stint up in Cannich, I had a decent session on Saturday, albeit indoors. I focused on climbing with an intense 30 minutes on the stair machine followed by 3 miles of hill intervals on the treadmill.
Today, I most certainly did not want to train in vain. So, despite the fine weather, I wanted to remain in complete control of my training, but the question still nagged me; should I stay or should I go?
In the end it was Dundee calling. Death or glory!
The Law is the hill that dominates the skyline of Dundee. Hopefully the penny has also now dropped in terms of my lame theme for today’s post. I keep saying it…I have too much time on my hands! I’m probably showing my age too.
Not only is it a fantastic 360-degree viewpoint for the whole city but the Law is also the site of the Dundee war memorial/cenotaph. One can drive right up to the top but there is also a nice little network of paths and steps around the hill which is popular with local dog walkers and tourists alike.
From the perspective of the runner, it is a bastard of a hill if tackled from the bottom, even if it is only 174 metres in height. My humble abode is very close to the start of the climb which I personally take to be the bottom of Constitution Road at its junction with the Marketgait. From that point up to the memorial is exactly one mile. I like tidy numbers.
In order to mix things up a bit from the perspectives of both training and motivation, I decided to ascend and descend by two different, alternate routes. The first, straight up Constitution Road, up to Kinghorne Road then up Law Road to the top. The second route would take me up Infirmary Brae, Law Street, Adelaide Place then a final ascent up through the trails to the final climb. This later transpired to be most serendipitous as the second route was also exactly one mile. Like I said, I like tidy numbers.
I have used the climb for training on a number of occasions and my maximum number of ascents thus far in a single outing was five, albeit with an 11kg pack. There would be no 11kg pack today, but I would do more than five ascents although I did not set out with a more specific goal than that. Might as well do my best to set myself up for success.
I went for a fairly early start, heralding in the spring with short sleeves for the first time this year. I was travelling fairly light with enough water and calories for the first five circuits following which I could nip home for a quick re-supply.
So, the first climb began, as always, with the unreasonably steep gradient that is the bottom of Constitution Road. I decided that there would be three running sections on this route; the mid section of Constitution Road, the short stretch on Kinghorne Road then the flattest section of Law Road before the final curve to the top. I can stay that I stuck to that throughout. Otherwise, it was speed walking, trying to hold a +4mph pace on all but the steepest sections.
I also identified the running sections on the second ascent route and again I was able to maintain these throughout although the run up the slight incline of Adelaide Place was getting progressively harder towards the end!
I have to say that the first five ascents went pretty well. I think my pace was sustainable and I wasn’t overdoing it on the downhills. There, I was trying to adjust my pace to minimise effort and work on my cadence and foot striking to reduce negative impacts from the ever-harder tarmac.
I took my re-supply break after five circuits (10 miles) and this lasted only five to ten minutes then I was back on course for ascent six. I hit two hours on the sixth ascent at about 10.40 distance. Around this point I made the decision that 10 circuits would be my target.
I figured that would be four hours moving, about 20 miles in distance and roughly 1,200 metres of elevation. Thus, I wanted to complete the 10th circuit within four hours which would mean I had achieved roughly equal splits between the first and second half.
As one might predict, the downhills were getting more painful than the climbs, particularly as I was tightening my shoelaces way more than I like to in order to minimise foot movement and toe pain from the steep, hard descents.
The eighth ascent was the hardest for some reason. Maybe after that the end seemed close enough and I applied myself to maintaining pace despite my increasingly complaining legs and feet. The sun was warm by this time and the last couple of ascents passed quickly. In actual fact, I was enjoying it which I really wasn’t expecting to by the latter stages.
In the end, I completed in 3:51 which was an average +5mph pace. The elevation turned out to be just shy of 1,400 metres in the end and I think it was exactly the training I was needing at this point.
So, did The Law win? It is still there I suppose but I did put up a fight and I am pretty happy with my showing today so I think we’ll declare it a draw.
