No, not the TV show, the Hills. I’m talking about the hills in Santa Monica. Before TNT, I never really knew that hills even existed in Santa Monica. When I hear Santa Monica, I think of sunny skies, the beach, and the promenade. Well, on the east part of Santa Monica, near the airport (they have an airport too?!?), our team trains in a residential street named Dewey. Today was my first session, but it was the team’s second practice here. It replaced the strength training (although we’re supposed to do that on our own time now) on Wednesday nights. This time it was 7pm.
Let me tell you, those hills are crazy! It made me feel like I was in some kind of boot camp. I guess it’s almost equivalent to running up stairs. We sprinted up this hilly street, in which gradually inclines for the first 2 mini-blocks, then the 3rd and 4th sections incline horrendously. We sprinted up, then walked down. The downhill part was just as tough as my legs were wobbly. My heart was racing, I was out of breath, and my legs were aching.
The reason for this kind of training? Taken from our team’s website, this is why:
- helps develop power and muscle elasticity
- improves stride frequency and length
- develops co-ordination, encouraging the proper use of arm action during the driving phase and feet in the support phase
- develops control and stabilization as well as improved speed (downhill running)
- promotes strength endurance
- develops maximum speed and strength (short hills)
- improves lactate tolerance (mixed hills)
I’ve seen that hill … good job Marv!