The hills are alive

This has been a rough week for me - I have hardly ran at all (even though I knew I should) mentally though, I just couldn't get myself out of the house. Yesterday however was different. Thursday's are 'hill' workout days. There not so much hills as little bumps, but it does essentially do the same thing as larger hills.

The workout is to run sets of 3 or 4 hills and then repeat. Yesterday I ran a three set 4x's. After it was over I felt great. I felt like I had worked up a good sweat but I wasn't exhausted or sore - generally I felt good. This led me to my next concern...am I doing enough or should I keep going?

At the end of a run (workout or other exercise related endevor) I like to feel like I've done as much as I can, I like to feel tired and energy drained. It makes me think I gave it my all and didn't hold back. I gabbed up the coach and he told me that "at this point, I should not feel drained or exhausted. My goal is to burn fat not sugar...sugar burning brings about the tired and drained feeling." Ok, I thought, but still, I feel like I could do more...shouldn't i just keep going?? He quickly told me no, not today.

So what's a girl to do? I want to do more and he promises the day will come when I will be ready to do more at higher intensities, but this is a gradual process and I need to build up to it. I'm not sure I believe him, but I'm still trying his method so we'll see.

On a side note, Saturday will be my first hour + run. I'm not running this for distance as much as it will be for time and endurance. I don't know why this bothers me so much (I've already run for just under an hour and I train for 1 1/2 hours during the week on running days...it just seems like such a "big" amount of time...I find it intimidating. I'll update after to see if I feel anymore "exhausted" and/or "energy drained" at the end of it. Perhaps that is what I need to teach me to enjoy doing what I do now!