It takes 2 to work together.

Sounds like you might have a nerve issue.

My favorite coach from an earlier life, not my all-time favorite coach, told us the most important thing in a race with hills was to be sure to immeadiately change gears after cresting the hill, to not recover from the hill but kick it back into a higher gear. I think there is NOT a linear relationship between effort on a hill and speed because you are fighting the deceleration caused by gravity and any changes in form caused by the slope. So an increase of X in speed on the flat requires less energy than an increase of X in speed on a hill. So you are better off being 2nd up the hill, but then getting back in the high speed groove on the flat or downhill (efficiency downhill also important).

If everybody did this there would be no net advantage in a race, however, a lot of people don’t. My best friend from high school who ran for Notre Dame, scoffed at me when I talked to him about this years ago. He said he ran as hard as he could up hills in races. And his ability kicked my theory-ass (that’s kind of like sorry-ass). (You don’t let your kids read this do you?) But then, maybe he could have been All-American Xcountry if he had listened to me, given your recent successes since you’ve started paying attention. :). Actually, I might have been able to take him in XCountry. Oh, BTW, my friend chose Notre Dame over CU – he ran a workout with the Buffs in 1976 and bought a pair of Brooks shoes from one of Frank Shorter’s training partners – can’t remember the name. How’s that for team&name-dropping? I am so old. Someday I’ll tell you my Craig Virgin – running shoe story. Bet you can’t wait.

Thanks for the good blog. I enjoyed this issue.