The Endless Hill =)

So, because my foot is still recovering a bit from Conference, I was back in the pool yesterday for the majority of my workout. I met Erika up at the Queen Anne pool at 11:15am for my aqua running session. The workout was 6 x 1,000m repeats (4min hard, 90sec rest). I think it's one of her favorites - I seem to do it a lot. :) Anyway, she had me visualizing different parts of the regional xc course, slight ups & downs, different surfaces, etc. The visualizations are really fun and bring a lot more variety to aqua jogging. The first three repeats went well - slight uphill along grass, flat harder path, steeper down, then flat again... all with Erika motioning with her hands and directing me through the terrain of the repeat. On the fourth repeat, Erika told me I was going to start on a good uphill, crest it, come downhill, then continue strong to the finish on the flat. When she said "go," I started on up the hill. I was working the hill pretty decently, picturing something like the Conference hill, only longer. After 30-45sec or so, I started to periodically glance up at Erika to watch for her to tell me when to crest and go down. However, the only directions I seemed to get from her were smiles, nods, str. shoulders, and other form work. I was beginning to wonder if this hill would ever end! My visualizations involuntarily changed from the Conference hill to McBee Hill - a hill in the Tri-Cities that my high school xc team would run in the summer. It's about a 2-3mile steady hill, and very dreary. Sand and sagebrush the entire way! :) Finally, with a little less than 2min to go, I aqua ran right by her and asked if I was going downhill yet. She looked at me rather startled and told me I was already running along the flat! We both kinda laughed and I quickly changed gears - shorter downhill then a tired sprint to try to catch up. Needless to say, my legs were a bit tired for the last 2 x 1,000's at Discovery! (but I know that stretch better than the back of my hand, so I didn't get lost there! and Erika also made sure to periodically tell/ask me where I was) Good pool times. =D