Taking it to the Hills

Today was the perfect opportunity to try out a new long run route. During today's long run, Coach Jeff suggested I work the hills harder and recover on the flats and downhills. Instead of heading towards Bergenfield or Englewood like I usually do, I headed towards the hills of Hackensack. There are a bunch of "quality" hills as one goes towards Maywood and Paramus. It took me a little while to settle into a good pace. First mile was 9:29. Soon there after comes the first hill, Passaic St. going towards Maywood Ave. I attacked the hill and made it to the top huffing and puffing but I was able to recover nicely on the flat stretches of Maywood and Spring Valley Aves. At this point I'm settled into a good pace and feeling pretty good. During the next few miles, there were some rolling hills. Each time I worked them hard and recovered nicely. There was a doozy of a hill on Howland Ave. in River Edge but was treated to a nice downhill heading back into Hackensack. The last of the hills came towards the end of my run. I definitely felt the burn but worked the hills as hard as I could and recovered well. I had to zig-zag through some local streets in order to hit the 2 hours and 15 minutes I was supposed to run. I ran 15.55 miles in 2:15:12 for an 8:42 pace. Another good effort. Here are the splits:
9:29
8:45
8:27
8:27
8:31
8:44
8:21
8:19
8:26
8:39
8:38
8:45
8:54
9:00
8:59
4:40 (last 0.55)

Not quite sure what happened between 13 and 15 but I'm not too worried about it. I probably should have taken a second GU somewhere around there but I didn't because I knew I was close to the end.

Coach was pleased with the effort too. He e-mailed me later in the day and said that 3:45 in the Poconos should be a no brainer and that I should start getting my head wrapped that number. I am pleased with the way training is going so far but there's still a lot of work to do.