so i'm serving at a refuge for victims of human trafficking in the DR, and the whole facility is on a hill. seeing as though i didn't bring my bike, i thought i'd get in the runs i keep telling myself i was going start doing because--bone health.

a few days before i did hill FPH intervals so i donned the 5 year old Hoka's that have been gathering dust, and got after it. there's good traction on the cement road, and it had a heck of a kick, but i took small steps and got it knocked out. going down felt worse, as it felt akward, but again, i took small steps and managed the effort and ended up doing it 5x. it was a short 1/3 of a mile up and back and put me in threshold pretty quickly. i felt great after and worked up a good sweat.

the next morning, i felt hobbled, it was as if each individual muscle in my quad was on fire, and even walking felt like a challenge. the cafeteria requires a trip down and back up part of the hill and going down made them scream.

i learned after consulting claude that the eccentric loads going downhill was what did it, that what i was feeling were micro tears, it got worse the 2nd day.

if you told me running up and down hills on 6/hr/week cycling legs was going to wreck me i wouldn't have believed you.

we all need to build strength as we get older and going to town on some wood working projects for the facility helped make that clear. i tried to move a bucket of nails with my arm extended out and felt something crazy in my deltoid. time to get off the cardio gravy train and keep this body tuned up.

PER GOOGLE AI:

Why a 20% Grade Destroys Your Quads

• The "Braking" Effect: Every time your foot strikes the ground on a 20% decline, impact forces can skyrocket by over 50% compared to flat running. To stop you from falling, your quadriceps must forcefully fire to stabilize your knee. [1, 2, 3]
• Extreme Eccentric Loading: As your foot hits the slope, your knee is forced to bend under the weight of your accelerated body. Your quads are trying to contract to keep you upright, but the impact forces are physically stretching them out at the same time. This intense pulling while contracting causes immediate, widespread micro-tears in the muscle fibers. [1, 2, 3]
• Fewer Active Fibers Bearing the Load: Because gravity is doing the work of moving you forward, your nervous system actually recruits fewer muscle fibers than it would to run uphill. This means a smaller amount of muscle tissue has to absorb 100% of that massive, high-impact braking force. [1, 2]