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More Bang for the Buck

Since San Diego County is blessed with so many hills, we’ll be visiting one of them every now and again. The first one to visit is obvious — Torrey Pines State Reserve.

When visiting the reserve, we have a few options regarding access. We can fight for parking along North Torrey Pines Rd, pay for day access to the parking lot, or park along Carmel Valley Rd. near the entrance to Torrey Pines State Beach North.

The Carmel Valley Rd option is most favorable. Parking spaces are readily available. Also available is a 0.75 mile warm up before reaching our friend the hill.

Upon reaching the entrance to the park, we can make a choice. The choice is to run inside the reserve or to continue along North Torrey Pines Rd—heading south.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/31/25361/

What’s the difference? To stay on the road means a hill of about 1.5 miles. To go inside the reserve means a steeper hill of just over half a mile from the restrooms at the base to the restrooms at the top. The hill inside the park gives us views of coastal canyons leading down to the Pacific.

It appears that cyclists prefer to stay on the road while pedestrians prefer the steeper hill within the park. This is not a hard and fast rule.

As I meandered up the hill looking for spots to take pictures for this post, I noticed a middle-aged gentleman doing repeat trips up and down the hill. He had a compact efficient stride with a mid-foot strike and must have done at least four laps.

I caught him at the bottom of the hill, found out his name is Tom and asked why he does “hill repeats."

Tom explained that a hill gives you “more bang for your buck”. A hill also lets you focus on technique if you really lean into it and a hill makes you faster even though you might be slow going up the actual hill.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

We’ll explore what he meant by “lean into it” next time.

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Since San Diego County is blessed with so many hills, we’ll be visiting one of them every now and again. The first one to visit is obvious — Torrey Pines State Reserve.

When visiting the reserve, we have a few options regarding access. We can fight for parking along North Torrey Pines Rd, pay for day access to the parking lot, or park along Carmel Valley Rd. near the entrance to Torrey Pines State Beach North.

The Carmel Valley Rd option is most favorable. Parking spaces are readily available. Also available is a 0.75 mile warm up before reaching our friend the hill.

Upon reaching the entrance to the park, we can make a choice. The choice is to run inside the reserve or to continue along North Torrey Pines Rd—heading south.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/31/25361/

What’s the difference? To stay on the road means a hill of about 1.5 miles. To go inside the reserve means a steeper hill of just over half a mile from the restrooms at the base to the restrooms at the top. The hill inside the park gives us views of coastal canyons leading down to the Pacific.

It appears that cyclists prefer to stay on the road while pedestrians prefer the steeper hill within the park. This is not a hard and fast rule.

As I meandered up the hill looking for spots to take pictures for this post, I noticed a middle-aged gentleman doing repeat trips up and down the hill. He had a compact efficient stride with a mid-foot strike and must have done at least four laps.

I caught him at the bottom of the hill, found out his name is Tom and asked why he does “hill repeats."

Tom explained that a hill gives you “more bang for your buck”. A hill also lets you focus on technique if you really lean into it and a hill makes you faster even though you might be slow going up the actual hill.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

We’ll explore what he meant by “lean into it” next time.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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