How to Run Hills and Increase Stamina
So you want to go jogging, but you live on a mountain. Or maybe you already jog along the beautiful plain, but you want to drive through the lane or pass a hilly race. Here’s how to train your mind and legs to tackle even the steepest slopes.
Walking the hills
This is my first tip because it is the most versatile and you can apply it today. Get off this hilly track, but when you get to the hill, just follow it. You will climb a mountain and, if you walk fast, you will still be doing aerobics. Mission Complete.
Does this look like cheating? Is not. Anything that helps you run longer, farther, or more often is a training tool. Cross-country runners and ultra-runners often plan to hike as part of their strategy for long distances and steep descents.
As you get better at handling hills, keep this strategy in your back pocket for use from time to time. Maybe you can run up half the hill and walk the rest. Maybe you will run the first nine hills and climb the tenth. Better than staying at home to protect your pride, right?
Take small steps and use good shape
When you are ready to climb the hills, there is a correct way to do it. You may have a vision of a strong runner in your head racing up the hills at full speed, but you don’t want to accelerate and get tired more than you need to. (Don’t completely lose this vision, though – imagining yourself decisively solving problems is a powerful tool .)
But in reality, you need to walk a little less and use a slightly different shape than when running on a flat surface. You will slow down; this is the reality of hill running, as easy as it may seem to some people. Here are the important points:
- Take tiny steps . Keep your feet in the same rhythm as on a level surface, and maintain the same level of effort (so that you do not find it harder to breathe). This means that each step should be smaller, and you may feel like you are only moving a few inches at a time. But that’s okay: since your level of effort is the same, you can continue to climb the mountain without getting tired.
- Lift your knees . To take the next step up the hill, you need to lift your legs higher, pushing off with your back foot. The emphasis on high knees helps to maintain good shape.
- Do not bend over or look down . Standing upright makes it easier for you to lift your knees, move away from your hips, and maintain your center of gravity above your feet. If you tend to bend at the waist when tired, slow down (remember the tiny steps) and remind yourself to stand up straight.
- Change your focus . If you’re tired, it can help you focus on moving your arms (because your legs will follow) or tilting one hip towards the hill so you run a little to the side . (Change sides from time to time). You can also spend a few seconds or minutes on each of the form tips above, going through them like a mental checklist.
When in good shape, hills are more of a doable task than an insurmountable obstacle. The more you run up the hills, the more comfortable you will feel on them.
Run up the hill reruns
That’s right, you are going to choose a big scary hill and run over it several times on purpose . Many runners do a hill workout every week or at least a couple of times a month. Consider an alternating schedule: assign a speed / strength day that takes the form of speed work one week and hills the next. Here are some of the ways you can train in the hills:
Long Hills : Choose a hill of medium steepness, long enough for you to run for a minute or more. Before starting your descent, warm up by running for 5-10 minutes on a level or comfortable surface. Run uphill for 30 seconds, then walk downhill and continue walking for 2-3 minutes before starting the next rep. (You can also do longer reps; see table here for recommended times). Bring cones or mark landmarks so you don’t have to measure the distance every time, but you could turn off your brain and just run from cone to cone.
The first time you try this, aim for four reps and remember to act light enough on the first rep so you have enough energy for the other three. Add repetition with each workout until you hit 8 or more.
Short uphill sprints: They are fast, but can be hard on your body, so take your time doing a ton at once. Try them at the end of an easy run. Pick a hill, the steeper the better, and accelerate at top speed for 8-10 seconds. Take a minute to walk and recover, then do it again. Two of them will be enough for the first day. Accumulate up to 10 in a row over time. Here’s some more information on how to incorporate hill sprint into your workout routine .
Climbing stairs, like in stadium stands, is not true uphill workout, but it can give you some of the same benefits: you still work your lungs and legs, but you can’t adjust your stride the same way you can outdoors. This is a great alternative if you live in the flat part of the country or if the weather is bad but you know a good internal staircase. (For example, Pittsburgh’s 36-story Teaching Cathedral is a popular training destination for runners and hikers.)
Running on the hills can also be beneficial for running on a level surface because it builds endurance and keeps you in good shape. Remember how to stand up straight and raise your knees? The muscles that help you do this in the hills are also important for your overall running form.
It also of course helps in the hills in real life. When I ran the Pittsburgh Half Marathon, I was pretty nasty on the 11th mile, but perked up after a water stop and suddenly got confused: how do I run, and everyone around is walking? It took me a moment to dawn on me: oh, this is “that big hill on mile 12” that everyone was talking about! Thanks to my repeats of the hill, I hardly noticed it.
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