This Week’s Running Challenge: Hills
Even if you live in a hilly area, you can avoid the hills while running. They slow down your pace, as reported by running applications. It’s just really hard for them.
But there are two reasons to launch them. One is that sooner or later you will have to run uphill. You agree to join a friend for a 5K charity event, and bam, she’ll be on mile 2. Or maybe you have a goal to run a marathon. If you don’t live (or travel) in Cleveland , you may have to grapple with several hills in the race for your hometown. Practice hill running and you will learn the physical and mental tricks that will allow you to overcome them with confidence.
Second, they make you stronger. You have to lift your knees a little higher to run uphill, and you need to push more to work against gravity. This means that running uphill is actually strength training in disguise.
Find a slide this week and turn it into a workout. Start for a mile or so on a level surface to warm up, and then spend some or all of the remaining running time in an uphill workout like one of these:
Option 1: sprint uphill
Total sprints are great muscle and lung workouts, but you should keep them short. Pick a hill – I like to pick the one that is monstrously steep – and run up it as hard as you can for 10 seconds. Or 30 seconds, if you like, on a normal steep descent. Keep these sprints as short as possible because they are very difficult.
After each, give yourself a couple of minutes to recover. And don’t expect to do too much the first time: try four and see if you hurt the next day. You can try again later.
Option 2: long tedious work
If you have long, slow hills in the race, try this. Find a beautiful and long hill – half a mile or a quarter mile – and it’s a little steeper than the one you’re afraid of. I have a favorite trail that climbs 200+ feet in just under half a mile, which is somewhere around 10% incline.
Then just cheer up. Your goal is to maintain a consistent level of your efforts on the go. If you are not used to hills, this could mean alternating between slow jogging and brisk walking.
As you get better, choose a level of effort and just try to maintain it. “It should feel like I’m running 5 km,” you say. Or, if you really want to focus on staying relaxed, try to make the same effort as you do on light jogging. And by effort I really mean the feeling of running. If you can reach the top of the hill no more exhausted than running down the plain, then you have truly mastered the art of running up the hill.
So, if you’re pursuing this challenge, how did the pace go last week? Mine was short, not as fast as I wanted, but quite funny! I’m glad we struck this off the list and I’m looking forward to the hills. I will be running the Pittsburgh Half Marathon in May, so I better prepare for them.