Forums >General Running>Hill Training
I voted "other" since I think a mix works well. What does it mean to be a better hill runner? Are you dealing with rolling hills or long climbs up mountains? How steep? I tend to do race-specific hills as I get closer to a race, and mostly conversational effort and alactic stuff earlier.
If I can keep the same pace up the hill that I can on the flats, I generally don't consider it a hill. But it is fun trying to flatline (above 0) a HRM on some gentle undulations along a road (I can't do it on trails).
In a 2-wk microcycle, I try to include rolling, medium (700ft), and big (couple thousand ft in one climb) hills - at least when snow isn't an issue. The long run will be one of those. Assuming decent race prep on hills during base and later, as I get closer to race, I like to throw in the hill repeats of 2-3 min on 20-25% slope, full recoveries. That's my cherry on top the icing. But it's useless for me to try those unless I've got the earlier strengthening.
Hill repeats alone can teach you to go up and stop or at least back off. Rolling hills teach you to run over the top of the hills and pick up the speed on the down. Sometimes I run rolling hills hard up/easy down while outbound, then easy up/hard down while inbound.
For long climbs, I think you just gotta get used to going up for 1-2 hrs or whatever. At least for me, I don't see any amount of 2-min repeats providing the endurance to go up for that long. But the power from the repeats, I think does help strengthen the muscles for longer climbs.
That said, I wouldn't say I'm a good hill runner, but I do like the challenge and work at them.
I voted other since I do a 45 min stair workout once per week. I think this has been more effective that any hill training I have done.
"Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon." - Alan Cabelly
I live on Echo Mt. and it touches Davis Mt. on one side and Hebron on the other. Hebron is called champion hills because Jack Dempsey trained there. Long runs thru champion hills really works all sides of your legs.
When I am training for the Blue Ridge Relay I run 6-10 mile tempo runs and try to average 8:30 pace. This is tough because normal pace on the mt. is 11.
I run hill repeats. 1/2 mile down and 1/2 mile up as fast as I can and be consistant. This hill is so steep I lose 1 min in 1/2 mile.
Finish runs with a monster downhill fast. Blow your quads out at the end of a run not the begining.
Consistently Slow
Question in the form of a poll. How does the average person become a better hill runner?
Question in the form of a poll.
How does the average person become a better hill runner?
Firstly you are not the average person/runner! I will do 2- 3 miles off hill repeats. Keep the pace consistent. When the pace drops stop by 10 seconds stop.I prefer 400 meters(4 reps - 2 mile). Running Little Rock marathon 3/1. Hill work outs start 2/1. Pacing a friend at 5:30.
Run until the trail runs out.
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The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff
http://bkclay.blogspot.com/
Where I live I cannot avoid hills, but I have learned to love them. Just run hilly courses and try maintaining the same pace up the hill as on flat . It is also important to work on keeping the pace once you reach the top, which is where most people slow. Running hills definitely makes you a stronger runner, and when you race a flat course, you'll be that much faster.
Good responses. Even though these polls aren't crafted scientifically or anything, I find it interesting when the results are spread out amongst the choices.
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I have wondered whether the slowdown I experience is "normal". Or maybe "reasonable" is the right word. I get passed a lot on hills. Usually, I pass people back on the downhills, though.
It's often not just about the uphills but about training your quads for the downs.
I agree you should work the downs as well as the ups.
This is good to know. I usually relax on the downhills.
I feel like I have had the most success with purposeful hill "intervals" of different flavors. Long, tempo-ish repeats for marathon training (I have a nice 3/4 mile long hill that I have used for this), or short, bursty hill sprints of only 100 meters or less for speed development for shorter races, etc., it all helps me. I don't think that easy runs over hilly versus non-hilly routes probably make that much difference, at least I would say not in my experience. I get a lot more benefit from purposeful hill work -- I mean the point of the easy runs is to run easy anyway, so I don't really "work" the hills when I'm just out running. Hence I don't think the training effect is probably very great in that scenario.
Purposeful vs. "passive" (?) might be what I'm trying to get at for option #1 vs. #2. I think I run a lot of hills on any given week. I just don't run them particularly hard. I wonder if I would be better off; for example, taking the hills out of my long and medium runs and doing purposeful hill training through intervals instead.
I hate getting passed on hills. It's the biggest weakness in my game.
Why not do both - or at least a mix? A lot would depend on what you're training for - 5k or 100 mi races or whatever?
I can't imagine taking hills out of my long runs (except in winter when we use frozen swamps sometimes) nor can I imagine not doing some sort of hard hills. (or maybe that's why I'm slow and not age) I use a 2-wk microcycle so I can get the workouts I want.
Why not do both - or at least a mix? A lot would depend on what you're training for - 5k or 100 mi races or whatever? I can't imagine taking hills out of my long runs (except in winter when we use frozen swamps sometimes) nor can I imagine not doing some sort of hard hills. (or maybe that's why I'm slow and not age) I use a 2-wk microcycle so I can get the workouts I want.
Yeah, I could also mix it up. (Right now, I'm specifically training for a March marathon and Boston. Both feature some hilly sections. But, I like to think of myself as an all-around runner). As it is, I tend to over-train. So, as I start thinking about integrating more purposeful (I like that word) hill work, I was thinking about taking something away so that the overall load wouldn't get much heavier. But, I can see how it goes and make adjustments.
FWIW, I've been doing 8 miles ending with some short hill repeats and a recovery jog home every other Monday for about a month now and that's gone well. As I look at upping the intensity, I was thinking of finding a longer/steeper hill.
Something I wasn't thinking of because it wasn't in the poll is Lydiard hill drills. I don't do them regularly (rarely, these days), but have found them to provide a lot of bang for the buck, esp. if I have limited stretches of good traction (ice in winter, slick mud in summer).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fn2Kyf_DyQ