Forums >General Running>Can hill running / strides help prevent injury?
I am currently running about 50 mpw w/ one long run, one tempo and the rest easy. However I do a hill workout every day, 5-10 100m sprints w/ a warmup and cool down jog. I notice that since adding this and strides to my running I get injured less easily, does it have something to do with practicing fast foot turnover? Thanks
Chief Unicorn Officer
I may be wrong, but it might have more to do with the fact that hills build strength, and when your muscles are strong (especially in the hip/butt/pelvis region, which is weak on many people), you are less likely to be injured.
Mile 5:49 - 5K 19:58 - 10K 43:06 - HM 1:36:54
I agree with MJ. I believe it was Hudson's book Run Faster that he encourages hill sprints to help build strength. Many people don't realize that one of the best things you can do to help prevent injury is strength training in your hips, flutes, quads, etc.
I agree. It's probably more about form and strength building. You might want to be careful about doing too much on a day or too frequently as that can lead to injury.
Future running partner.
+1 Regarding strength and form helping with injury prevention. Not only that I think their is some long term benefit in developing top end strength which will eventually translate into faster aerobic speed as you progress. A lot of well respected coaches preach doing light speed work even during build up or base building.
an amazing likeness
Hill training is speed work in disguise. If you can take the pounding of doing it as often as you are and recover, the strengthening delivered is generally thought to help with injury prevention. I'm no expert, but most of the experts have hill training in their plans...
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
Especially Brad Hudson in his Training for a 5k to a Marathon book ...
I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.
Does that mean strength training in general (quads glutes calves & core ) would be beneficial to runners?
Does that mean strength training in general (quads glutes calves & core ) would be beneficial to runners
Certain kinds of strength training can be really useful, others not so much. I learned body-weight functional movements for PT and in a running xt class. If it's icy out, the machine circuits (25 stations of 1min apiece, iirc - some cardio, some strength) plus the submax plyos (including 1-footed jumping, agility) we used to do were really helpful for trail running. In general, I prefer to just hike up a mountain - or run the gentler or shorter ones.
I would add feet and ankles to your list of things to strengthen, esp. for trail running.
MTA: The key features of "functional" movements for running is that they work on one leg or with legs diagonally apart, like they'd be when running. Doing things with two feet on the ground but opposite each other (like, say, a traditional squat) may help, but it misses some of the key features for running.