It's all UP HILL from here! (Read 744 times)

So, I will be running my first 10K this coming Sunday 15th and I have discovered my weakest point, hills. I have done well in going from running 3 minutes to runnin 45 mins. It will be a year of running this coming Autumn, but hills seem to be a challenge still. They take out a lot of energy out of me and they slow me down significantly. So how do you improve hill running? I know some of you are going to say "Run hills". But I wonder if weight training would help, as I don't want to spend all my glycogen/energy/stamina on running up hills and not be able to do long flat runs-- I would like to do a (mostly flat) Dublin marathon in October, but many of the short races before then (like the one I'm running this Sunday) have hills. What is your opinion?

Use a heart monitor and run the hills at the same heart rate you run the flats. Don’t lean into the hill either as that cuts off your lungs. My problem is not going up but coming down later into the run. By then ITBS is setting in and any down hill can become pure hell. The good news is that after those runs I am recovering faster and faster.

Some things to keep in mind on the hills: 1) What goes up must come down--this thought has gotten me up and over some tough climbs. 2) It's okay to slow down on the hill. Really, it is--but only if you promise yourself to pick it back up when you get to the top. 3) Hills use slightly different muscles. I like to remember this because it means I'm resting the muscles I use on the flats a bit by changing my stride as I climb the hill. 4) Hills hurt for everyone. Shared pain is less pain. 5) Hills break up the race. Sure, hills are tough, but getting to the top of one in the middle of a run provides a moment of victory that can be psychologically helpful in the middle of a long race. 6) Hills wake me up. Running only on the flats is a recipe for falling into the same old pace and just sitting there. Hills make you ask yourself what the right pace is--am I running too hard or too easy. Good question to ask. Almost all of the literature on running incorporates hills into training. One way to begin to control the hills instead of letting them control you is to find a hill that has beaten you and run repeats of it. You don't have to run them hard, necessarily, but run them regularly. Soon you will find the strategy that works for you to get to the top. You'll be familiar with the pain--you'll know where it begins and that it will end. Yes, I'm saying, "Run hills." It will make you stronger, faster, tougher. Even on the flats.

ditto - run the hills. do make sure you do your warm up and warm down...about 2 miles for each. Now GO! Beat Them!