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| Always with the hills. (Read 559 times) |
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posted: 8/17/2007 at 3:06 PM |
| I live in a small valley and all around me is rolling hills. Some of these are large inclines and some are ant hills. So every run has a hill run section to it. Should I be driving to another area that is flatter to do some of my runs or is it alright to continuously run in this kind of terrain? |
My sport's your sport's punnishment
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posted: 8/17/2007 at 7:57 PM |
| I think it's better than alright. It is true, hills are your friend. Always running hills will make you a stronger runner. I too train on hills, and when I ran the Boston Marathon with my brother, who is a faster runner than me, I ran away from him on the hills. Don't drive away, stick with your friend. |
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posted: 8/17/2007 at 8:07 PM |
| As was said, hills are a great way to run and build strength at the same time. I could see a couple of reasons for running somewhere flat however. One would be if you are planning on running a longer race that is flat. You use your muscles differently on the flats vs. the hills, so you want your muscles to get used to running on flat terrain. The other reason is that uphills are tough on your achillies, and downhills are tough on your knees and quads, so pounding them every day like that could lead to injury. It's good to mix up your terrain once in a while. |
| Running Boston for Children's Hospital |
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posted: 8/17/2007 at 8:28 PM |
| Quote from btb1490 on 8/17/2007 at 8:07 PM: and downhills are tough on your knees and quads...
Yes, I agree. As I sit here icing my right quad, thanks to that one big downhill during the race the other night.
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"You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast.
These are some good times so take a good look around.
You may not know it now but you're gonna miss this" ~ Trace Adkins
RunningAhead.com Texas Independence Relay Team
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posted: 8/17/2007 at 8:35 PM |
| Quote from Mississippi on 8/17/2007 at 8:28 PM: Yes, I agree. As I sit here icing my right quad, thanks to that one big downhill during the race the other night.
Yeah, but you got a shiny new PR to show for it!  I understand you have a 20 miler to do tomorrow, so I hope the quad cooperates. Good luck!
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| Running Boston for Children's Hospital |
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posted: 8/17/2007 at 8:42 PM |
Rolling hills sound good to me! I have a 4 mile route in my 'hood that is sort of flat. Today, most of my runs are beyond 4, so I have to deal with the hills on every run. I look forward to the slope as it forces me to think about how I begin/end my runs. I also like the way hills work the different muscles in my legs; helps break up the monotony of flat terrain. 
btb1490 brings up a good point about training on terrain that matches an upcoming race.
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posted: 8/17/2007 at 8:43 PM |
Quote from btb1490 on 8/17/2007 at 8:35 PM:Yeah, but you got a shiny new PR to show for it! I understand you have a 20 miler to do tomorrow, so I hope the quad cooperates. Good luck!
Very true.  I hope it behaves. We're not running until 5:00 so I have all day to work in some more icing (as I sit at my daughter's soccer tournament all day).
Thank you!
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"You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast.
These are some good times so take a good look around.
You may not know it now but you're gonna miss this" ~ Trace Adkins
RunningAhead.com Texas Independence Relay Team
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posted: 8/17/2007 at 8:45 PM |
Quote from Jeffrey on 8/17/2007 at 8:42 PM:Rolling hills sound good to me! I have a 4 mile route in my 'hood that is sort of flat. Today, most of my runs are beyond 4, so I have to deal with the hills on every run. I look forward to the slope as it forces me to think about how I begin/end my runs. I also like the way hills work the different muscles in my legs; helps break up the monotony of flat terrain. btb1490 brings up a good point about training on terrain that matches an upcoming race.
My usual 5k route has 4 decent sized hills in it and it has really helped me with improve my recovery ability during runs. But I really do enjoy changing it up a little and heading to one of the local parks where I can run more of a flat course, and set my pace on "cruise control".
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"You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast.
These are some good times so take a good look around.
You may not know it now but you're gonna miss this" ~ Trace Adkins
RunningAhead.com Texas Independence Relay Team
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posted: 8/17/2007 at 9:49 PM |
I wish I had more hills to work out on. I can drive a little ways to get to some good ones, but then I have to put my sweaty ass in my nice little car and attempt to drive back home (a bit more challenging with a manual) when my legs are Jello. I do like hills, though. I rarely lose any speed on them and that's where I pick off other slow runners. In a hilly race I tend to do better in terms of placement.
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Kirsten
• Ladies Locker Room •
.: 2008 Goals :.
• Run 1500 miles
• October 5 - 1st marathon - Milwaukee Lakefront - in my home state of WI
• PRs: 5k ~ 15k ~ 25k
• 1st trail race |
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posted: 8/18/2007 at 1:06 AM |
| I agree that hills are our friends, but mine is a love-hate relationship! Bottom line, they are a necessary evil, and I must admit the feeling of accomplishment is pretty awesome when I see that $!@&^% hill looming in the distance and then crush it without losing pace. |
"You can't have everything. Where would you put it?" - Steven Wright
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posted: 8/19/2007 at 3:08 PM |
| Quote from btb1490 on 8/17/2007 at 8:07 PM: uphills are tough on your achillies
I learned that this summer, my bad habit of not stretching & warming up properly caught up to me. I love my hilly routes too but, have to avoid them somewhat as my left Achilles tendon recovers from years of neglect. Tough lesson to learn.
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| Rust Never Sleeps |
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posted: 8/19/2007 at 4:02 PM |
| Thanks guys! I've noticed that even though my brother-in-law who is not human when it comes to running distance comes over I can recover quicker then him and he lives where it is pancake flat. The hills seem to even us out. I'll watch out for my achilles though. Being a heavier runner (200+ pounds) I have to watch out for over doing it. |
My sport's your sport's punnishment
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