Forums >General Running>elevation changes on training runs
If and when this crappy weather relents and I can get back to running outdoors regularly, this is a route I normally run: http://www.mapmyrun.com/us/westerville-oh/sharon-woods-4-mile-loop-route-3214111
I usually run this counter clock-wise (opposite direction of what is charted here) and will run either 1, 2 or 3+ loops and try to push the hills. My question is about the elevation changes on this route and if it would be considered a good hill course to more experienced runners. I have nothing else to compare it to so don't know if I am challenging myself enough here.
89' in four miles isn't very hilly. Where I live, most of my runs average 80-100' per mile. I don't know whether that is especially hilly either, but it matches the terrain for most of my local races so I feel relatively prepared come race day and makes flat courses feel really easy.
Thanks Ginny, The course is somewhat flat for 2 out of the 4 miles and downhill for one mile. The major hill is about 90' continuous for about a mile. I didn't know if that particular hill by itself would be considered a good hill or not. I guess you would consider it a molehill!
I would consider this to be a rather flat course, but then I'm from central PA. If you're looking at doing a race that has a lot of hills you may want to look for another course to train on, or other ways to build up climbing ability. If, on the other hand, you're just looking at challenging yourself you may want to focus more on speed and increasing distance.
While hills can make a course more interesting you don't necessarily need big hills to challenge yourself.
I'd call that fairly flat also. However, sometimes there's some short steep hills in there that don't register on elevation profiles - might be good for 10-sec hill sprints or something.
Not planning on doing any hilly races in the near future but was hoping this particular hill section run 2 or 3x during a run was sufficient to help build strength and speed or if I should find a tougher route. Some half marathon training plans I've looked at call for "hill work" and still not sure what that means...
If you can find something a little steeper, I think that would help. Although I"ve noticed some pgms refer to 6% as steep.
If you can find something steeper, like 5-10%, and do 8-12-sec hill sprints, that will help with power. It may be that your present route has something like that lost in the data.
In *my* book, "hill work" means any type of hills with intensity vs just running them. For every type of interval, there's at least a couple different hill workouts depending on the interval factors plus steepness and length of hill.
Some programs will specify what type of hill work - look in the directions - but many more leave it ambiguous. If the plan states a goal for that particular workout, then that gives you a clue. Otherwise, you can make up your own goal or just go run rolling hills, hitting the ups hard. At some point, you may want to do the downs hard also.
When I was first starting, I was doing some pgm that said something about "hill repeats", iirc, but no clarification. Where I was running at the time was on a gently rolling bike path, where no races were held, AFAIK. However, there were races up a nearby mtn - 3000ft in 2.2mi for the first leg. In my total ignorance, I really wasn't sure what was intended, but finally realized I couldn't run 3000ft anyway, so it must mean something smaller. (this is why I tend to give a hint as to sizes of hills)
Have fun!
If you can find something a little steeper, I think that would help. Although I"ve noticed some pgms refer to 6% as steep. If you can find something steeper, like 5-10%, and do 8-12-sec hill sprints, that will help with power. It may be that your present route has something like that lost in the data.
Thanks AKTrail
There is one section that is short and fairly steep; a ravine setting, with a small creek at the bottom and then climbs up the very short hill to a meadow. Maybe during some runs I'll start adding in some repeats at that steeper section and use the rest of the loop and flatter sections as warm-up and cool-down.
Someone posted this recently somewhere else, and it basically says the same thing that AKTrail said, but here it is again. I've been doing them for a couple of months now (from Brad Hudson's Run Faster) and have found them to be quite magical. I'm feeling stronger than ever.
Steep Hill Sprints
Thank-you JoAnn Y!
Thanks AKTrail There is one section that is short and fairly steep; a ravine setting, with a small creek at the bottom and then climbs up the very short hill to a meadow. Maybe during some runs I'll start adding in some repeats at that steeper section and use the rest of the loop and flatter sections as warm-up and cool-down.
That sounds perfect.
Just another thought, esp. if you're mostly training for flat races is that while steeper hills (say 10+% or more) may provide more strength, it tends to be in the vertical direction and it affects your stride form. I'll use steep stuff when training for hilly trail races (some up mountains and with steps), but when training for gentler stuff, I'll use gentler hills so I can loosen my legs and get a longer stride.
Near as I can estimate, the steep section is a 5- 6% grade over about a tenth of a mile. I think I'll start with a couple of repeats and work my way up to 10 or so.