Question about hills

yamsteroo

Depending on which route I take, I can either have long rolling hills or short but steep hills with intermittent flat sections inbetween.

My question is, what's the best way to approach them, especially the steep ones? Should I be going for a constant pace to the top or should I back off the pace so I'm not tiring myself out?

So far on the long rolling hills, I keep my pace the same and although it increases my heart rate somewhat as soon as I crest it, HR soon returns to what is normal for my run. If I try this on a steep hill though my HR goes through the roof for the brief period I'm on the climb.

I'm aware hills are important to build strength but I'd just like a bit more information on how to use them best to do this.

Any opinions?

PinkNinjaLaura

The only way I get up the steeper hills is to power up them, but maybe that's just me. If I start slowing down the hill feels endless. Then when I get to the top I slow down to a jog until I get my heart rate back to where it should be before picking up speed again. You want to keep your eyes on the top of the hill as you're running up it (not looking at your feet or the ground right in front of you). When I did my first 5K race, all those hills I powered up really paid off because I was passing people.

The rolling hills I do the same as you - try to maintain my pace.

PaytraB

On rolling hills, I keep my pace and stride as usual.
On steep hills, I find that my pace remains the same but my stride becomes smaller. If I keep my stride the same, I get winded. Unlike lepert, I find that if I watch the top of the hill, that it seems endlessly away. What I tend to do is look up to the top and get a mental picture of the distance, then watch the ground in front of me as I run up the hill. Occasionally as I go up the hill, I'll look to the top to see how I'm doing but I do this as little as possible and only when I feel I'm close to the top. If I look too often I feel like I'm not progressing well and that makes me feel winded (running is so psychological).
I only have one steep hill in my area and I run it weekly. I am now comfortable with the energy and effort required to get up that hill and am at the stage where I am going to increase my stride. That will increase my effort again.

likitisplit

Scott Jurek has an excellent description in Eat&Run:

What cyclists do is slip into the smallest gear so that they are encountering almost no resistance and slow down, but keep their pedaling cadence the same.

You run them the same way: light quick steps at a high cadence but a lot slower than your normal speed. Keep your knees up and lean into the hill slightly. It's like beating egg whites. It also helps to drop your hands to your hips. It helps your stability and emphasizes the rear movement of your arms.

Running downhill is about feeling in control as gravity pulls you downward.. I pull my hands up to my brastrap, push my elbows out slightly and limit the movement. More of a mid-foot strikes, knees are still coming up, but not as much. I'm not very good at them yet.

yamsteroo

Thanks, ladies!

Where I live I can't really avoid them - it's just a case of how steep and which terrain I'd like (worst one is sandy ... I hate that hill lol )

I'll try the ways mentioned and see which one works best for me in terms of improving