Hills - I forgot about those

cwrig

When I Started C25K I had a lot of knee pain so I switched to running a high school track. The track is made from recycled tires so its supposed to be easier on the joints. And it has been. Ive been running there for a few weeks and my knees no longer hurt after running.

But today I decided to give the roads a try again; and I encountered Hills! I found even minor uphill grades to be significantly harder to run on. I see that the track running has made me a bit lazy. So, I plan to run the roads one time each week to get to encounter a few hills. I dont want to be stopped by a hill in my first 5K race; I want to be ready for them.

Has anyone else noticed that running a track makes you a bit lazy in regards to grade changes?

PaytraB

There's one hilly route around my home and I run that route once a week for practice. It slows my pace down (3-4 minutes for 5K with about 1/2 that distance being up-hill) but it's very good practice and I find that I now look forward to my hilly runs and have looked for ways to extend it.
By taking a side route to another nearby road with more hills, I've marked out a 10K route that is a nice blend of steeper up-hills, slower up-hills and delightful down-hills, as well as some flat sections.
I find that running the hilly route makes me feel stronger on my flatter routed runs. This may be psychological, though.

Take it slow and steady and own that hill. The first time you make it all the way up the hill without stopping to walk a portion of it is a great feeling of accomplishment.

pmur

I completed the entire program on an indoor rubberized track. Then I had to head out, because I wanted to race and I needed the outdoor experience. It was hard at first with even minor gradients. I decided to head out for two runs a week out of the three. I had to slow down significantly to be able to complete the 5k on the road but I could do it. It took me about three/four weeks to get used to the hills. After that, I was able to completely transition to the outdoors. Even now, I have access to the track. I seldom run there though. I have started loving the outdoors. I run on the track only if I'm running in the middle of the afternoon. So you can do it. Just slow down. It helped me to know where I would encounter hills so I could slow down before hand and be ready. It took two/three runs to figure out where all the hills in my neighborhood run routes are. After that I just planned for them. Now, I don't even notice the regular hills anymore.

Hope this helps.

nicca_jb

The 5K I ran on Sunday was very, very hilly. My first time running something like that. It winded me, for sure, but I got through it in "decent" time (I even twisted my ankle a bit and still powered through, ending at 13:12 miles. I was hoping to get around 10).

I've decided I really need to practice more on and around hills, since the neighborhood where I live is pretty flat. (Fortunately, it's just that I live in a valley - there are hills very close by, and everywhere.)