hills... how often?
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linddavis
Posts: 101
Hills have bit me on more than one race now.. how often should I train using hills? I am currently doing
1 day a week but am wondering if that is enough?
1 day a week but am wondering if that is enough?
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Replies
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Try to do all your long runs on similar terrain to the race you are training for.0
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I live in the mountains and Im a runner so I get hills everyday. I notice in races I pass a ton of people on the hill portion of the race. I run them everyday except for my rest day.0
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Where I live it's pathetically flat so I have to do hills on treadmill (ugh) or
drive to seek them out, which sometimes I just cant do because I dont
want to run by myself - dangerous. So.. that is my predicament.
Looks like the treadmill it is
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If you don't have easy access to hills then the treadmill is a great way to simulate them. Just don't hold onto the handrails. Another option might be stairs like at a stadium at a high school or college.
And I run hills all the time, multiple times a week. Where I live you can't get away from them.0 -
Hills are what get me too! Slows my average pace by at least a whole minute. I'm forced to run them more now because of where I moved (I live on top of a big hill). In the beginning, I tried to run down the big hill, around, and then back up it. That was too much at once. Now I'm essentially running around the top of the hill. I descend a bit, and then go back up, descend, and then back up. Lots of practice and repetition. In the beginning my pace was super slow going up, but it's faster now. I've been running the hills 1-2x/week for about a month now. I've shaved maybe 15 seconds per mile off my pace (progress is slow in that area), but I'm definitely more confident and I don't feel like I'm done by the time I reach the top anymore. Best of luck!0
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I don't have hills. So, I go over to the local community college and run the stairs in the football stadium. It is not quite as good, but it is only about three blocks from where I live. I tend to think that running hills is indispensable for getting better.0
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Thank you for posting this! I'm incorporating much more hills based on the responses!! Happy training!0
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If you're running outside I would expect that there should be some hills on your other runs? I typically warm up for ten minutes then run up a big hill (that usually takes me anywhere from 45s to 1min to complete) then walk or jog back down and repeat 6 or 7 times before I cool down.
I would say once a week is fine unless you're training for a race that you know is going to be very hilly. Or if you want to tone your butt a little more you can do more than once a week 0 -
I do hill sprints (sprint intervals on a short VERY steep hill) weekly, and then long hill runs pretty regularly, at least once per month on roads, and then I run on trails weekly as my second long run.0
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I live in Florida... aka flat. I run the bridges in our city 2-3 times a week. When I do I run them back and forth for about 5-6 miles. On my LONG runs I don't include them to get the miles in. I had a 5 mile bridge run on Saturday and KILLED the bridges! I passed at least 3 dozen people which gave me the confidence to keep up the pace for the remaining 2 miles.
I am training for a 15K bridge run in 10 days, which is why I include the hills in the manor. When I'm NOT training, I still run the bridges but I do a 5-6 miles loop with 2-3 bridges, not worrying about the hill training.0 -
There is a park behind my house that has a track around it, and even that has hills. Can't get away from them here, so I run them everyday
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2x aweek for me... crazy strength building!!
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It depends on what you mean.
There is hill training, which is to build strength and is usually done before the base phase of a 4 phase training program. You would probably only do this once a week as it takes time to recover. This is typically the "run up, walk down" type of hill training.
Then, there is incorporating hilly routes into your regular routine. I try to do all my easy runs and long runs on routes that have hills. I know this has benefited me tremendously on race day. The only time I seek out flat areas to run is if I am doing very specific pace work.0 -
So my 10k Trail Race w/ hills, probably snow and ice is Saturday. I am as ready as I will ever be.
I have been doing tempo runs 2x /week and hills/1x week. I feel as if I am getting stronger/faster.
So... if I finish I get the quarter zip. Actually I know I will finish but what will my time be?!!! 0 -
Best of luck. Have a great time!0
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head up and good luck !! 0
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I run hills every time I run, but that's because any time I from my house I'm on a hill.
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I do hill sprints (sprint intervals on a short VERY steep hill) weekly, and then long hill runs pretty regularly, at least once per month on roads, and then I run on trails weekly as my second long run.
Same, it has really helped my strength endurance.0 -
Hills everyday. Literally. I like running hilly courses even for easy runs. But dynamic speed days, I hit hills at race pace! Happy Running!0
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My usual runs include a few hills, but they aren't very big. So, I usually go to the gym 1 day a week to simulate hills on the dreadmill.0
