Running - Q about hill run, breathing & pace

actlc

Hi all,

I have couple questions about my running and hope to do it right:

1. How much elevation gain / mile would be considered hill run? (my regular 5 miles run has 500+ ft elevation. should I reduce it?)

2. Should I breath in through nose or mouth? (I always found it difficult to breath in enough through nose so I use mouth most of the time but it makes me some occasional cough during the day/night)

3. When I do regular easy run, should I keep the pace and just reduce the stride length? (I naturally reduces both my pace & stride length)

thanks for advice.

sammyneb

I would think any increas elevation would be a hill run
I don't really have an answer to that, when I run "hills" I literally find a long semi steep hill and run up it hard for 90 seconds then jog back down and repeat..i guess I haven't looked at the actual elevation of the hills I run, hmm..will have to do that..

as for running up, most people have told me and what I have read is to shorten the stride and slow down. However I am just the opposite, I want the hill to be done with so I power through it..I don't generally loose a lot of speed and I actually lengthen my stride...why? well because I like to do the opposite of what people tell me :glasses:

as for breathing, I totally breath through my mouth, especially on a hill or hard run...I can get in a lot more oxygen since my nose tends to get a little stuffy on most runs...

Rpeat1

For hill running generally I'd say if you're happy with the current course stick with it.

In terms of running up hills there's two schools of thought. One says attack the hill to maximise training effect then jog down; the other says try and maintain effort not pace so you'll slow down by shortening your stride but will keep the same level of effort.

For breathing do whatever feels right. Personally I use both nose and mouth especially if pushing the pace a bit.

Try and run very close to the same number of strides per minute irrespective of your pace. Ideally around 180 strides per minute whether doing a recovery jog or running intervals at mile pace. What changes your pace is your stride length, not the number of strides. BUT don't try to lengthen stride by reaching forward and landing on your heel do it by driving the leg down harder and getting more rebound energy - so you 'float' in the air for longer/further between foot strikes. That might sound weird but if you can run with a fixed turnover and practice going faster/slower you'll find you do it naturally.

Finally, a good guide is to run with a clip on metronome or metronome app on your phone set to bleep 180 times a minute and just practice running to that rhythm.

scottb81

1. How much elevation gain / mile would be considered hill run? (my regular 5 miles run has 500+ ft elevation. should I reduce it?)

That kind of hilly running is good for you and in the long run will build strong legs. The difference in running a hilly course and doing a specific hill workout is in the details. In a specific hill workout you would pick a particularly steep hill about 1/4 mile long and race at high intensity to the top, jog down, and repeat.

2. Should I breath in through nose or mouth? (I always found it difficult to breath in enough through nose so I use mouth most of the time but it makes me some occasional cough during the day/night)

There is no advantage or disadvantage to doing it either way. To quote Arthur Lydiard, "Breathe through your mouth. Breathe through your nose. Suck the air in through your ears, if you can.”

3. When I do regular easy run, should I keep the pace and just reduce the stride length? (I naturally reduces both my pace & stride length)

Pace is the combination of stride length and stride frequency. So if you reduce the stride length and the frequency stays about the same the pace has to get slower.

phooey43

Hill running effort depends on whether it is a hill in a longer route or if you are doing hill repeats i.e. running up then jogging down. For hills within a longer run definitely agree try to keep the same level of effort and forget pace. For hill repeats speed up the hill at a harder pace and recover jog down. Lean forward into the hill and shorten your strides

I've never been a nose breather myself but do whatever is easier. Effective breathing is important in getting o2 into your cells, the more efficiently you can do that the longer you can delay the buildup of lactic acid in your muscles ( the soreness afterwards)

On recovery runs I've always used perceived effort to determine pace. I run at the point where I can carry on short conversations (sometimes with myself lol) without getting too out of breath.

actlc

ah, yeah, sorry for the confusion. when i said pace and stride length, I actually meant stride frequency & stride length.
so I should maintain the stride frequency & adjust the stride length according to the pace or heart rate range I want for the run.

while I have been running hilly course, I haven't done any hill workout/repeats. That means I should occasionally do some hill workout.

thanks all for the insight.

scottb81

ah, yeah, sorry for the confusion. when i said pace and stride length, I actually meant stride frequency & stride length.
so I should maintain the stride frequency & adjust the stride length according to the pace or heart rate range I want for the run.

Yes. The stride frequency might change by 1 or 2 but generally it will remain constant in the easy run pace range.

cococa

If you map your run on mapmyrun.com, it will rate the hills on your course in terms of difficulty. This may give you more information to fine-tune your training as you wish.

Breathing in through your nose helps to warm and humidify the air before it hits your lungs. If you have asthma, this is EXTREMELY important. I'm guessing you don't, so if you can breath through your mouth and feel good - don't worry about it.

I've been working the hills around where I live a lot lately. I used to and would love to just take the hill fast and get it over with (and I used to do this all of the time when hiking), but I've found that for me this now triggers an asthma attack and then I'm down for the count. I've learned to shorten my stride and slow down, but every day I lengthen and speed up a bit. I'm now a minute per mile faster on the hills and even faster for the flatter parts (which are few and far between).

If you're not sure, give the different breathing and pacing techniques a go for a week or so and see what works best for you. Best of luck!