HILLS HILLS HILLS

MissFit0101 · November 2011

I posted this in the running groups but I seem to get waaaaaaaay more feedback when posting on the main forums.. so here goes.

What is your idea of a hill training session? Do you pick shorter steep hills or do you pick longer, gradual hills? Do you walk back down or jog back down? Do you get any extra rest after you reach the bottom before you start again or do you just go for it right away, or do you perhaps check your heartrate and start once it reaches a certain number? Just wanting to get some input here. I do run hills in every one of my regular runs, whether long or short, because no matter which route I choose from my house there is a huge hill (my guess would be somewhere between .25 - .5 mile) that I hit in the beginning and in the end, plus other hills in between, but I am looking to get some "real" hill training sessions in and would just like to get some input on the matter. So what do you do?

AZTrailRunner · November 2011

Bumping for when I get back on my pc.

maddymama · November 2011

For me, it depends... when I'm pushing my little one in the jogger, I just run a hilly route, and figure it all works out. If I'm alone and running hills, I drive to a road neat my house with a huge, steep hill, and I run up and down that for 20 minutes straight...... I try not to rest at all, but the first few times I did this I had to rest ALOT!!!!

gashinshotan · November 2011

Most of my routes are hills... honestly I think starting running hills from the beginning helped me improve my endurance far more than if I had trained on flat ground. My medium route consists of a 0.9 mile downhill followed by a 1 mile uphill @ 30 degrees then 0.5 miles uphill @ 45. I started running around 40 days ago by going DOWNHILL from the end so 1.5 miles total downhill. Then slowly added the uphills and one day I switched it up and did 1.5 uphill... had to take a few breaks for the first couple of weeks but a few days ago I did my longest run ever a @ 9.4 miles, with maybe 40% of that uphill... I've never ran this distance ever and I attribute my huge improvements (1.5 mile downhill to 9.4 miles up/downhill over a period of 40 days with two days of rest a week!) in endurance solely to the hill running!

gashinshotan · November 2011

oh by the way - if you run mainly hills you're gonna get messed up some days where your legs just die on you and you can barely or not even finish the usual mileage you did... I had a couple days where my mileage cut in HALF because my legs were too damn tired to go on.... I usually take two days off after those.

3dogsrunning · November 2011

My Tuesday running club alternates between the track and hills. We do all different hill workouts. Some long runs, some shorter, some combos. Generally, the longer the run up the hill, the slower the pace. I also think we do tend to do the longer ones one the less steep hills, but its all in the same area so they don't vary that much. One exercise we did, we did all the way up the hill, all the way down, half way up at a faster pace, all the way down, repeat. The back of the packers walk back down, the rest do an easy jog. We usually have a very short rest at the bottom, like 30 seconds.
When I first started on my own, I just picked a hill and did several repeats at a steady pace of the same distance.
I noticed a huge difference in my running from going to these sessions.

LorinaLynn · November 2011

I use Runkeeper to plot a hilly course around my neighborhood (and surrounding neighborhoods), and mostly just try to keep a steady pace.

taldie01 · November 2011

if your training for a full, run about 3kms to your hill, the hill I ran was about .5kms, long climb. Jogged steady up it stopped at top swig some water walk a bit down then jog the rest. Started at 4x repeats worked up to 11.....mabe a 14kms run in total

rybo · December 2011

I havent run hill repeats in a long time. Many of my routes are filled with hills so I've been banking that it's good enough.

However, if i were to do repeats I'd probably go for a hill no longer than .25 mile, and jog/walk slow on the recovery back down. Try for 4-6 repeats & work your way up to 10.
Remember to warm up & cool down too.

AZTrailRunner · December 2011

I havent run hill repeats in a long time. Many of my routes are filled with hills so I've been banking that it's good enough.

However, if i were to do repeats I'd probably go for a hill no longer than .25 mile, and jog/walk slow on the recovery back down. Try for 4-6 repeats & work your way up to 10.
Remember to warm up & cool down too.

That's my take on it too.

I've read that prolonged inclines (a mile or more) can actually be detrimental to your training. You simply fatigue too soon and lose the benefits.

Also, the grade of the climb should be in the 10% range if you're going to call them "hill repeats" (according to my research).

gashinshotan · December 2011

Im dunno... I run up to 5 miles uphill on my runs, usually 1-1.5 miles interspersed between 1-2 mile flat or downhills and my endurance/speed only seem to be increasing.... but like I mentioned before there are days when my legs were dead....

I havent run hill repeats in a long time. Many of my routes are filled with hills so I've been banking that it's good enough.

However, if i were to do repeats I'd probably go for a hill no longer than .25 mile, and jog/walk slow on the recovery back down. Try for 4-6 repeats & work your way up to 10.
Remember to warm up & cool down too.

That's my take on it too.

I've read that prolonged inclines (a mile or more) can actually be detrimental to your training. You simply fatigue too soon and lose the benefits.

Also, the grade of the climb should be in the 10% range if you're going to call them "hill repeats" (according to my research).

MissFit0101 · December 2011

I havent run hill repeats in a long time. Many of my routes are filled with hills so I've been banking that it's good enough.

However, if i were to do repeats I'd probably go for a hill no longer than .25 mile, and jog/walk slow on the recovery back down. Try for 4-6 repeats & work your way up to 10.
Remember to warm up & cool down too.

That's my take on it too.

I've read that prolonged inclines (a mile or more) can actually be detrimental to your training. You simply fatigue too soon and lose the benefits.

Also, the grade of the climb should be in the 10% range if you're going to call them "hill repeats" (according to my research).

This sounds PERFECT... and right along the lines of what I was "thinking".. Thanks

3dogsrunning · December 2011

I should have been more clear in my post - even the "long" hills we do aren't .5 miles.

gashinshotan · December 2011

Honestly, I think you guys are underestimating what your bodies can do.... running uphill all the time just strengthens your legs and makes you faster/more tolerant of pain over time if you allow them enough rest to build up!

gashinshotan · December 2011

I looked at your profile - dude you're freakin fast.... how can you say you can't run uphills long i you can run that fast?

I havent run hill repeats in a long time. Many of my routes are filled with hills so I've been banking that it's good enough.

However, if i were to do repeats I'd probably go for a hill no longer than .25 mile, and jog/walk slow on the recovery back down. Try for 4-6 repeats & work your way up to 10.
Remember to warm up & cool down too.

That's my take on it too.

I've read that prolonged inclines (a mile or more) can actually be detrimental to your training. You simply fatigue too soon and lose the benefits.

Also, the grade of the climb should be in the 10% range if you're going to call them "hill repeats" (according to my research).

AZTrailRunner · December 2011

I looked at your profile - dude you're freakin fast.... how can you say you can't run uphills long i you can run that fast?

I havent run hill repeats in a long time. Many of my routes are filled with hills so I've been banking that it's good enough.

However, if i were to do repeats I'd probably go for a hill no longer than .25 mile, and jog/walk slow on the recovery back down. Try for 4-6 repeats & work your way up to 10.
Remember to warm up & cool down too.

That's my take on it too.

I've read that prolonged inclines (a mile or more) can actually be detrimental to your training. You simply fatigue too soon and lose the benefits.

Also, the grade of the climb should be in the 10% range if you're going to call them "hill repeats" (according to my research).

Ooops. I should've been more clear with my previous statement. It was meant to answer the question about "Hill Repeats", when treated as intervals (hard run/ easy recovery), and not just going for a hilly run.

The problem with running hills TOO much in training is that it can create knee, hip, and foot issues. It has to do with the angular stresses you are putting on your joints and muscles, not to mention the muscle stress itself. Yes, you can run uphill for many miles, but it takes a toll on the body if you are putting in solid fast effort, as you would with "hill repeats".

cynfullcyn · December 2011

Honestly, I think you guys are underestimating what your bodies can do.... running uphill all the time just strengthens your legs and makes you faster/more tolerant of pain over time if you allow them enough rest to build up!

i agree! my treadmill run's are usually incline and when i run flat i run faster and longer (less tired)

i will be running a 4 mile hill on saturday and 4 mile back down (or try too its very steep)

HILLS HILLS HILLS

Replies

Categories