Hill Running

Are there any hills? Is a common question asked by my coaching groups. I’ve no idea why there’s an assumption that there will always be a hill that I will encourage people to run up…

All I know, is that from my own training if I include hills sessions – whether specific efforts, or simply including hilly routes in my runs – then I find myself running stronger. If I don’t run hills, then I find it harder when I increase the distance of my runs and let’s not mention how I feel when a race is described as “undulating”.

Hills are good – not just for the views from the top – but because they help you to develop strength and create speed without the intensity of speed sessions. When run on trails they will also help you to train all the muscles in your legs due to the uneven terrain.

What is hill training?

There is a huge variety of hill training sessions. The simplest being including hills in a training run – choose a route that includes hills and run it. To add to it run up the hills at a high effort and use any downhills as a recovery.

Hill repetitions can be short or long, or a mix of them all. Pick an appropriate duration – from 30 seconds to 6 minutes (or longer) – and run hard uphill. Walk back down the hill as your recovery and repeat.

For an added twist, add in some faster downhill sections as well and run up/down for 10 to 20 minutes or so.

How to run hills

You don’t need to change your technique too much for hills: keep a fairly upright posture, use your arms to drive backwards and keep your feet turning over.

Get in touch for help and advice on how you can bring more hill running into your training.