Runners are always talking about “hill training” or “hill work” as a great supplement to a normal running routine. I have been running for about a year and a half now, actually ran a half marathon in 2010 (barely), am currently training for another half and a full this year (yikes), and yet I had never tried this mysterious “hill work.” Until now.
It started when the training schedule I’m following instructed me to run “4-5 hills at pace” this past Tuesday. I stared at this cryptic command for a while. Did it mean run up a hill five times really fast? How big of a hill? Did it mean five separate hills? Or one giant hill cut into five parts? And how long was I supposed to run up this hill or hills? So many questions!
Thank god for the internet, right? After browsing through a few sites and reading a bunch of information on hill work, I found this Runner’s World article to be the most helpful.
This is my main takeaway: hill work is essentially running up a hill like a crazy person. That’s pretty much it. Sometimes you do it in short intervals – as short as 10 seconds in fact – and sometimes you go for longer uphill runs at a less extreme angle and a slightly slower pace.
On Tuesday, for my first foray into the hills, I tried the 10 second version. For these, you need one hill with a decent incline. Luckily, there is a good one in my neighborhood. So, at the end of a three mile slow-ish run, I ended up at the chosen hill, looked down at my timer, and bolted up that bad boy for 10 seconds. Then, I walked back down and around the base for a two-minute recovery. I repeated this five times. And then I ran home.
Woman that is not me running up a hill (Photo credit: womenrunningtogether.com)
After reading the Runner’s World article, I thought there was no way I would need two whole minutes of recovery time. Well, I can tell you now that it’s no joke. Sprinting up a hill at full speed is hard! And the two-minute recoveries were very much needed. I can also tell you that the workout awakened muscles I didn’t know I had. The rest of the week was a bit of a struggle because I was surprisingly sore.
Despite the challenges, I can’t wait to do it again. Why? First of all, I felt really hardcore, and I love that feeling. Also, it’s a great way to build up strength, speed and endurance for a big race. I can’t wait to see how regular hill work and different types of hill work (longer hill repeats or even longer uphill runs) help my overall fitness. Oh, and I also love to freak out the neighbors by running super fast by their houses over… and over… again.
