Elevation gain?

[BonniesRest]

Can anyone explain elevation gain to me?

I’ve started running on a trail around a hill rather than on a flat-ish road. It’s a bit tougher I think because I’m having to walk after the first 13 minutes and get my breathing back on track before continuing. That never happens on the road.

Once I restart I’m away and feel ok and can keep going whether it’s 30 mins or 50 mins. (Working my way through Ju-Ju’s magic plan).

I’m wondering if that first 13 is about the elevation gain or whether I’m unknowingly starting too fast. Using the NRC app but I’m not great at stats.

I was a bit disappointed to be walking a few mins at first but figure at least I’m still moving!

[FurtherFaster Graduate10]

Elevation is basically the total amount of uphill you did - so if you started and then ran up a 10m tall hill your elevation gain would be 10m, if you did that twice your elevation gain reading would be 20m (it's cumulative).

When running uphill make sure you keep your strides really small and slow down until you get adapted - lots of people make the mistake of trying to race faster up the hill which makes it harder.

Running uphill isn't actually much more pyshically more demanding than running on a flat once you get used to it - I find running downhill much more work! But it can take some getting used to and feels harder if you don't adjust for it, and requires your muscles to do something slightly different.

[BonniesRest in reply to FurtherFaster]

Thankyou! That makes sense. It’s a long slow incline that I hadn’t quite appreciated - 26m. I’ll try again slower and smaller strides.

[Tasha99 Graduate10 in reply to BonniesRest]

Incline - same pace, smaller steps