When to do hill?

[Plinth]

When we finally get up the nerve to do the golf course circuit which include hills, we have to decide a way round. It's a circle (well, oval) and from where we enter it we could go clockwise and have the hill in the first five mins or anticlockwise and get the hill at about 15 or 20 mins. (The local parkrun put a field at the start to make 5k but as we are working up to that we'll put the extra at the end) so - when's the best place for a hill? The start when not tired but finding pace, or further along when at a better pace but more tired?

[Amethyst_isis]

I don't really know the answer to this one... I live in a village which is all hills (except the local play park) so all my runs involve climbing a few during the course. I would suggest that you want to work up to a hill, tackling one too early on when the muscles are not sufficiently heated and worked could cause strain and injury I'd guess.. At then end would give more of a feeling of satisfaction if you complete the hill when more tired...

[Oldgirl Graduate]

I dislike hills most of the time but absolutely hate them too early in a run, I much prefer to get into a comfortable stride and get my breathing right before tackling the ups. Everyone is different though!! Try it one way and then the other, your body will soon tell you which is best for you. By the way I always get a shock when someone tees off when I run through the middle of our gold course, used to think someone was shooting at me

[RainbowC Graduate]

I have my biggest hill in the first 5-10 mins of my 4 mile route - by which I mean I get to it after five mins of running, and get to the top after ten! There are several more ups and downs (most of the first three miles is uphill), but it's worth it for the downhill finish. One day I'll try the route the other way round, so that I can start with the long gradual uphill and end with the serious downhill, but haven't tried that yet...

My other local circuit is gradually uphill for most of it, then a lovely down, followed by mainly uphill again back to the village. The steep uphill after 20 mins is *really* tough - and even when it looks to have levelled off a bit, actually keeps on going up slightly for what feels like forever,

All of which unhelpful waffling basically goes to say plan two runs - one each way round - and see which you prefer...