Hills or no hills??

[Rache1]

Hi all,

I'm in week 6 of the programme, and feeling really great about the progress I'm making! I never would have imagined 6 weeks ago I would have a 20 minute run under my belt already. My question is, do you guys run on flat surfaces, or do you try to incorporate a hill or 2 into your run? So far I've been running on mostly flat footpaths near my home. Tonight I did W6R2, 2x 10 min runs with a 3 minute walk. It should have been easy peasy as previous runs have been harder...BUT I decided to run in local park which had a few small hills, and I was so exhausted I ended up walking 6 mins into the second run.

Is it better to build up my times on flat and then try to tackle hills - or is it better to get used to hills now and maybe repeat a few runs until I can complete them with some inclines?

[Karina1976]

I am also on week six and just completed run 1 ... I personally would not attempt hills until I could run confidently for a longer period ... I find it exhausting walking up hill let alone run

[Rache1 in reply to Karina1976]

thanks! Yeah it was a bit of a disappointment not being able to complete that run when on paper it should have been OK! Pesky hills

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

If you only ever run on the flat then hills are hard.......,if you only ever run hills then the flat is easy.........mix it up.

[Millsie-J Graduate]

Hills are hard, but if you incorporate hills into your training they do become easier. Also if you can run hills you can run anywhere!

Some graduates include hills, others wait until after graduation. Its your choice!

Where I live I am surrounded by hills so I run them😀🏃🏻‍♀️

[Running-girl Graduate]

My advice is complete the programme first and then start on hills as it seems there's a slightly different technique needed for hills. I graduated a few weeks ago and am only just starting to incorporate hills as my local ParkRun has a very steep hill which so far I've not managed to run. That's my next challenge.

[nikkiwabit Graduate]

Personally I have decided to finish the programme on the flat then "learn" hills.

[Whatsapp Graduate]

Never too early to start running on hills. If you don't have hills where you run then fine, but if they are there then incorporate them in. Learn to change your run for hills: runnersconnect.net/how-to-r...

[misswobble Graduate]

I avoided hills while doing C25k. I run hills all the time now though. They are hard, energy-sapping and demoralising so I would give them a wide berth 😃 For now 😈

[jmparkview Graduate]

Yep, I avoided hills until I'd both finished the programme and managed to reach a stage where I could comfortably run 5k on the flat on a regular basis. When I did eventually tackle a hill for the first time, I found I had built up enough stamina to cope. Slow and steady does the trick!

[Anniemurph Graduate]

I avoided hills for the first three years of running I live in Derbyshire so that was quite an achievement! I find my technique is a bit different on hills so if you have small ones, tackle them now, but leave the monsters until later, perhaps. They are good for you, though, and you can't avoid them forever.