I’m back again asking for advice. How do you manage and negotiate hills?
This time round I have decided to tackle gradients/hills when running! I did the first one on week 4 run 2 and struggled immensely.
I actually had to stop for a couple of seconds and compose myself, which is not like me at all.
I’m really enjoying running again but I feel as though I’m limiting myself to where I can run and what routes I can do if I don’t start running hills and other terrain.
All advice with me received gratefully!
D 🙂
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Dbon
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When running up hills you can run a little slower than when running on the flat, many long distance runners do a lot if their training on hills but for new runners the hills can be a little hard, when running uphill try not yo stop or walk but slow down a little but keep running.
Ok... think about this logically, the further forward your foot lands relative to where the last foot landed, the bigger the step up you’re taking, and the more work that leg has to do... so while keeping the feet landing under your body, shorten your stride as you approach the hill and you’ll get up it easier. It takes the same(ish) total energy to get up there, but less effort per stride, and less effort per second, so it will feel better.
I actually like hills. On the flat I usually feel lop sided and this disappears when Im going up hill. Getting out of breath makes me concentrate on my breathing and actually getting enough oxygen. With a hill at the start of my run the rest of the run always feels easier. Running on my toes does increase tightness in my calfs so on bigger hills I will do a few strides where I make myself land flat footed every now and again., making sure my heal hits the ground. There are no rules that say you have to run up hill or run all of your run. Walking up hill will also help your fitness. So dont avoid them.
I live in Devon, so hills are everywhere. I asked a similar question and Iannoda have me some good advice, the thing that I remember the most is him saying 'the hills are your friends'. Everytime I get to one now, that's what I tell myself and it really helps!!! 🏃🏃🏃
You can only avoid hills for so long where I live as we live at the top of the hill and unless I'm going to restrict myself to laps of the park (which I hate as I have a very low boredom threshold) at some point you ave to go downhill, and what goes down must come up.
I try to have a similar mindset to changing gears on a push bike and make sure I change down before I get o the hill (you know how difficult it is to change gears on a bike once you're struggling). So I slow the pace down and make my paces much smaller but try and keep the running movement going even if the "running" is probably the speed of walking.
Also really helpful to consciously think about engaging your gluten to take some of the hard work from my calf muscles.
Then if you get really stuck there's always "backstitch" as a technique which I picked up her some time ago. Basically you run so far up the hill - say 100m - then run back down part way - say 50m - then run back up another chunk (another 100m) then back down (50m). So you're gradually getting up the hill but having a bit of recovery on the downward bits.
And then occasionally when I have my own hill that kills to tackle at the end of a run I may time it so that the run ends at the bottom then phone Mr Razouski to ask for mercy and beg a lift home.
I avoided running up hill for the whole of the programme. I still don’t feel quite ready to attempt them yet but after one run on around week 2 which I misjudged and ended up running up the steepest hill in my area for the full 90 seconds what I can say is GO SLOW until the point that feels stupid and theirs is the speed you need. I was so pleased to hear “slow down” at the top of the hill as a second more I think I would have collapsed. There’s no harm avoiding hills in my opinion haha!
Hi there, when I first started C25K I only run on flat even surfaces, but as the weeks progressed I slowly introduced different gradients and hilly areas. The trick is that if you are struggling is to slow completely down but don't stop running altogether. Take a deep breath and you will find that eventually it will become easier. Good luck!
Slow down and take baby steps uphill. I ran my local parkrun route this morning and there are 2 steep hills to get up. The first one I have run up before and took it really slow. The second hill was the killer. While shorter it certainly felt much steeper. This was the first run where I nearly had to stop to walk. I slowed down to such an extent that I felt I was going backwards. I also gave myself a good talking to so that I could mentally get myself up the hill. I was really pleased when I made it to the top without stopping (When I got back I had a look at the route and think I took the wrong turning and I don't think I was supposed to run up the 2nd hill). Oh well, it was good preparation.
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