Hi just finished week 7 and ready for week 8 - I live in Yorkshire and have had to choose my route carefully lots of hills around here I’m going to experiment this week by continuing with week 8 on a flat route by canal but also going to go back to week 1 and head out to try to do some hills ???
Anyone else tried anything similar any tips
🍏That’s an excellent idea.. (as long as you keep to a rest day in between your runs) Well done on getting to Week 8. Enjoy the canal run!
Hills are brilliant. It’s all hills around here so I’ve done them right from the beginning and I find totally flat routes dull. Hopefully you’ll be converted! Just take it extra steady and don’t try and maintain the same pace as on the flat and you’ll be fine. It’s a really good way of seeing your progress.
You can absolutely go back to week one but you don’t have to-you aren’t the same runner as you were back then. You’ve got all that training and fitness in your legs. The main thing is to have fun!
Gotta love those hills.... well done you.... keep to the plan with rest days etc... Take them slow and steady and enjoy, they are really great for building everything up and making you stronger...they are your friends... !
Hi Smithwb , well done on your progress!
Like MissUnderstanding I had to run hills from the start of C25K, and now I love them.
Personally, given that you're starting week 8, I wouldn't go back to week 1 now just for hills. Instead, assuming that your route allows it, why not just add a small incline into one or more of your week 8 runs?
Remember that you don't have to do all your run on hills, nor run an entire hill in one go. You can just run up a little way and then back down, or vice-versa.
Lots of people think that running uphill means slow and difficult, and downhill fast and easy. Wrong. The former may be harder on your breathing, but the latter has an impact on your joints. In fact on steeper hills, especially off-road, it's entirely possible to go faster uphill than downhill!
Don't worry about pace, just keep to a comfortable effort. On uphills, it's usually helpful to take smaller steps while trying to increase or keep to the same cadence (number of steps per minute) and use your arms to help drive you. And don't get carried away on downhills, you might end up overstriding.
Happy running!
I’ve come to love hills (little choice round here!) and now feel somewhat unstimulated by flat runs.
My tips: try to maintain cadence but take smaller steps; bounce your arms, shoulders and body to get up there; only look up at the summit every 20 paces or so, otherwise it’ll never seem to come. Enjoy the ease as you reach the top
Good luck 👍
W5R3 Finally conquered! But HILLS!
Wow hills are invigorating!
Hills
The strangeness of hills.
Hills, hills and more hills
