No flat routes, hills are a killer in week 1!

[Costy]

I live in the hills of North Wales, I downloaded week 1 today, and thought I would incorporate it into my morning dog walk! I never run, so thought I would give it a go. However, one of my 60 second runs began half way up a very steep hill, I decided to have a go, and made myself vomit at the top! I trust this is not a desirable thing in week one, so want to know if it's possible to do a few weeks on a gym treadmill, as there are absolutely NO flat routes where I live!

[juicydee Graduate]

Oh you poor thing - no, vomiting is NOT a good thing any week! If there really are no flat bits anywhere nearby (no valleys?) then why not try the treadmill as lots of people on here have done. I do the odd session on one, mainly when the weather's too bad or when I want to save time and do a gym workout on the same occasion. Set the incline to 0.5 or 1.0 so that (a) it's more like being outside and (b) you avoid possible shin pain.

You might also look at mapmyrun.com to suss out routes that won't be TOO hilly when you venture outside again - it gives you the elevation and maximum gain for any route you plot (and you can see routes that others have mapped in your area too), so you can get an idea of how challenging it'll be. Hills are my least favourite things even now, but it's good not to avoid them altogether once you're on your way, as (like so many unpleasant things) they're rather good for you

The other thing to say is that you could just pause the podcast if the run starts at a difficult point. If you just keep walking briskly and restart it when the terrain is more run-friendly, you won't lose any fitness (and your doggie will get a bit of extra walkies!).

Well done for starting - keep posting and reading stuff on here; everyone is soooooo helpful and friendly!!

[Minuette Graduate]

I started on a treadmill, didn't venture outside until around week 4 and now I run outside about once at week. Running on the treadmill is absolutely fine, when you feel like venturing outside again, maybe after you've built up a bit of strength, then give it another go. Good luck!

[Deryn61 Graduate]

You could run up the hill a bit then run down a bit then run up a bit and then run down a bit and so on! Might look a bit daft but who cares! You can build up the running uphill intervals by small increments each week? I can just see you doing that Snowdon marathon (my mad sister is doing it for the second time this year) in October!

[Tapira Graduate]

Well i just think you are great to get going and I agree just run up and down a hill... what goes up must come down.... I've certainly done that running in Cumbria this weekend