Elevate Your Running Game
Incorporating a Hill Workout
Whether you’re seasoned or just getting started with running, incorporating hill workouts into your routine can be a game-changer. Hills provide a unique set of challenges that not only boost your overall fitness but also enhance your running performance and resilience. Let’s dive into the big benefits!
Strength Building
Hill workout s are essentially a variety of resistance training. As you tackle inclines, your leg muscles, particularly your quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, have to work extra hard to propel you upwards. This resistance training effect helps build strength, power, and muscle endurance. Over time, this allows you to exert relatively less force (compared to your upper strength limits) to accomplish the same task of running.
Enhanced Cardiovascular Fitness
Climbing hills elevates your heart rate and challenges your cardiovascular system in ways that flat terrain simply can’t. Hill workouts are often a form of interval training as well. Interval training is an excellent complement to slower cardio-zone distance training and can boost your fitness. This means you’ll be able to run faster and longer with less effort on the flats.
Improved Running Form
Hills naturally encourage proper running form. When ascending, you engage your core, lean slightly forward, and drive the knees vertically emphasizing the reciprocal nature of running gait. This fills a lot of buckets in “good running form.” Over time, these improvements in form will carry over to your flat terrain running, making you a more efficient and injury-resistant runner.
Mental Toughness
Running uphill is mentally challenging and is a fantastic way to develop mental toughness. As you conquer the slopes, you’ll become more tolerant of that lactic burn in your legs and be able to push through mental barriers. This will carry over to race day where you won’t be phased by the next “heartbreak hill” coming your way.
Variety and Fun
Monotonous training routines can lead to burnout and decreased motivation. Hill workouts inject a dose of variety into your running regimen. Exploring different hills and terrain adds excitement to your training sessions, making them more enjoyable and sustainable in the long run.
How 2 Incorporate
So, how can you start incorporating hill workouts into your training plan? Here are some tips:
- Find the Right Hill: Look for hills that match your fitness level. Start with shorter, less steep inclines and gradually progress to longer and steeper ones as you build strength and confidence. I like to warm up with a general warm up followed by some light jogging for 5-10 minutes before getting into it.
- Hill Repeats: One of the most popular hill workouts is hill repeats. After a thorough warm-up, run up the hill at an effort that’s challenging but sustainable. Then, jog or walk back down to recover. Repeat this process for a predetermined number of times, gradually increasing the number of repeats as your fitness improves. This can also be done for time (i.e. run for 30-60s then walk/light jog down).
- Hill Sprints: For a shorter, more intense workout, incorporate hill sprints. Find a steep, short hill, and sprint up it as fast as you can. Walk or jog down for recovery. Hill sprints are excellent for building explosive power and speed. These are less applicable to the long distance runner but could be helpful in the right situation.
- Mix It Up: Don’t limit yourself to the same hill every time. Vary the terrain and gradient to keep your training fresh and exciting. Hill workouts should also be combined with other types of runs, like long runs or tempo runs, to create a well-rounded training plan. They should serve as the “side dish” to your main running plan. I typically wouldn’t program this for someone more than 1-2x/week.
Incorporating hill workouts into your running routine can truly take your performance to new heights. However, it’s crucial to approach them gradually and with respect for your current fitness level. Remember, consistency is key, and over time, you’ll reap the rewards of your hard work.
Stay Motivated and Keep running strong!, Dr. Greg.
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Dr. Greg Ellis PT, DPT, CSCS
Performance Physical Therapist
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