If you are someone who avoids hills like the plague, take a deep breathe and repeat after me… “Hills are good for me.”

“Hills are speedwork in disguise.”

Frank Shorter, winner of the 1972 Olympic marathon

Back in the day, our runcrew leader used to make us run a “4×4+1” hills workout. It consisted of running 4x up a short steep hill, 4x up a medium moderate hill, 4x up a flight of stairs, and 4x up another short steep hill. At the end, we had to run up one more long moderate hill…the dreaded “are we there yet?” hill. The total workout was about 60 minutes with warm up and cool down. We would complain and curse while we were doing it but I think everyone enjoyed the comradery in suffering together. It was one of our most memorable workouts and we still talk about it fondly.

There are so many benefits of hill running!

Hill running builds strength as you lift your body uphill against the resistance of gravity. It builds good form because running uphill forces you to lift your knees higher, have a slight forward lean, push off with your mid/fore foot, engage your arms, and run with a short stride – all the hallmarks of good running form. It builds endurance as you are forced to work harder than on a flat road, helping to increase your lactate threshold. All these things together help to build your speed. If that’s not enough to convince you, running hills decreases injury risk because you are running slower at the same effort and landing sooner which reduces the stress on your legs. In addition to all the physical benefits, hill running also builds confidence that you can do hard things!

How to run up (and down) hills

When running up hills, focus on effort rather than pace. Your pace will be much slower vs flat and that’s OK! Having good form is more important than pace. That means running tall with shorter strides, strong arm swings, and higher knee drive. Remember to run strong past the top of the hill before you ease up on your effort. As your body adapts to this run-specific strength training, you will get stronger and faster!

While downhill running can feel easier, it can be hard on the quads and your joints so be careful when running downhill. Don’t lean back and don’t overstride. Use your arms for balance and, as always, land softly. If you are training for a race that is net downhill, practice some downhill running but be sure to do it gradually. Your quads will thank you!

Types of hill running

• Hilly runs: Incorporate hills in your easy/long runs. Don’t avoid them!
• Hill sprints: 4-10 sets of 6-10 seconds sprinting up a steep hill with a 1-2 min jog recovery.  Can be done after an easy run.
• Hill strides: 4-6 sets of 20-30 seconds sprinting up a steep hill with a jog recovery.
• Hill repeats: 10-20 minutes of 30 seconds to 3 min up a moderate hill with jog recovery. Can be done as downhill repeats but be careful of form!
• Long hills: 3-6 x 3+ minutes up a moderate hill with jog recovery. 

Incorporate hills at least once a week into your training, especially in the base phase or early weeks of your training. The possibilities are endless! In all cases, be sure to warm-up, cool down, and build gradually.

For more info, “The Art of Faster Running” by Julian Goater has a whole chapter dedicated to hill training!

This post is inspired by Maryanne J. who loves to run hills.