Last night I did my first hill workout in who knows how long. Probably since last year when I was training for the 2009 Wasatch Back Relay. Literally. Since I'm not in beautiful Utah anymore, I don't have my usual canyon to go run up. Here in Hades...I mean...Florida...I have no canyons. Or hills for that matter. I have a few bridges, but I find that for hill workouts, they just don't cut it. The bridges close to me aren't that huge, and I want it to hurt. I want it to burn. I want my legs to feel like I can't take another step without crumbling to the ground.
I want control over my hill workouts. So I use the infamous treadmill. Some of you may laugh in my face and say it's not hardcore, but trust me. It's hardcore. For Florida, anyway.
Because it was my first hill workout, I took it easy. I wanted to run a total of 6 miles, running at a 3% incline for 6/10ths of a mile, then running at a 0% incline for the remaining 4/10ths...and so on until I reached 6 miles.
Holy shit! I forgot how hard hills are. Three percent is an ass-kicker. By the third mile I was already feeling like I wanted to kill over and die. Either that, or stab myself in the eye. But I didn't give up. I continued to drag myself through the remaining 3 miles. It took me around 62 minutes to run the 6 miles, with 3.6 total miles at a 3% incline. Hell yes. I'm awesome like that.
In all reality, I have a long way to go in my hill training. Last year I was running 6 miles straight at a 2-3% incline during my hill workouts. Need to work on that. I'll get there. Technically, I have no idea why I'm running hills. This year I won't be running any major uphills during the Wasatch Back like I did last year. But I figure, what the hell? It can't hurt to get conditioned for it anyway.
How do y'all feel about hill workouts? Love them? Hate them? Where do you do your hill training?
Depends on the day (minute)... sometimes I love em, sometimes I hate em! I do know that doing hill workouts helps me overall, though, so I keep on with them.
ReplyDeleteI live in Southwestern VA, and I have to run hills, because there's just no alternative! At first I hated them, but now I'm training on them for the Blue Ridge Half-Marathon, and I find that they are making me faster and stronger as a runner. I am definitely going to keep making myself run them! :)
ReplyDeleteI love running hills, but I don't have much choice where I live, so I either had to learn to love them or my running life would be miserable. I have to actively seek out places that are NOT hilly. From my front door, there is only one direction I can head to avoid running hills of any size.
ReplyDeleteI've heard people call hills "speedwork in disguise" and I don't disagree. I feel like running hills makes me a stronger runner. Plus, since i run them all the time, I don't get discouraged/worried when I come up to one during a race.
Where I live it's practically impossible to do a completely FLAT run - hills EVERYWHERE. But I prefer to do my hill training on the trails!!
ReplyDeleteI try and do 1 hill workout every few weeks, but I always do it on the treadmill since like you said, there are no hills here :(
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like an awesome workout, there is no way I could keep up hills for that long.
You know... I really don't do hill workouts. My runs have a good incline that I do in the first mile and the last mile, so I figure I'm getting it. And I'm lazy. :)
ReplyDeleteHill workouts? Non-existent right now. That's prolly bad right?
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling the pain from yesterday's hill session at the moment. Tight glutes and gastroc but there is also a certain sense of self-satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteIt is SO FLAT here too. The funny thing is, I miss KANSAS because it's hilly there. Yes, really. Lawrence has the most awesome hill workouts ever. Some places steep, some gradual. It's awesome. Right now I just don't do hills. Boo.
ReplyDeleteFor someone who lives in Utah, I HATE hills. I mean, I wish I loved them, but they just kick my butt every time. I guess that is because I never trained on hills in the middle of West Valley. Oh well, when I start training for my next marathon, I will definitely add them to my routine.
ReplyDeleteHate them.
ReplyDeleteHmm.. I kind of avoid them and go for flatter races. But I've heard running hills is how you get faster for those races TOO so it's probably very smart of you to include this in your training!
ReplyDeleteI've been running through the neighborhood (which is hilly) now that it's warm outside in VA. As much as I love the treadmill I know I have to include outside and hilly runs if I want to improve! And really, there is nothing that compares to the feeling of reaching the top of a hill w/out having to walk :)
My normal, everyday route has some hills, but it's certainly the least favorite part of my run. Boo hills!
ReplyDeleteHATE HATE HATE!!! Hills are my least fav workout. Which, I suppose is good that we don't have many hills here, so I am not 'tempted' to do them! :)
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