How and Why to Run Hills

Most of us dislike running hills. That’s probably because we don’t know how to run hills or we don’t run them often enough! There are a few guarantees from running hills: you will get more comfortable and faster on them over time and you will be come a better runner from doing them!

Incorporating hill running into your training is a great way to improve in many areas of your running. By performing hill work once a week for 6 weeks you can benefit by:

Increasing speed
Improving leg strength
Improving leg power
Improving your running efficiency / economy
Improving your running form
Preventing Injuries
Improving the timing and firing of all of your muscles

What to Focus on while Running Hills:

Keep your eyes on the top of the hill to keep your form tall and efficient.
Maintain a quick turnover or cadence to improve power, form and strength. By keeping your feet on the ground as little as possible through a faster turnover, you are reducing the time that your body could fall into bad running form or posture, and you’re improving the strength and explosive power of your legs.
Pump your arms and legs to improve your turnover and leg speed.
Use your glutes to push off to propel yourself up the hill!
Run at an “even effort”: the same pace for the duration of the hill – not sprinting at the beginning and slowing before you hit the top.
When running downhill: try to land in the middle of your foot. Don’t allow your foot to “slap” down. You should not notice a louder footstrike on the way down than you do on the way up.

Types of hill workouts and their purpose:

Hill Workout Type	Purpose	How to Perform
Types of Hill Workouts and Their Purpose
Rolling Hills during a longer run or “Roller Coaster” runs	Gradually incorporates hills into your routine. Improves leg power, running form, strength, efficiency and speed.	Run one long or moderately long run every 2-3 weeks that includes a few long, gradual uphills that last from half a mile to 1 mile at a time. Try to increase the total hill mileage to ⅓ of your run mileage over the course of many weeks of training.
Long Uphill Repeats	Improves leg power, running form, strength, efficiency and speed	After a warm up run, run uphill for ¼ to ½ mile-length repeats at at 5k race pace effort (faster than conversational pace). The hill can be up to a 10% incline.
Hill Sprints	Improve leg power, running form, strength, efficiency, speed	After a warm up run, run 2-10 repeats of sprinting (all out pace) up a hill of approximately 15% incline, for 10-15 seconds. Recovery should be back down to your starting point at a slow jog or walk over at least double the time the sprint takes you.
Fast Downhill	Improve quadriceps eccentric strength, leg control, running form	Your form must be perfect when running fast downhill or you risk stress to the knees specifically, or other injury!After a warm up run, run 2-5 repetitions down a quarter mile hill at 5k race pace effort (faster than conversational pace); your recovery should take at least the same time that the hill repeat does. Recover by running at a slow jog or walking in between repetitions.