We live in a flat land, and that’s why the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon is so popular. With a total elevation change of about three centimeters over 26.2 miles, it’s no wonder people come here to qualify for Boston. There’s nothing to slow runners down.
Unfortunately, not everywhere is as flat as Champaign-Urbana. You’ll have to face hills sometime. There is nothing worse than arriving on race day on a hilly course without ever actually having run on them. It’s kind of like running a marathon without first having done a 20-miler. You’ve got to train for them. So what do we do?
Occasionally, I’ll take to the road and head to Mahomet to run the final three hills of the Mahomet Half Marathon. One-mile out-and-backs from the Mahomet high school (heading north out of town) will give you rolling hills that are surprisingly challenging, especially if they are repeated. For example, three out-and-backs (a total of six miles running) will give you approximately 245 feet of incline and another 245 feet of decline, according to my GPS watch. For east central Illinois, that’s a pretty good hill workout.
Others run the hill at Orchard Downs. Off of Florida Avenue and Orchard in Urbana, this mound is great for hill repeats. It is mostly grass, and the terrain is uneven, so be mindful of possibly twisting an ankle.
Another option is to hit the ramps of the parking decks in town or at Memorial Stadium, if you can get in.
There are plenty of benefits to running hills, says Joe Bails of Bails Coaching. He notes, “Hills are a form of resistance training that builds muscle in the quads, calves, and glutes, as well as the hip flexors and the Achilles tendon. It also increases overall speed by improving stride frequency and length, as it uses the same muscles that sprinting does. Finally, as long as proper form is used, hill running can lower the risk of injuries because of the strength and endurance it builds in the legs.”
When should you do hill training? Every day? Bails suggests at least a once a week plan, twice a week if you can combine it with a tempo run: “The hills can either be shorter and a little faster pace (30–45 seconds at 5K pace), or longer and a moderate pace (60–90 seconds closer to 10K pace).”
A good bit of advice from Bails concerns effort expended while tackling a hill: “The first thing you will have to learn to do is reverse your normal tendencies and relax and take it easy on the uphill. The goal is to reach the top of the hill feeling good and then to let the hill work for you going down with even effort.” In other words, “expend only slightly more energy running uphill than you would when running on the flat,” Bails said. The same goes for the downhill. Let the hill work for you: “On the downhill you must let yourself go (even push a little). Maintaining leg motion or cadence is a very important aspect of even effort.”
There really aren’t any disadvantages to hill training, Bails concluded. It’s hard to argue with that. They’re easy to do (when you can find them), and there is something very rewarding when you look back at what you just conquered and know you kicked its butt.
Where do you do your hill training?