What's Your Hill Strategy?
Only a few years ago, I saw hills as my nemesis. I still find them challenging today, but now I seek them and will go as far as saying that I prefer them to long flat sections. So why is that?
In the past, every time I saw a hill ahead of me I would start huffing and puffing, literally and not so literally. In my mind, I thought I just couldn’t tackle them, regardless of where my fitness was at the time. It’s not that I was not physically capable of overcoming them, it was all about my mindset. I had a defeating and sulking attitude to them. I just found them painful, unpleasant, knew they would slow me down. I really had nothing positive to say about them at all. They were just in my way and I found them irritating. I even remember some locations that I would just avoid so I didn’t have to run up a hill. Long hills were the worst. Even if the map just showed a gradient of 2%, if it went on for a kilometer for example, I could consider it a beast I was not willing to fight.
I think my mindset really changed after I completed the Box Hill Tough 10k at the end of 2017. I picked it originally because after running a number of road races I was looking for something different, new and challenging. And challenging it was, with a total ascent of 323m. As many other people, I walked a lot of it, which was probably key to my mindset change. Prior to that I would NEVER have walked in a race. Walking for me was giving up, and in the past on the rare occasion (I think there was only one) I stopped to walk, I pulled out of the race because I deemed myself not deserving of the ‘finisher’ title. The Box Hill run changed that altogether, and that’s also after that event that I started to consider ultra marathon running. Box Hill showed me that there are other ways to tackle a hill than to go with brute force - which wouldn’t have helped in that case as running it up would have wasted my energy and left me with nothing to finish the race. My Box Hill experience led me to running my first ultra marathon, a 50k hilly feat in the Cotswolds with 1250m of total ascent. These two races alone significantly increased my confidence in hill running, in an ironic way as both had involved lots of walking.
Training as a Chi Running instructor also taught me which hills to run up and which hills to walk up. It depends on the gradient but as a rule of thumb if would can walk up it faster than you can run up it, there you have it. A simple but pretty useful rule. That combined with my trail running experience in turn gave me the confidence to give fell running a go. Fell running is described by Wikipedia as the sport of running and racing, off-road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty. The term originates from the Lake District, which frankly I only discovered when writing up this post! So I signed up for a 19k run in the Alps, with a one-off ascent of 1250m (much more challenging than the undulating Cotswolds run, which was a succession of smaller up-and-downs). It was brutal, especially as it was just 2 weeks after my 50k ultra marathon. But I did it, and I absolutely loved it. My love of fell running was born that day, and I have now run that same 19k race a few times and came 5th in my category in 2019 and was pretty chuffed with that.
The view at the top will make it worth it!
What awaited me at the top of that BIG hill in the Mad’Trail race…
All this taught me one thing: it’s preferable to have a strategy when it comes to hills. That applies equally to training and racing but is definitely necessary in long races. So, what should it be? Well, it’s very much an individual decision that depends on a number of factors, but to come up with yours I would recommend you consider the following:
Research your running route. Does it include hills? How steep are they? How long are they? How long is your overall run? If you happen to have a GPS device with you when running or walking it, record it so you get a more accurate idea of the hill elevation profile and length.
Are you used to running hills? If not, start including hills in your training. First, you can start by walking them. Then progress to walk/run and when you feel more confident and/or stronger, run it up.
If you experience a feeling of either hate or terror (or both) towards hills, question it! What happened last time you tried one? Most likely you’ll find that either you managed it fine, or you ended up walking. And both are absolutely fine. Just because you walked it last time doesn’t mean you have to let it defeat you once again. Learn to break the cycle. Today is a brand new day, and history doesn’t have to repeat itself.
Considering all the above, you need to decide whether you will walk it, run it or walk/run it. Whatever you choose, aim high, i.e. if you’re not sure whether you can run it, try to run it and drop to a walk/run if really needed. Remember not to let the hill beat you without a fight.
Also, if the incline of the hill varies, focus on the changes, i.e. dig deeper when you are on the steepest section, but then learn to appreciate when the incline decreases slightly, and try to focus on how your body reacts to it (less effort required). Also, try finding a focus point in the not-so-far distance (say a third into the hill, or half way) and appreciate how much progress you are making towards that focus point. Once you’ve reached it, find another focus point and repeat. I personally use lots of focus points when going up a hill, being cars parked on the side of the road, or benches, litter bins, postboxes, etc. I focus on reaching that point, then move on to the next one etc.
Another tactic I use when all else fails is to count my foot steps. I usually count to 10 and repeat until I get to the top. I find counting my steps helps me focus on my progress up the hill - it is tangible evidence that I am further than I was a few seconds ago!
But above everything, don’t expect to become the king or queen of hills straight away if you’re new to them. Don’t be disappointed, just focus on the little wins. The reason it became easier (never ‘easy’!) and even enjoyable for me is repetition, practice and challenging my mindset. And I will definitely using all my tactics above this weekend as I run my next ultra marathon, the 58k hilly first half challenge of the Jurassic Coast Challenge, with a total ascent of 1650m and THIS elevation profile - wish me luck :-).
Jurassic Coast Challenge Profile
Thankfully (?) I am only running the first 36miles of this…
Happy running everyone!