Workout Wednesday

Hill Repeats...Why do them? 

I was getting a little bored of running my normal trails and wanted to mix it up. I knew throwing in some hills or speed would spice up my runs. Living in Bend there is a great hill known as Pilot Butte. Pilot Butte is an extinct volcano offering a 500 foot rise right in the middle of beautiful Bend.  I took the trail route which was .9 miles long and decided to run up it as fast as I could. Why you may ask? Well for one, I wanted a challenge,  two, I wanted to mix up my normal running regime and third, there are some great benefits to running hills.  

The benefits of training on hills-

• Running uphill strengthens your main group of running muscles. Strengthening these muscles will most definitely help in preventing injury. We all want to stay healthy and free of injury

• Running hills improves our cardiovascular system which in turn helps us when it comes to speed work and or running faster.  Think of it as resistance training for runners.  

• Running hills will give you a mental edge knowing you can tackle a hill. It makes running in and around all the amazing trails here less daunting.  I feel more confident running hills knowing I pushed myself up a few intervals.

• Running hills adds a variety to your every day workouts. You can accomplish a ton in a short amount of time. 

Here are two of my  STRAVA screenshots tracking each interval.  I focused on trying to decrease my time on the second but both intervals focused on a steady pace.  One thing to note, when running down, I am always go SLOW.  You definitely want to walk or jog slow to restore your leg strength and catch your breath. 

After the second interval and after I made my slow decent down, I made sure to run 5-10 minutes flat and give my legs a little rest.  

I always try and throw in hill repeats no more than once a week and make sure not to follow these days with long or high intensity days. 

Give it at try. If you want to add into your current training regime and are not sure when or how, I am happy to help. You can always e-mail me at getfitwithdanza@gmail.com for more information or personalized training plans. 

Happy Trails!