Coping with Hills
QUESTION: I am currently training for the Pittsburgh Marathon in May: Hilly! Hilly! Hilly! My training is in Myrtle Beach: Flat! Flat! Flat! How can I incorporate hill training into my training? And on which days should I do it? On the short-run days, or on the long-run days?
HAL’S ANSWER: I was at the Pittsburgh Marathon a few year ago and don't remember it being that hilly. Of course, I once set the masters ascent record for the Pike’s Peak Marathon, so my perspective may be somewhat different than someone living in Myrtle Beach. Nevertheless, I feel runners psych themselves out when anyone mentions hills. Consider that hills bring flavor to any marathon course, sort of like salsa to your tacos. Certainly, you must have some bridges or ramps or even bumps in the road that could masquerade as hills. Treadmills can be adjusted to simulate running uphill, and even downhill. As to when to run hills? Any day of the week to suit your convenience. Start with the easy days, but eventually do some of your longer runs on hilly courses. Sometimes you need to look around to find hills and maybe jump in a car for an hour’s drive somewhere, but hills exist even in the flattest states. In Jacksonville, Florida where we spend the winter, the local runners do loops featuring several bridges in preparing for the Gate River Run.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 9:55AM
Reader Comments (1)
I hope this helps :) Please See Below
Mr. Higdon I am running my 1st marathon and it is Boston (running it for Charity didn't qualify) and I am following your Intermediate 2 program to the letter and it is working AWESOME!!! Thank You!
To the person with the question I completely agree with Mr. Higdon don't let the hills psyche you out. I live in Pittsburgh and yes there are hills EVERYWHERE thats why we have three rivers :) but the Marathon course as a whole is considered relativly flat. The main hill is around mile 12 and is about a 200 foot climb over 1.5 miles give or take. It is at a great part of the race its right as you are running throught the Univeristy of Pittsburgh. I've attached a link that has the 2011 map and an elevation chart to help give you a sense of how it looks
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/27233712
Best of Luck and I will be running the half that day thus avoiding the Hill if I can help at all just say the word...runners helping runners is what its all about!
John Haggerty
Pittsburgh Runner