MFR 163: Hills for Speedwork and Hill-Running Technique

Like so many things in life, there is a right way and a wrong way to run hills. Most runners just see them as a challenge, an obstacle they must tolerate, something they must push through, but that is not going to serve them well.

It’s critical to learn and then practice hill-running technique, to put in the time to do hill workouts, regularly, realizing they are a great form of speedwork, and to adopt the right mindset. More on mindset in the next episode.

This episode and the next will provide the knowledge, the know-how, and hopefully, the motivation, because the result will be faster, better running as a result of improved conditioning and a positive mindset.

Runners properly trained on hills will embrace them as an opportunity, an avenue for to perform better than ‘not hill-trained’ competition.

Most recreational runners just power through hills. That’s a huge missed opportunity, and the bigger the hill, the greater the missed opportunity.

Runners who train on hills will master the appropriate technique and be physically prepared to crush that elevation change. They will look for races with hills and attack them with gusto.