Bring on the hills

One thing about where I leave is that it’s not flat.  Especially where I run.  I usually start my runs in one direction.  It’s about .3-.4 miles to the stop light.  And it’s uphill!

For a long time, I would walk up that hill.  I would call it my warm-up.  It would give me time to wake-up, start moving, get the heart rate up a little, and most of all – I wouldn’t have to run up the hill.  However, the past couple of outings, I have started my workouts by running.  Not only running, but running up that hill! 

I think it’s because my approach to the hills have changed.  I wll admit that, at this time, I don’t specifically do any hill workouts.  But I can’t avoid running up & down hills during my runs.  Some are short, some are long, some are steep, some are not so steep.  But they are there.  When I was training for the half-marathon, especially as I started getting into longer runs, I would just take my time running up the hills, and once at the top, just take my time as I continue with my runs.  My thought was that I didn’t want to wear myself out because I still had a long time to run before I was done.

However, a couple months ago, I was talking with some friends who also run, and was listening to one girl’s approach to training here.  And she said you just have to run up the hills and keep on going.  I started thinking about that.  I started thinking that maybe I should take it so easy on the hills, either on the way up, or once at the top. 

So I have started putting in more effort into running up the hills.  And I try to not slow down once I get to the top.  Because, really, it’s such a short amount of time.  I don’t know if this is true or not, but I feel like it’s making me a (slightly) stronger runner.  The hills don’t seem as bad.  And I think by continuing on through the top, I’m working on my recovery rate.

So…bring on those hills!