Why are Hill Repeats Important in your Training Plan?

Coach Amy’s View During the Moab Trail Half Marathon - A race with an overall gain of 3,576 feet.

I adopted a mantra when training for my first marathon that I like to share with my runners, "See no hill, feel no hill." It works on two levels: the physical and the mental. By not looking at the top of the hill, the focus remains 20 feet ahead, which is good form. But the eyes are not the only thing to avert. The mind is the other one to trick. By chanting the mantra, I'm belittling the hill. I'm not going to let it overtake me mentally.

Physical and mental training requires consistent practice, so this mantra works best when incorporating hill repeats during the training cycle.

Hill repeats improve strength, economy, and efficiency with incline running when done with proper technique and form.

Despite what you may think, the goal of hill repeats in training is not about increasing speed running up an incline. After all, we are not trying to sprint up or increase our pace up a hill during a long-distance race.

If you try to race, increase speed, or even maintain your goal race pace up a hill during an event, you will most assuredly require more time to recover your heart rate and fall short of your goal.

The purpose of hill training is to improve the economy and efficiency running uphill so that we expend less energy during that trip up and quickly recover once we get to the top so we can resume the goal race pace as soon as possible.

With hill training, we are working on form and maintaining a consistent effort during hill repeat sessions, whether 30 sec or 5 min long.

Inevitably, your speed may improve with hill running, but that is not the primary goal.

Need help with your hill training or form? Check out the following services.