Training Feature: Hills

Reap the benefits of hills as you ascend to greater heights

With barely over three months to the return of the inaugural Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM), many runners have commenced a training block or are getting prepared to ramp up their training volume and intensity in a bid to prepare the body for the physical tolls of 42.195KM.

Many marathoners often dive into long runs and track intervals immediately, omitting a crucial part of endurance training – the strength and conditioning during the initial stages of training. This compromises their longevity in the sport as the body easily succumbs to fatigue from the immense stresses placed on it, eventually leading to overuse injuries. We may all hate to admit it, but as runners we choose to squeeze a run in over hitting the weights at the gym without hesitation. Hills are a great alternative to your strength repetitions and serves as a sport specific way of building strength in the legs, preparing the body ahead of the formal speed sessions planned as you progress along your training block.

In this article we will dive into FIVE benefits of integrating hill workouts into an endurance training block:

1. Conditioning for Speedwork

Training up inclines is a great way to lay the foundation for a strong season. By incorporating hill repeats into training, you are giving your legs a taste of high impact running without turning the session into a high impact anaerobic (oxygen deprived) workout. This is extremely important as the body should be adapted and conditioned to taking high loading prior to commencing speed training sessions with time focused goals.

Hills training has also been shown to improve cardiovascular fitness, take the research by Derek Ferley, Ph.D., director of sports science research and sports performance training at the Avera Sports Institute in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for example. His study, which involved a control and two key groups of runners – one group which he made to do hill workouts twice a week and another which focused on faster repetitions on level ground - showed that those embarking on the six weeks of hills training boosted the runners top speed and allowed them to sustain that effort for 32 percent longer than usual.

One should remember that while hills are a complement to conventional speedwork on the track, they are not a total replacement. The only way to run fast in races is to run fast during training! Elevation training helps to develop the “engine” – your leg muscles and respiratory system – to cope with high intensity demands but you’ll still have to condition the rest of the body to run fast around the oval office.

2. Injury Prevention

The process of driving your body up inclines strengthens your leg muscles, particularly the quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles. As you strengthen your calf muscles your body becomes better adapted to supporting the weight shift forward on your feet and it learns how to take advantage of the natural lever mechanism in your ankle to promote a more efficient running form.

Combining hills training with regular body-weight exercises can help strengthen your tendons and ligaments, reduces the risk of injury and improves overall running form. The major problem is that most runners tend to do the majority of their strength-specific exercises only in the confines of the gym through squats, deadlifts or leg presses etc. While these exercises do increase strength and muscular power, they do it in isolation of your running, focusing on individual joints and small sets of muscles.

Hill sessions, in contrast, require full activation of the muscles in your hips, legs, ankles and feet to contract in a coordinated fashion while supporting your body weight, just as they have to when you are running on level ground. In addition, your muscles contract more powerfully than usual when driving up an incline because they are forced to overcome the forces of gravity to move you from a lower to higher point. The result is more power, which in turn leads to longer, faster running strides.

Building this foundation of structural strength early in the season, especially in a marathon build-up can help you prevent running injuries during the entire training cycle even when intensity increases. The saying “Prevention is better than cure” can’t be truer!

However, one should take everything in moderation and start off with a single session a week before easing into more sessions over the training block. Hills training is not an instant solution to prevent injuries and solve your running problems. In fact, doing it too often can greatly increase risk of injuries such as stress fractures and shin splints. Take extra care especially when running downhill as this is where your risk of injury increases sharply as you are applying eccentric forces in the muscles as a braking force to help you stay in control on the way down. Lastly, remember to enjoy a recovery week every once in a while, to allow the body to rest, recover and promote growth.

3. Mental Training

Being able to see a hill and take it down instils confidence before and during a race. While others are struggling to digest and overcome the challenge of the next incoming hill, you will know deep down that you have the ability to tackle and overcome it if you have conquered earlier hill workouts in the build-up.

This links up closely with your running form when you run up inclines. Running with proper form makes the process more enjoyable and also helps engage the right muscles. You ideally want to keep your posture erect and your head, chest, hips and ankle in line when driving uphill. This allows you to generate greater force off the ground and use your natural lean to gain momentum with each stride. You’ll also ease the fight against gravity as compared to when you lean too far forward or backwards.

Shortening your stride length and increasing your cadence can also help you get over that hill faster. Unlike running on level ground, you’ll tend to tire out quicker with long strides which place a higher impact on the body. A shortened stride length will also mean you are more aware of your landing to focus on keeping your heels under your knees and not overstriking.

Consistency in training is your best weapon come race day when you are faced with hills. Try to take on hills in training that are steeper and more demanding in nature than your race day conditions to build mental resilience and explore what is the best stride and cadence needed to tackle the ascent. Stay light, stay focused and hold good form going into each incline – constantly remind yourself in your mind that you’ve got this!

4. Variation in Training

Singapore is – simply put – pancake flat. You won’t be finding an Alpe d’Huez worthy climb anywhere soon but our little red dot is filled with interesting and scenic bumps scattered all around the island from Rifle Range Road to the Southern Ridges climbs that include Telok Blangah Hill Park and Pepys Road. These green locations are a great way to start off any season, giving you a change up in your surroundings and adding a new dynamic element to a relatively mundane workout with their varying gradients and shape of the routes that allows you to work on your pacing and breathing techniques as you work your way through each interval.

Compared to running on the track or local park connector, hills can be an intense workout that really gives you a fresh new wind and a rush of endorphins post workout. There are a variety of workouts you can choose to include in training from short steep sprints to build muscle strength and running form to fartlek efforts over longer inclines that work on building up muscular endurance.

5. Pacing Rhythm

The importance of maintaining a consistent pace and good rhythm especially when running the marathon or half marathon can’t be stressed enough. Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned runner, knowing how to pace out the distance can make or break your race. You could be at peak race fitness with extremely good stamina and running economy, but it is the knowledge of knowing how to conserve energy and maintaining that efficient form for as long as possible that helps to get you through the hard times when the fatigue starts to set in.

Hills are a great way to drill pace discipline into the mind. Most runners start off training the hard way, going too hard on the ascent and reaching the top absolutely spent. The target especially when doing endurance races / aerobic workouts is to find that “sweet spot” that allows you to cruise through each incline by maintaining an equal effort both up and down the hill and back onto level ground. Go by your perceived effort and heart rate rather than being fixated on a specific running pace!

During a race with longer climbs, it is often those who pace themselves wisely who make the move and begin the passes in the closing stages – you’ll be surprised how many athletes go too hard early on and fade away!

There’s no time to waste as the countdown to Singapore’s biggest running event of the year – plan out your hill training days, pick a local incline and it’s time to lace up those running shoes and get climbing - Allez Allez Allez!