Hill running is often used to prepare you for a hilly race.   But can hill running also be used to help you prepare for a race on a flat course?  In short, the answer is yes.

There are two primary things you accomplish when training for a marathon: 1) prepare your muscles and ligaments to perform for the duration of 26.2 mile race, and 2) prepare your cardiovascular system to perform for the duration of a 26.2 mile race.  Hill running helps accomplishes these two primary goals.

First and foremost it must be stated that, just like anything else, if you have never done hill running or have not done it recently you need to gradually adapt to the demands of this type of training.  The two ways outlined below that can help in your marathon training for a flat/fast marathon course operates under the assumption that you will gradually work into this training; otherwise you expose yourself to unnecessary risk of injury.

Hill Repeats – Muscular Strength

The most common form of hill running is to run a hill or series of hills multiple times with a specific rest interval in between each hill effort.  Running up a hill that is approximately 200-400 meters in length can provide muscular adaptation in the form of strengthened running stride and more efficient running form.  Strengthened running stride occurs because of the increased resistance that gravity is placing on your body as it runs up the hill.  More efficient running form can occur as you find that lifting your knees, pumping your arms, and leaning forward assist in creating more momentum to get up the hill.

For those new to hill repeats, it’s recommended to find a short hill (100-200 meters) and to NOT run/jog down the hill but rather walk down the hill.  Running/jogging down the hill can cause knee discomfort to those not yet accustomed to this type of training.  A good beginner hill workout is to do 4 hill repeats that are 100-200 meters in length at a moderate grade (3%-5% grade) and do this no more than once every other week.  You should then gradually increase the number of hills before increasing the grade of the hill.

Hill Repeats – Cardiovascular Strength

A less common but still often used form of hill running is to run a hill or series of hills and focus on your effort or perceived exertion.  This is useful when you want to get zone 4 work done but do not want or find it hard to get into these higher heart rate zones while trying to run “faster” on the flats.  Additionally, on the treadmill, you can easily increase the incline of the treadmill to “adjust” your effort.

These types of hill repeats are good if you are new to interval training and need to stimulate the upper end of your cardiovascular fitness that you may find otherwise difficult to do.  These are also useful to obtain the cardiovascular benefit of zone 4 without the speed and pounding your body needs to sustain while in zone 4 on the flats.

A good beginner workout for this type of hill work is to find a similar hill (or use the same one) as described above (100-200 meters in length at a moderate 3%-5% grade) and do not focus on running up the hill but rather listen to your breathing and focus on increasing your effort (RPE or Rating of Perceived Exerction) so that you get into zone 4.  Focusing on your heart rate for this short of an effort will not be useful as your heart rate will take a little bit of time to catch up to your effort.  Do 4-6 hill repeats a session and do no more than one session twice a month and do not run/jog down the hill but rather walk down it.