Hill reps question

[IanDarkpeak]

Not over-doing it is one of my guiding principles at the moment - sometimes a bit frustrating but am learning the value of what the grownups call 'moderation'.... still, it's good to know that not even the machines on here do it everyday!

It's normal to hurt, right? a day or two after a hill session?
Does it ever get to a point where it stops hurting or do you just build up your pain threshold?

this sounds more like a drug rehab question...

What you will find is over time your body will recover quicker and hurt less

certainly don't over do it at the start an up it slowly.

[simgreen78]

if only I could run that fast...

Can I add don't over do it. I did and was injured for quite a while, Daisy can I also add that I don't do all those every week, I mix it up and also get some hill work from races so don't need to do hill reps all the time.

Long stuff is great for BG etc at the cost of speed.

Agreed. I too overdid it and I'm only just getting back on track after the best part of three months of pain and frustration.

Luckily I know Tim(Zephr) & Lynne(Cyclops) at Global Therapies :thumbup:.

[daisy]

[QUOTE=IanDarkpeak;442117]this sounds more like a drug rehab question... QUOTE]

Whoops! Wrong forum! :wink:

[ZootHornRollo]

lots of variables here to account for: steepness of gradient, length of rep, length of recovery, etc.

For instance, if you have a big mountain to run up, you can do reps with recovery periods that are much shorter, by just slowing right down or traversing for a bit or whatever.

If like me your biggest local hill is Box Hill (280m) and you want to do longish reps then you end up running up the whole thing.

Which then requires running down the whole thing, which is a reasonably long 'rest'.

So that made me decided to do the ups quite quickly - so I'd basically be doing 6 minutes of very hard effort, followed by 3 mins of jogging down. x 10 (2 x 5 with a 5-min rest in between.)

In the absence of running routes that would get lots of ascent in my legs, this was the best way to improvise: about 2,500m in 90 mins ...

That's a tough session and you wouldn't want to do it within 5 days of a race.

In fact, I think I made the mistake of doing it the weekend before Borrowdale and I was still not recovered totally.

[daisy]

Oh yes...I know Box Hill well, Zoots. Thanks for the suggestions.
Lucky for me I don't race so nowt to worry about there; I can knacker me legs with impunity!!
:thumbup: Cheers

[ZootHornRollo]

to be honest though daisy if you're just starting off, I'd forget about hill reps and just get loads of miles under your belt in the hills

only reason I did that was for an absence of mountainous routes where I live

but I see you live in west Cumbria

choosing nice long circular routes round there and getting out for long runs is going to be a lot more enjoyable, sustainable and probably beneficial than hill reps

[daisy]

OK then, just to clarify. I did a short hill-reps session on Monday. Had a rest day on Tuesday (grrr Hate rest days) and today's lunchtime run was 6 miles on the little fells with 3 miles climbing (only 1600ft of up) ..however, todays run wasn't a hill session it was just a normal run. Unless I go to the beach there's not a run round here that doesn't involve a lot of up, but hey, Joss Naylor ran uphill everyday so thats ok isn't it.

Essentially then, the hill reps are just super intensified hills and allow you to focus on specific aspects of technique, while all the other hills are just incidental like...

I think I've got it now. :w00t:

I do take your point Zoot, but I've got a fair few miles logged over the last few years and am really looking for ways to up the benefit/quality of the runs I'm doing. It's time to shift it up a gear, I reckon.
Thanks again all who contributed to this. Time to get some work done...sigh.

[Stef F]

Unless I go to the beach there's not a run round here that doesn't involve a lot of up, but hey, Joss Naylor ran uphill everyday so thats ok isn't it.

Hi Daisy

Running on the beach is really good for your leg strength and core muscles. I used to have a beach nearby and made a point of running on it at least once a week. Sand dunes are fab for reps too if you fancy a change but try and pick a route through that is already used so you don't damage the dunes.

Stef

[daisy]

Hi Daisy

Running on the beach is really good for your leg strength and core muscles. I used to have a beach nearby and made a point of running on it at least once a week. Sand dunes are fab for reps too if you fancy a change but try and pick a route through that is already used so you don't damage the dunes.

Stef

Thanks Stef. Wow, the possibilities are endless, eh? This does sound nice...we've got some gorgeous sand up round Mawbray that I might explore with this advice in mind.
Cheers

[ZootHornRollo]

well fine, they probably won't do you any harm

but if I lived somewhere like that, I personally wouldn't do any hills reps, I'd just go out for runs where I took the hills really hard

for one, I found hill reps quite hard on the body - they will accentuate and aggravate any physiological / biomechanical weaknesses or niggles you have