Hills kill me

J

jsobo119

0
Ok I did a 6 mile trail run with a bunch of people yesterday... I felt great but I noticed that my legs get dead after a hill... I recover (wind) and my legs are still not there to pick up the pace... I still have to wait a while to get my pace up...

I figure just running more hills would help... is this normal? to get your wind back before your legs...

When I was younger in HS... I never remeber my legs not being ready... it was always getting my wind back that was the problem... even running the steps in football... oh well I guess that is what happens when you don't excercise for 10+ years...
 
Do you do any strength training for your legs? When you are running up hill you are basically doing alternate one-legged quarter squats with your body weight, so the stronger your legs are the smaller a percentage of your 1RM each step becomes and your leg muscles do not fatigue as much and recover faster. And, of course, for every pound of body weight you loose, it becomes easier also.
 
whoo hoo J-B0 not only did you do 6 miles but you did it with HILLS! you rock!
 
thanks sparrow... I was so exicited yesterday... I was grinning from ear to ear... I finsihed second in my group of 4 and the others were about a minute behind us... with about 1.5 to go.. the fastest guy in our group ( double digit marathons under his belt ) said... I like to let it out here... and took off... I tried to stay with him but couldn't keep the pace after the last hill/steps... when my legs came back I picked it up figuring I only had 1/2 mile to go... (fortunately I was right)... when I finished just 50 yards behind him I was happy...

I was happy because I just ran a decent pace up some big hills and ran 1 mile longer than I have since I started running again... BUT the BIGGY is no pain... anywhere... No pain... legs felt good.... no ankle pain... no shin pain... tired... but not injured...

thanks sparrow!
 
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i'd say its normal.

it takes time to adapt to hill runs, especially for people who usually dont run up hills.

i love it though :] running up hills are fun and burning ^0^
 
Well I feel silly giving you advice because it sounds like you're a much better runner than me!

Hills basically only come with practice. You need to prepare yourself for them 'mentally' and gather your strength just before the hill, then begin the hill at a slighly reduced pace. I find that looking down and exaggerating the movement of my arms helps.

I've a big hill (about 1km) at the end of my 5.6m route at the moment and although the start is OK when I get to about 200m to go I just lose all finesse and end up almost at walking pace!

Your pace after the hill depends on how much the hill took it out of you. I run some very steep 100m long hills which kill me but I quickly recover from, but its the longer hills that tend to knacker me out.

And as mentioned above... your bodyweight will make an enormous difference. Last time I was running regularly I weighed about 2 stone less than I do now... and EVERYTHING about running was much easier. Obviously its a sport more suited to lightweights. In fact one such friend of mine just told me that he managed a 6 mile route and averaged 6m30s miles... needless to say I wasn't best pleased.
 
I am trying to maintain my pace up the hill which is why I am dying... I should really just keep turning my legs over at the same pace and just shorten my stride... at least that is what I read at runners world...

Thanks for the advice all... I will try the gathering up mental energy thing... perhaps a better mental approach would help... I look at them like bandades... and try to rip them off quick... perhaps I should stop trying to push so hard up the hills to get them over with...because it is taking too much out of me... and actually slowing me down over the course of the entire run...
 
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