Hills, hills, and more hills!

Including various types of hill workouts into your training plan can benefit your overall running in many different ways.

1: Running hills naturally increases your heart rate which improves your endurance (aerobic) and your anaerobic capacity.

2: Hill training and track speed workouts both elevate your heart rate. This allows hill training to be used as a substitute for speed workouts. You'll get a similar benefit from hill training but you won't have to run as fast!

3: All runners should aim to increase muscular strength. It has shown to reduce injury, strengthen ligaments and tendons, and improve overall running ability. When running up hill your muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments need to support your entire body weight in a coordinated fashion. Hill training, rather than flat surface running, works your muscles harder because they work harder to push you upward against gravity.

Try incorporating various types of hill training into your training plan every-now-and-then. Hills add variety to your workouts while improving your overall strength and running economy.