Last year I ran Pikes Peak Marathon a half marathon up a 14,000 foot peak in Colorado that gains over 7,000 feet, then a half marathon descending down said precipice. A challenge that is not for the faint of heart, but training for this race taught me lessons that I now apply to everyday training even though there is no massive mountain on my race docket. In fact, the only thing on my race list left this year is the Berlin Marathon, which only gains a measly 250 feet (yawn). But that does not mean that hills are not important for regular training. Not only do they toughen you up physically, but they also toughen you up mentally.
One of the staples of my training now is a run with 1,000 feet of elevation gain. So why 1,000 feet? First of all, let’s be real. 1,000 is a beautiful round number. No one wants 754 feet of gain, we want a nice round number, and one that has four digits. Secondly, the more realistic answer is that you actually have to try to get 1,000 feet on a normal run. In Syracuse, there are no massive mountains, but we also are not starved for hills, so if you really want to increase the elevation you can, you just have to plan it out a little. Some of our famous road race routes have good hills in them like Mountain Goat, the Shamrock Run, Syracuse Half or even the Boilermaker, but the one with the most elevation gain, Mountain Goat, does not even reach 600 feet of gain. So as a runner, you have to be purposeful about seeking out these hills.
If my Strava maps were to be examined, when I run at Green Lakes, from work on a Friday, or in Eastwood for a milage run alone, the maps often do not make sense from an efficiency standpoint. It is a lot easier to have a route that can be done out and back or looped, but it is not the easiest thing to do to make a normal route with 1,000 feet. So I constructed weird and wonky routes that have the biggest hills in them, so that I can hit my elevation goal. Sometimes this involves running down a hill only to immediately turn around and run back up it, but this is what gets the job done. I often do not see the lakes at Green Lakes, except for a quick glance at round lake at the bottom of a hill before turning and going back up, because most of the steep hills in the park are surrounding the Serengeti, so I find a spot and go down and then go back up, travel around the Serengeti a little more go down and up another hill. If you start from the Manlius Center Canal parking lot, and go in the back way to Green Lakes, that hill gives you a few hundred feet in the first mile. It’s perfect. (Plus you do not have to pay a fee to get in, but I suggest a New York State Park Pass either way)
Not only is 1,000 a pretty number to see on Strava, but it is also good because as mentioned, there are not many races, at least on the road that reach this level of elevation. So you might be thinking if none of your races ever meet this high demand, then why should I add it to my training multiple times a week? The answer is simple, it will take the fear away. Hills, especially big hills, can be scary in a race, and they can hurt your mindset going into the race or during the race. They can hang over your head like a dark cloud just waiting to rain on your parade, but if you have been regularly training on hills, then you will know there is nothing to fear.
It can really help to change your perspective. As they talk about in the plethora of education classes I have taken, we want to think about this from an assets-based mindset, which means to think about the tools that we do have, and the best way to do that is to increase our tools in the tool box. To increase the tools, we have to do hard things. Embrace them. It makes it so much easier. I no longer dread a hill, I seek them, and when I turn and see one of the steep brick monsters laying on the outskirts of Meadowbrook I smile in excitement, and then I start plodding my way up it. It does not have to be fast, you just have to do it. It will definitely seem hard at first, and honestly it stays hard, but the way it is thought about totally shifts, and that is the important part. It works best when you can find hills that are gnarlier than the ones in the race, so that when you get to the race, you can scoff at the hill you are on, because you know that you have defeated greater demons.
It is also a great way to try something new! Hills can be found on the road as mentioned, but there are some great ones out on the trail, and it is way nicer on the knees to pound down a dirt or grassy hill than it is to be on pavement all the time (just don’t trip). You might not be as familiar with trails, and it can be a slow and hard place when you are first starting out, but it can also be the most relaxing, refreshing, and rewarding place once you get into it. If I go a week without going on a trail run, I can feel it mentally. There is just such a peace being in a quieter place on the trails.
It can also be a good way to try something new on the road. Maybe there is a road that you have been avoiding, but now with your new mindset, you can convince yourself to give it a try. You could even try to string together some hills that do not make sense. There are three dead-end hills by my work that make a pitchfork that I will just run up and down and on to the next. Just make it up as you go. I turn it into a scavenger hunt, and I try to find hills that I have not yet conquered. Just a couple of weeks ago, Ryan knew how to the top of some Syracuse hill that I had never been up to before, the one behind Manly Field House (Aka Morningside Reservoir) with the weird water tower things, and I was so exciting to make it up there!
Eventually it becomes just as addicting as running itself. When I was coming back from the tendonitis in my ankle, once I conquered normal flat runs, returning to speed work was not what interested me, but running hills and trails was what was calling my name. I needed to feel the burn in my quads and calves again. So I slowly worked my way back to this. Then once I had conquered the hills again, I started to add the speed work back into the routine. Now if you go on a run with me, there will be a regular report on how much elevation we have gained, and whether or not I think we can hit 1,000 feet, or where I think we can get more elevation in our run. (You can ask Ryan.)
Of course, like all things running, this is not something to just start one day. It needs to be worked up to, so that there is not an injury involved or a total rejection of the idea, because if you have only been running limited hills, and then you start trying to run 1,000 feet, you are going to hate me, so do not do that. Start small and build slowly and consistently. Everyone goes at a different pace, there is no set timeline. Just remember that it is okay to go slow, and it is normal for it to suck at first, but once you get into it, it will be a rewarding experience, and it will be so helpful in the long run (pun intended). There is no need to be scared of those big steep hills on race day anymore (Colvin). They can be conquered, and you can do it!
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