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For the love of hills

For the love of hills

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Not exactly something you’d hear a Chicagoan runner say… since Cricket “Hill” doesn’t really qualify for its namesake status… but there really is something to running hills.

When I lived in the North Shore for two years post-undergrad, I had no choice.  Hills were everywhere.  My usual run outside the college where  I lived (and worked) had a hill that usually met me at both the beginning and the end of my work-outs.  It was hell during a snowy, icy, wintery day, but it was like redemption when I had a good day, when I felt like I could both power up and down it without hesitation.  Of course, since returning to Chicago, my hill running has suffered, and if I want to do a long run on hills, I’ve no choice but to trek out to the burbs (not that I mind, but in the absence of a car, this could get challenging…)

Besides the mental challenge of powering through a hill, or maintaining control while running down one, there are a litany of other benefits to hill training — the upper-body strength, the confidence boost, and of course, just getting faster from doing it.   You can incorporate hills into a long run for some nice variety, or you can simply do hill repeats, on an actual hill outside or on the treadmill.  You really do have a lot of options–no matter your geographic locale.

I’ve been thinking about hills lately because I ran 15 miles with a buddy of mine on Sunday at the Morton Arboretum— a beautiful place, in and of itself, but also an excellent place to incorporate some quality hills into a run.  One side of the park is a good 4.5 miles, and the other is 3 miles, making the possibilities pretty endless for how many miles you want to attack in any given day.   That, and the fact that I’m knee-deep in Boston training, and Boston is known for its hills — not so much that they’re there but that their timing, late in the race, can mean trouble if you don’t run wisely for the first 16 miles.

Interestingly, my marathon and half-marathon PRs are both on hilly courses: 2008 Austin, TX’s marathon course and at last year’s March Madness half-marathon closer to home in Cary, IL.  I’m determined to improve my full- and half-PRs this year, and it seems like hills may factor into the equation.  On Saturday morning, the FF group and I will head out to Barrington for 16 lovely hilly miles.  I’m truly looking forward to it!

Just like anything else in life, or in running, hills are just obstacles to be surmounted and to enjoy.  You can grudge through it, with your head down, bemoaning your existence, or you can accept the challenge and the opportunity that the hill brings.

Yet another way that running seems to be such a perfect metaphor for the glories and tribulations of life…

Free your mind, and your feet will follow.

Free your mind, and your feet will follow.

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(Thanks to Runners’ World Daily Kick in the Butt email for this quote from Kevin Nelson, from The Runner’s Book of Daily Inspiration).  I get these emails every day from Runners’ World, and I find them incredibly inspiring and motivating. Every once in a while, I read a quote like this one that just gives me an “a-ha!” moment… that then compels me to ruminate. 🙂

You know I’ve extolled running’s virtues of being so simple and so pure — that it’s not a sport or activity that its participants must absolutely “muck up” (IMHO) with tons of gear and gadgets in order to enjoy — and this quote captures this sentiment nicely.  Before some people begin running, they are filled with fear.  What if I can’t keep up?  What if I can’t run more than three steps?  What if I fail miserably and embarrass myself? They over-think the sport and let their head dictate (read: impede) their progress.  We’ve all been there before.  I can’t run today because X.  I wanted to run today, but Y got in the way.  If I run now, I won’t be able to do Z.  Why complicate a thing where, quite literally, all you must do is place one foot in front of the other to move forward (and thus, progress)?

Maybe this is especially resonating with me this morning after doing my first set of Yasso 800s in several months at last night’s FF speedwork session.  I’ve already remarked that the FF group is a speedy bunch, and that I’m often in the caboose group, so I had a little trepidation going into this workout — much like the same questions I listed above.  I learned last night that the bulk of the group is shooting for 3:10/3:20 marathon.  A few want a 3:30, and the rest of us “slow” folks aspire to do a 3:40 again.

The plan was to run from the store to St. Joe’s (around the 4.0 mile marker), do a Yasso 800 to the 3.5 mile marker, active recovery for 2 minutes, do another Yasso 800 from the 3.5 mile marker to the second Recreation Dr. sign, active recovery for 2 minutes, and then repeat back to the 4.0 mile marker.  All told, we were to do a warm-up, 4 Yassos with 2 minutes active recovery between, and a cool-down.

I was nervous about running with the 3:40 ladies but thought that now is as good a time as any to get back into the ‘speed’ of things.  (Mind you, we also were running in some slight snow flurries and a little bit of wind!).  I tried not to think about the activity at hand — thus, freeing my mind — and let my feet and my body and my perceived effort guide me along.  It was fun to run in a pack and to use each other’s bodies, our collective sounds, the scenery, everything around us as the backdrop to our efforts.  There really seems to be something to be said about running in a group like we did last night (a next experience for me).  And the end result, you ask?  All our 800s were remarkably sub-3:40.  In fact, we hit something along the lines of 3:34, 3:33, 3:30, 3:35/6 — not quite sure (in that order! — yes, our penultimate one was fastest!  very cool!).  My intermittent recoveries weren’t quite as long as they were supposed to be, resembling times closer to 1:45/50s, but it was ok.  I was going with it.  🙂  And I’m mighty glad I did.

The takeaway — next time you feel a bit of fear, or hesitation, or whatever, when you’re about to embark on a new adventure (running-related or not), free your mind.  The rest — your feet, your confidence, whatever it is that needs to come — will.    Guaranteed.