I Hate Embrace Hills

Intervals and hills, I used to hate them. But hills are an important part of the work routine in advance of a race. Hills are helpful in my running. Hills are a great cardiovascular workout and can pop that heart rate zone up there to Zone 4 pretty easily. Hills work all your muscles in your legs from glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps, to calf muscles and can be an effective strength workout for your legs. And hills also help to improve speed! The equation for speed is relatively simple: speed = stride length X stride frequency. Getting through your cadence cycle faster and/or increasing your length of stride will, simply put, make you go faster. Being able to take a bigger stride is dependent on exerting a larger force during take-off. So how do you train that? HILLS! At the University of Georgia research has shown that running uphill activates 6-9% more muscle than level running. More muscle activation over time results in more muscle mass, power and force of contraction, which leads to a longer stride length and therefore improved speed. And, incidentally, can help reduce injury if done correctly.

In my current training regimen for my next 10K race every Tuesday is either interval training or hill running, and I’m not afraid to admit that I don’t like Tuesday workouts. Running hills can be grueling. It’s not fun by any means. My legs are tired and fatigued by the end of the workout, and my lungs feel like they are about to burst. I have to really force myself to get out there and get started. It’s easy to see hills as the enemy. But I’m trying to change my attitude about hills, and not see them as the enemy any longer, but a means to improve my running. Instead of putting my head down and just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, I look up the hill, stand tall, and push off with strength and power. I tell myself, “This will make me faster”. Like the T-shirt says: It’s just a hill…get over it!

Jesus tells us to “love your enemies”, “pray for those that mistreat you”, and to “do good to them” (see Luke 6:27-36). Just like the hills in my run, how I act towards my “enemies” can discourage me or make me a better disciple, check out Luke 6:35. And wouldn’t you know it, awhile back He put a hill in my path. Now I wouldn’t really call them “enemies”, but it was hurtful and the initial desire to get back at them took a while to get over. While running one day the scenario kept playing over in my head and as I approached a hill (a particularly long one on this route) Luke 6 came to my mind. I could either continue to harbor ill will, or I could embrace the hill, and use it to become a better disciple. The message was loud and clear, “quit grumbling and focus on their best interest”. Now I’m not saying it was easy, hills never are, but as Jesus and I ran along up the hill relinquishing the situation to Him, forgiving and forgetting, and focusing on how to “do good to them” I felt better, a peace was present. I like to think this hill made me a better disciple…a bit more like Him.

Don’t hate the hills, embrace the hills, and let them make you better both physically as a runner/cycler and spiritually as a disciple of Jesus.