Successful running is about more than simple conditioning and muscle strength. It is a mental process that requires constant strategy, planning and resource management. On a hilly run, these factors are all the more important. How you deal with hills may determine whether you get to the finish line.
Hill Running
Depending on the slope, running on a hill can vastly change the intensity of your run. Running uphill will make you work harder as you fight gravity to propel your body upward. Running downhill will be easier, as gravity helps push you down. The key to hill running is maintaining a constant intensity, rather than a constant pace. Maintaining constant intensity ensures that you don't get tired out too quickly and are able to finish your run.
Heart Rate
Your heart rate is your best tool for measuring running intensity. As your muscles work harder and your lungs work faster to capture more oxygen, your heart beats faster to keep up with the increased demand for blood circulation. Because of the relationship between running intensity and heart rate, you can use your heart rate to dictate the speed at which you run hills, running slower uphill and running faster downhill to keep your heart rate constant.
Heart Rate Monitor
A heart rate monitor is a small wrist device that measures heart rate through the pulse in your wrist. Your heart rate is then displayed on an LCD screen, similar to a watch. Heart rate is updated in real time so you know how hard you are working at all times. Consider investing in a heart rate monitor to help guide your running intensity both uphill and downhill. Some monitors even come with alarms that beep if you exercise outside of a pre-determined heart rate range.
Considerations
If your heart rate is climbing too high while on a hill, you may have to slow down to a walk in order to reduce your heart rate and get back on track. It is important that when you slow down to a walk, you continue moving so you avoid cramping. When running downhill, exercise control over proper intensity at all times. On particularly steep downhills, you may have to run slower than your heart rate intensity dictates because the slope of the hill is too steep to run down.
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