Thrill of the Hills

My least favorite part of training is what I seem to be doing more of lately. I'm talking about what most runners seem least enthusiastic about, hill work. I never enjoyed this element of my training because it slows us down while demanding the most of our energies, leaving us often breathless. One of the earliest running routes I had in Shoals Indiana was the Catfish 5k loop that involved a series of steep inclines through a cemetery. It's not that odd that the hills zigzag through a grave yard because I feel closer to death when I run up long steep grades. I exempted myself from hill work for about 2 and half years due to some injuries that would aggravate them whenever a took a shot at Mt. Misery. Now healed though, I can not excuse myself from places that make my heart want to bail out of my chest as my legs burn slowly. While there is an obvious case for not loving this training phase, I am having a change of heart these days. So here are the reasons why I am starting to kinda like hill running: 1) More Routes- Overcoming my reluctance with the hills has opened up new surrounding routes and sights to see. It is nice to truly go cross country because I live on the edge of it anyway. Mixing up the routes not only allows me to see fresh places but keeps me from getting bored by the same streets and mailboxes I've passed for the last 3 years. 2) Mental Sharpness- You don't have to think nearly as much about running when you gliding along a relatively flat terrain but when you are leaning into a mountain, you can't help but thinking about the obvious. On the hill there are times when a little voice says "STOP & REST." The hills are where you have to shout back "NO, I CAN REST WHEN I GET HOME." You are forced to focus on breathing and form and getting to the top. When I conquer a big hill I notice the little hills that raised anxiety in the past only become laughable and this is when you realize the muscles of your mind are more developed. 3) Uptempo Running Benefits- Another nice take away from the hill comes after you get to the top. I have discovered it is a lot easier to pick up the pace on the flats because the exertion of moving faster is nothing compared to the effort of a 5% grade. 4) Better Lungs- One of the things a hill will do is test your condition level. When I first ran hills, I felt like a fire breathing dragon that wheezed like I had pneumonia. It seemed to take just as long to get back to normal breathing as the time it took to scale the summit. What I find these days as that while it still demands a lot of wind to get to the top that it takes less time regain my breath. This fact takes away some of the dread I once felt for hills. I would still prefer the flat course of Chicago's marathon over Akron's but at least it's good to know while the hills may never become my favorite part of running, I can see its benefits more clearly now.