Tackle the hills along your routes: – You are always stronger for completing them!

Including hills in your training runs is a great way to build stamina needed to complete the distance.  If there are hills on your half marathon racecourse it’s even more important to include a few hills on your regular training routes.  If you decide to ease back and walk up the hills on race day, that’s okay.  But even if your course doesn’t have any hills you still might want to consider including it in your workouts to build strength. Courses that don’t have big hills can have inclines that can be ominous on event day. It’s always good to practice on rolling terrain.

How to run hills:

• Lean slightly into the hill
• Keep the abs and back strong
• Focus your attention only a few feet in front of you
• Shorten the leg stride with small, quick steps. The most common mistake people make is over-striding up a hill.  Test it yourself. Try one hill with small quick steps, and the next with a longer stride.  Guaranteed you will discover your effort will be greater with the longer stride.

• Land on the balls of the feet and the second the foot touches the ground, consciously lift the knees as quickly as possible.
• Remember to pump your arms. As always, the arms dictate the pace
• Finally, be patient. One step-at-a-time and before you know it you will be up the hill and going down the other side.  Regardless of whether you walk or run up hills, getting to the top is a great confidence booster.