Uphill and downhill running: training advice on Sennheiser site
Sometimes getting off the roads and onto the hills can make a huge difference to your motivation, it can also help prevent some of the overuse injuries we tend to suffer after relentless pounding on the tarmac.
It’s not all easy though, so check out our latest advice on the runbritain Sennheiser training site to get you running uphill - and down - and the fitness components to enable you to do so to the best of your ability!
What do you look for in a race? Do you scour the event calendars for races that describe themselves as "flat and fast" or do you relish the "scenic, undulating or downright hilly"?
Whether you shy away from the hills or seek out the toughest there are probably depends on how confident you are on them: not just on the climbs but on the descents too. If you struggle on the hills and find people powering on past on the climbs and thundering past on the descents you have possibly told yourself that you're not fit enough for these tough and challenging profiles but it may not be about fitness - it could be about technique.
Fitness components for uphill running
Fitness components can be described as the Five S's:
*Stamina
*Speed
*Strength
*Skill
*Suppleness
But, which of these do you need for hill running? The answer to that is easy! You need all five:
*Stamina because hill running is an endurance event
*Speed because gravity will push you down the hills so you need to be able to go with the pace
*Strength because the hill offers resistance when you are climbing
*Skill because the ground is uneven and so your posture, balance and co-ordination need to be tip-top
*Suppleness also because of the uneven ground. You need to be able to 'give' in different directions on uneven terrain.
These are just a few of the reasons. There are many more....