Your Elevation Profile determines whether your plan will include hill workouts as part of your training. Runna supports four different elevation profiles:
Flat: no hill workouts will be part of your training
Rolling: mostly flat workouts but with some hill workouts
Moderate: a more moderate mix of flat and hill workouts
Hilly: you’ll get a high amount of hill workouts
How to Set Your Terrain When Creating a Plan
When creating a new plan, you'll be asked how hilly you want your training to be.
Choosing the right terrain ensures Runna schedules the right mix of flat and hill-specific sessions for your environment.
How to Edit Your Elevation Profile
You can update your terrain at any point in your plan:
Go to Plan
Tap Manage Plan
Scroll to Plan Overview
Tap Elevation Profile and choose between Flat, Rolling, Moderate or Hilly.
Tap Update
Your plan will rebuild automatically to reflect the change. To revert any changes made to your Elevation Profile, you can switch back to your previous elevation profile (Plan → Manage Plan → Elevation Profile).
Note: Some older style plans won’t let you change your elevation profile.
How do I Remove Hill Sessions From My Plan?
If you'd prefer not to have hill-specific sessions in your training at all, adjust your plan's elevation profile: Plan → Manage Plan → Plan Overview → Elevation Profile.
Switch to Flat to remove hill-specific workouts entirely, or Rolling for a lighter version. Your plan will rebuild around your chosen terrain while keeping everything else tailored to your goals.
Why Can't I Change the Elevation Profile in My Plan?
If you can't see the Elevation Profile option, you're probably on one of our older original-style plans which don't include this setting.
In that case, replace hill sessions with another workout type using Instant Workouts: Today tab → Scroll down to Add Run → Choose your run type (easy run, interval, or tempo)
I Don't Have Hills Nearby — What Are My Options For Hill Sessions?
If your plan includes hill sessions but you don't have hills available, you have three options:
1. Do a treadmill workout using an incline setting. Adjust your treadmill's incline to simulate a hill. See [How to Record a Hill Workout] for guidance on recommended incline settings.
2. Replace with an Instant Workout Swap the hill session for a different workout type (easy run, tempo, or interval) using Instant Workouts: Today tab → scroll down → Add Run → choose your run type
3. Run by effort (RPE) Switch to effort-based training so you're guided by feel rather than pace targets: Plan → Manage Plan → Units of Measure → RPE
I Live in a Hilly Area — Will My Plan Still Work?
Yes. If your regular runs include hills, don't worry about hitting exact pace targets — focus on running the equivalent effort instead. Switching to RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) can help you train by feel rather than pace: Plan → Manage Plan → Units of Measure → RPE
Need support? Reach out via the in-app support tab and we'll do our best to help.