Running on the hills has a host of benefits but whether you are opting to run easy or hard, the pace will be very different to what you are used to running on the flat. So how do you pace it correctly?
It is difficult for us as Coach's to give you a converted flat to hill pace as this will vary depending on the elevation and length of the hill. How often you run on hills will also affect your pace capacity with the more experienced runners being stronger. Don't let this put you off hill running though as not only does it come with the physical benefits but often the hillier routes are the prettiest!
The best way to run your hill sessions is using Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE); this is your effort level, how hard it feels. And as we have seen, many factors could affect this such as heat, altitude, how long you have been training for or how hard you are pushing. Lets take a 5% hill that is 100m long as an example. At the start of a 10km race this might feel 4/5 on RPE Scale, however, if this was in the last 100m of the race it would probably feel closer to 8/9. The same goes for a hill session. Say one week we do a hill session and the following week we do the same session but on a different hill, the same workout might feel totally different! The hills have probably varied in elevation and length.
When using RPE you will constantly be reflecting on how hard it feels. Is your breathing elevated? Does it feel like you will be able to finish the session? The more runs we do using RPE, the better we become at dialling into the right effort, which in effect will be more beneficial in getting the best out of yourself during the session. No one wants to have too much energy left at the end of the session and feel like they haven't tried hard enough. Similarly we do want to get to the end of the session and feel completely exhausted!
Often athletes can may the mistake of going to the point of complete exhaustion which has a knock on effect to other training in the week. Unfortunately this often leads to injuries, burnout and having to take extended periods of recovery. You can change any of your Runna workouts from pace to RPE via 'Manage My Plan' and 'Units of Measurement'. We will advise what effort to aim for so you don't push it over the limit.
Running to RPE for your hilly runs (hard or easy) helps to create a fun and sustainable plan, allowing you to be consistent with your training. It also gives you a moment away from being bound by paces and glued to your watch screen. This is a freeing way to run, will improve your pace judgement and help you understand your body better. It might take some practice but we would encourage you to embrace it!