HILLS!

Now that my month of races is finally over, it’s time to get back to TRAINING! This weekend we head for the hills of Apopka. Many people in the country can find a few good hills to run pretty close to home, but if you know anything about Central Florida, you know it’s pretty darn flat. 

When we want to train on some nice rolling hills which would  resemble the courses of most races, we head to Apopka. Apopka is about 15 miles outside of Orlando. It’s not a very long drive, but when you are used to starting your run two or three miles from home, it means waking up even earlier! 

Sometimes, we like to run much bigger hills. Again, those are like finding needles in haystacks in Central Florida. Luckily, we only have to travel about 25 miles from Orlando to run a few steep hills out in Clermont. Granted, they are still nothing compared to hills in North Carolina or Colorado, but we make do with what we have.

You might ask why we would travel out of our way to go run hills and make our runs so much more difficult and painful. Well, personally, I really like hills. I like the challenge. I like to feel different muscles working harder. I really like running up hill! I’m actually pretty good at it and have had a few of my friends refer to me as a “goat.” 

But the real reason we go out of our way for hills is because hills just make you a stronger and faster runner. Plus, if you are planning on traveling to run a race, you’d better know what it feels like to huff and puff up a hill and how to run down hills so you don’t completely trash your quads. 

It can be difficult to convince some people that the added torture is well worth it, but it truly is. The more accustomed you become to running undulating courses or courses with steep climbs, the better prepared you will be to take on that terrain in races. Besides, when course descriptions say it’s “flat,” it doesn’t necessarily mean “flat.” Florida Flat is MUCH different than North Carolina Flat. 

Not only that, but Florida does have some manmade hills and they are included in MANY race courses. Those are called BRIDGES! If you plan to run any races near a coastline in Florida, you can almost guarantee you’ll be running over some big bridge going over an intercoastal waterway or a river or a lake. We have many bodies of water to get around or over in Florida. Bridges count as hills!

The moral of the story is don’t be afraid to run some hills. Also, don’t think you have to run the same pace you would be running on a flat course. Hills add intensity so your pace will slow down, but you’ll still be running at a much harder effort level. That’s okay! Your effort level is really what matters here. 

So, grab your group of friends and head for the hills a couple times a month. I promise you will be able to tackle just about any course more efficiently and effectively and your speed will improve on any course.

Krystal