In honor of Global Running Day, let’s run some hills.

Hills can be great for long or short runs. They make a challenging workout, are easy to find, and if you can’t get outside its easy to create a hill for yourself using a treadmill in your home or a gym.

Hill walking/running/jogging attacks your cardiovascular system, your glutes, quads, abdominal muscles and can be done in a short period of time- which is also helpful. And if you’re not a runner and you’re reading this- don’t fret, you can walk this too- it’s all about the intervals.

Our bodies do best with interval training- they make the most benefit and they take the least amount of time; additionally, you can adapt them to your workout level, which means no matter who you are you can make it happen!

Ok, let’s get started- here’s 3 hill workouts you can do – no matter where you are.

Here’s what you need:

• Sneakers
• A stop watch (your phone will do)
• Headphones – I like to run with my bose ones – like these
• Any other athletic gear you need

Workout #1: When you have a high hill to run

Duration of the workout: 20-30 minutes

Here’s how to do it:

• Start with 5-10 minutes of walking/jogging
• Then find yourself at the bottom of your hill- if it’s longer, it’ll work better- but if not just repeat.
• If there’s telephone posts or posts in the road that are relatively evenly spaced, you’ll sprint from the first to the second post, then walk the second to the third, sprint the third to the fourth etc (you can also do this workout by doing walk, then jog, then sprint- between the various posts).
• Continue for 1-1.5 miles or about 20-30 minutes- if the hill isn’t long enough, just walk or jog down and repeat the section of the hill again that you started with.
• You should be sweaty at the end of this- it’s a good idea to check your heart rate and watch the spike and the dip – to make sure this is effective for you.

Workout #2: Using a short hill, repeat.

This second option can be done when your hill is shorter, your time is more limited or if this feels easier for you.

Try to use a hill that takes you at least 15 seconds to run up- closer to 30 seconds is even better.

Here’s how to do it:

• Start with 5-10 minutes or walking or jogging.
• Your plan is to run the hill for 20-25 minutes, so that can be at a jogging pace if needed or a faster pace. What you’ll do is run up the hill for 30 seconds and take 30-60 seconds rest in between (while you walk down). You can choose to start with 5 hills- at 70% and take it up, or keep it the same (which is what I do- I aim for 70% output and just repeat for total time I want to workout).
• If you need a break you can do pushups or air squats in between.
• Repeat until you finish! You should be sweaty at the end.

Workout #3: On a treadmill

This option can transform your treadmill – I like to imagine mine is a hill in Chianti that I visited a few years back.

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Minutes 1-5: warm up- jog, run- whatever feels good.
• Minutes 5-6: Level 3-5 on the incline, at your “base pace”- mine is 7.5, but most people are at about a 6-6.5 mph range
• Minutes 6-7: Maintain base pace, run on level 1 incline
• Minutes 7-8: Level 5 on the incline, 0.5 mph above your base pace
• Minutes 8-9: Cool down/ below your base
• Minutes 9-10: Level 6 on the incline, 1 mph above your base
• Minutes 10-10:30: Level 1 on the incline, sprint- as much as you can
• … repeat minutes 5-10:30, 2 or 3 more times- increasing pace as you can
• You should be sweaty here too!
• Truly, I love these workouts- they really get my heart rate up and make me feel great- so give them a try!

Happy running!

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