Managing Hills

hot to trot

The mooathon half marathon is basically uphill for the first 4 miles and downhill for the next good few. Whats the best way to cope with this? Do you take it handy on the way up so that you don't trash yourself and then try to make up the time runnig back down , or do you try and stay going as close to your usual effort as you can and just recover on the way down?
Also are you supposed to run downhill or do you just hold back a bit?

Peckham

I have entered for the mooathon, but was up in Donegal a few weeks back and drove the route, and decided at that point not to run it as I felt it was too hilly for me this close to the Dublin marathon - i.e. it could take a while to recover from. The hills on this course are pretty extreme - someone here warned me that it was near vertical in parts, and this is a pretty accurate description....I drove parts of the course (miles 3-6 I think) in 2nd gear! Are you familiar with the course?

My approach to racing is to try and keep the pace steady throughout - i.e. uphill and downhill at the same speed. Naturally this isn't always possible, and you will be that bit slower going up some hills, however you shouldn't try to force the pace when going downhill, nor should you try to put on the brakes too hard. You have to be more cautious of the downhill parts as this is where you pick up the strains from over-reaching tired muscles.

Good luck with mooathon - would love to hear your race report!

T runner

Running at a constant effort is usually the way to go but with extreme hills that may not be possible. i.e you may have no choice but that the effort is harder up.
The long hills may also test your climbing endurance. If you havent trained for this type of hill you may slow significantly when the legs are geting tired further up the hill.
I would suggest starting the first major hill at a very conservative pace and ease your way up. Small steps and follow in behind someone but nice and easy: youll get a feel for the right pace after a while. Again on the downhills your stride lenght will increase. Conciously take small fast steps going down no need to push (unless its the last downhill with the line close), this will reduce the jarrring and tiredness of your quads. Although you seem to be reducing your stride lenght it is actually increasing.
Generally there is a high chance of slowing i races like these so start conservatorily. Youll know the right pace after a few miles and you can control it. If you go too quick youll have no choice but to suffer the consequences

911sc

Look at the elevation of this one.... Take a deep breath... and the Mooathon is now flat;)

I would agree more with T Runner than Peckham on this one...but it is down to each individual.

My line of thinking is to try to keep the energy expenditure constant, e.g. small steps & slow going up, long step & fast going down.

hot to trot

Thats great , thanks. Will give it a shot and see how I get on.

Peckham

911sc wrote: »

My line of thinking is to try to keep the energy expenditure constant, e.g. small steps & slow going up, long step & fast going down.

Is this not a wee bit risky in terms of injuring yourself on the downhills?

911sc

What i mean by "long steps & fast going down" is really to make use of gravity as much as you can, e.g. you pickup speed if you don't make an effort to slow down.

An other way to look at it is to try to keep HR in whatever zone you are confortable. In my case, my HR goes up to 170s uphill, down to 140s down hill, and average early 150s. So, i should really slow down going up and speed up going down to keep it at 150s. That's the theory bit....need to practice now. I only got a HRM 2 months ago.

Slogger Jogger

A hilly course needn't necessarily be a slow course. If you hang in there on the uphills the downhills can almost be sprinted - its almost free energy. Just let yourself go. Do some hill training runs and races to build up your experience. I run on hills at least twice a week. I haven't run a huge amount of half marathons but I set my PB in the Bay run between Glengarriff and Bantry and that was quite hilly. On a training run last night I was hauling myself slowly uphill on minute at 6 min km pace. Downhill then it was a different matter of 3.30 min kms. Use the hills positively, don't let them be a negative.

hot to trot

I am going to have to find some hills to practice on costhey were a disaster for me!
The hills up were tough but thats grand. The gradient coming down was so steep that even though I was taking it easy as I came over the top gravity grabbed me and threw me down the hill like a small child. My legs were going like a sewing machine and I tried long strides to keep up with myself and also small short little ones to try and brake the fall. It scared the bejaysus out of myself cos the road was a bit wet and I was sure I was going to go like the luge face down and face first. :eek:
Second time wasn't as bad cos it didn't go on for as long. Next time I think I will have to walk down.
Otherwise it was great, although the legs are shot today cos I normally run half's at 80% and this one was much tougher to start cos of the hills. Did I say hills? I meant mountains

Satan Polaroid

I have submitted an entry to the connemara marathon, and have similar concerns.

Is the connemara one as bad?

911sc

Satan Polaroid wrote: »

Is the connemara one as bad?

On the marathon course, you basically get 3 hills:
1- in around mile 8/9 - long-ish but not bad at all - nice and easy
2- From mile 13 (Leenane) to 15-ish - need to stay focus on this one, and Do Not Stop though i have seen a good bit of people running/walking it
3- Hell of the West - approx Mile 22 to 24 - Not nice as i really come at the worse time. Do what you can on this one.

Between 2- and 3-, the roads does not stop going up & down all the way, like bumps.

Satan Polaroid

911sc wrote: »

On the marathon course, you basically get 3 hills:
1- in around mile 8/9 - long-ish but not bad at all - nice and easy
2- From mile 13 (Leenane) to 15-ish - need to stay focus on this one, and Do Not Stop though i have seen a good bit of people running/walking it
3- Hell of the West - approx Mile 22 to 24 - Not nice as i really come at the worse time. Do what you can on this one.

Between 2- and 3-, the roads does not stop going up & down all the way, like bumps.

Thanks. It will be my first marathon. Aiming to be able to do 16 mile on Christmas day, and that should put me in good shape for the marathon.

hot to trot

One of the girls had done the Connemara run and said that it was much easier than the Mooathon. I think COnnemara is more like the Achill half mara.

aviendha

+1, spoke to a few at the Mooathon who had done Connemara and said Connemara was easier because of the more gradual gradient, whereas the Mooathon was STEEP!!! But we got through it!

911sc

Connemarathon route & elevation here for those interested