Ever ran up a hill and felt that it drained your energy almost immediately, made you breathless and you thought you’re going to collapse anytime? Because, same here. I am sure everyone dreads to run up a hill and will avoid it at all cost!
Most people still prefer to know the route beforehand because they feel that running uphill might disturb their running momentum and thus, not able to achieve their personal best. However, you might not need to avoid it anymore because we got you!
Benefits of running uphill
It helps to improve
- Your running form – when you train running uphill, your muscles are forced to perform in a coordinated way, which will increase your power output. Thus, with greater power output, you are able to run longer and faster.
- Muscular strength – Since running uphill requires you to use your muscles from your calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes, it will actually strengthen those areas as compared to running on flat grounds.
- Confidence boost – running uphill during training will prepare you physically and mentally. With that, with any given race course, you will be able to nail it!
So, How to run uphill correctly?
Naturally, we tend to bend forward whenever we climb or run uphill to avoid any tripping. Leaning forward is indeed necessary, however, not too much. This is because leaning forward will restrain movements especially when you need to bring your knees up which will affect your overall running performance.
According to Runners Connect, here are a few steps you can follow:
- Chest Straight and open with a slight lean forward at the hips, not the stomach
- Keep your head up and look 30 meters ahead of you. This will ease the flow of oxygen. Also, keep your arms at a 90-degree angle at the elbow and swing straight back and forth.
- Focus on driving your knee off the hill and work on landing on the ball of your foot to spring up the hill.
- Point your toes towards the ground. This will save you a lot of energy and help you to get up the hill faster and with less energy.
Running uphill might be a dread for some, however, when you apply these techniques and train well, you can conquer hills of all lengths and inclines!
