Hill Training for the Trails

I’ve always said that I only run uphill to get to the downhill. It is undoubtedly my favourite part of trail running: zooming downward, letting gravity take the wheel, yelping Mario Kart noises with every near-stumble. As with all things in life, you don’t get to enjoy the reward without putting in the work to get there, and the faster you can get up, the faster you get to the fun part.

Thus, I consider one of the most beneficial trail running workouts to be uphill repeats at high intensity. Don’t get me wrong—my stomach still turns a little every time I open my training log and see the dreaded hill intervals, knowing it targets my weakest skill. But that’s the point of workouts—to make us stronger.

Uphills are cool because they develop muscular strength and endurance with less impact forces than flat and downhill running, so you can do the hard work with less stress on the body. Also, getting stronger and faster at hills will make you faster on flat terrain. Last but not least, running uphill at a hard effort reinforces efficient running mechanics by forcing higher knees, strong arm swings, upright posture and a strong drive through full hip range of motion.