Hill training--how effective did it help you for the marathon?

Overbrook Ravine is one I've heard of, I forgot to mention that one I did know. Walhalla, mentioned earlier is further south, now that I googled it, and I've seen that one before. But I always get them mixed up.

I don't have any scientific evidence, but I sincerely think hills help during the marathon cycle. Folks like Bart Yasso claim hills (both running up and running down) help "callus" the legs, especially the quads. I think the theory is at least partially accurate.

Every three weeks or so during the marathon cycle I do hills @10% incline on a soft trail . At the beginning of the cycle I do 10X30ish seconds up followed by a 1:30ish downhill "recovery." Towards the middle of the cycle, I'll do 10x1:00 to 1:30 with 2:00ish downhill recovery, and I usually will do a session of 6-8x2:00 with 3:00ish downhill recovery several weeks out from the marathon.

I recently did a sub 3 marathon and didn't do any hill work. I did a tempo run once a week, intervals once a week, a long run up to 22 miles and an overall mileage of 60.

I don't know why this guy has been downvoted but he is correct. I have never done hill repeats before and recently ran sub 3. Yes my regular runs have hills but there is no need to focus on hills. Just get the miles in and do 2 workouts a week if your body can handle it without breaking down. Keep it simple.

I ran 2:28 at Boston last week without any consistent hill work. I do try to keep my workouts on varied elevation though, trying not to keep it too flat. We have the southern route of our bike path that is good for that.

As far as super steep hill repeats, I'm on the fence about it. Personally, I'll take a hill with a smaller grade where I can go by effort without having it affect my form too much.

I respect your post and his but I do think hills work. In hindsight, when I did my 18:33 in 2008 where I lived there was a huge hill by my house in Chesterland. 100 meters, 5% grade, very steep. And I had to run it to get to another part of town I liked to run at. It went through a nice park and had a wooded portion as well.

I will say that in my experience, train for the race and terrain you're going to be on. Hills are only beneficial to a point and there's no need to go out of your way to replicate hills for specific workouts if you're not going to be running specific races on hills like those. Run outside, run often, vary your routes, and the different winds/roads/and ways you go about your runs should be sufficient enough.

The only time I've focused specifically on lots of hill repeats was once before Boston and once a week when doing an ultra trail marathon with 8,000+ feet of elevation change. Otherwise you can 'callous your legs' just as efficiently with consistency and decent mileage with a marathon specific training plan.

Don't get injured, run in ways that make you happy but challenge you, and make it routine then the results will follow :)

Thanks Average. I'm so proud of your Boston accomplishments. I wouldn't run hills that often, moreso as a changeup to get my legs used to different terrain and not getting bored with the same route over and over, etc. You are right about varying routes, etc.

I'm doing a ton of my running now at EZ pace, like 10:00 or slower, esp. now that I'm in base phase, but no structured plan yet.

And congrats on your DC move! There's a ton of running clubs there, and collegiate athletes galore. I have friends who went to CUA and Georgetown.

Ran some hills on Saturday because the Olentangy Trail has a detour (?) for about a mile. The new route runs through a hilly neighborhood and I think I've found a new training spot!

I just realized typing this I could also run the "W", which is a W-shaped neighborhood of hills (and really nice homes) west of Worthington Hills Market.

It's helped me find strength--I ran a speed workout on Monday (threshold, really) and I felt my form was stronger and I was using my glutes to power me and not the calves!

I won't overdo it on the hills either--once every few weeks just to add strength to my base miles on the flat ground.

For marathon training, you need a long stretch of rolling hills (> 6mi) and this is far more effective than short hill reps. If you can tempo on rolling hills, you will kill your marathon. My rule of thumb:

30-60m steep hills: Power development for the 200-800m, 100 - 200m steep hills: great for middle-distance, 500m - 1k and gradual: effective for 5k,10k, HM, Rolling hills that can be a part of your long run: excellent marathon prep.

I hit the hills weekly and mix it up. It kicks my butt but I have not gotten injured (yet) hammering hills. Most of my injuries are from workouts on the track.

Good advice and thank you!

Someone bumped this thread because I got a notification at 7:01 a.m. but then the post was removed. LOL

I stopped cramping in marathons when I moved to a hilly area and started training regularly on them. My 5k-half marathon times didn’t improve as much but the marathon sure did.

Makes sense. It seems like the marathon is a test of strength, more than speed, and the hill training confirms that.