Next year when I go for my second run at an xc state championship, I have some questions for my long runs. As a runner in MD, I run an extreamly hilly state champioship course. Should I during my long runs add lots of hills to prepare for this course during the bace building and should I continue hilly long runs through the regular season?
I don't see why not. Watch out for calf strain though.
Don't try to focus on different things at the same time. If hills are going to be important, there are better ways to incorporate them into your program than putting them in a long run. Running over a hilly course for a long run is fine, but doing hill reps or something similar during a long run defeats the purpose of the long run.
Your long runs, by default given your location, may very well incorporate hills, but should not necessarily seek them out to train for a specific 5k state championship course. The focus of the long run should be base-building, aerobic conditioning, etc., not racing.
Specificity training can address the hills at the given pace you would race the hills. Why would you train hills at a long run pace, when you have to race them at 5k race pace?
I would incorporate hill repeats and hilly tempo or cruise interval runs into your program for the purpose of strengthening/preparing your body to deal with hills at speed, and concentrate on biomechanics and form for maximizing performance over given terrain features.
My long runs often involve lots of hills. You just need to make sure you slow down enough as to not tax your aerobic and muscular systems too much. Like everyone said here, long runs have a specific purpose, and going into the red can defeat than purpose.
this is a really good question, and I'd like to give you a response to that might sound a little crazy. i'm a college coach, and we run a tremendously hilly course each year that is really important to our team. we don't have the luxury of doing repeats (short or long) using hills, and the hill training we have is mainly running up the side of a mountain for long runs, and back down for the 2nd half.
I tried something new this year, and the results blew me away. we did short hill sprints (maybe 160-180m at the longest) a few times this season in the september and early october. we alternated short-long (90m/ 180m) for a total of 12-16 repeats once, but i really like using hills during sessions like mile repeats, and it's not an option. the biggest change came in the form of hurdle drills. we did 5 drills that focused on increasing the flexibility of the hips, and increasing the knee drive--which is essentially what one needs to become a better hill runner. I was astonished with the results--we ran hills on this course better than ever before. the athletes would crest the hills and pass people with tremendous strength and ease, and our results were the best they'd been in years. in fact, most of the juniors and seniors said that this course seemed easier than it had in the past--but the course hasn't changed in 20+ years!
since you're asking for advice, i'll tell you what we've done to increase our success with hilly courses:
long runs fall into one of 3 categories:
A) 20-22% long run: (meaning 20-22% of our weekly mileage. keep it longer and at an easy pace on a easy course)
B) Progression LR: 90 minute long run with the last 2-3 miles run at threshold pace--go by feel. most athletes would run the last 2M at 8k race pace.
C) Standard LR: 18-20% long run on a challenging course.
Hurdle drills. I searched youtube and spoke with other coaches about what to do, and how to do it. it's not hard--just walk over hurdles, make it fun and do the over-under drills. there's a good vid on flotrack that shows the AZ women's team doing hurdle drills and we do something very similar. you may need to pay for it--i don't remember.
good luck!
Yes, but tone down the pace and distance a bit. Really a hilly long run is TWO workouts, so you need to recover well afterwards and realize that it is a pretty big stress on your body. Big hilly long runs will get you strong as an ox but you have to recover and stay healthy.
Running some hills is a good idea. Some hill workouts are probably a good idea. I'd also just do some hilly runs during the summer and early fall. I wouldnt necessarily try to include them in the long runs though. Long runs should be pretty easy pace, they should be more about spending time running, not the intensity.