Where do I add hill workouts into my marathon training plan?

[biomaj5]

I am going to start training for my second marathon on July 22. The race is Nov 24 (Rt 66 Marathon in Tulsa). I've been told by several people that it's a very hilly course and that hill work would be very beneficial. But I don't know where to put it in the week! I'm using Hal Higdon's Novice 1 plan. This is how my schedule is set out, for now:

M: Treadmill sprints in the morning with my trainer/weights in afternoon (arms)
T: Longest midweek run (3 up to 10 miles)
W: Bootcamp/Shorter midweek run (3-5 miles)
TH: 3 up to 5 miles. This run might occasionally move to Friday mornings if my trainer is here (she's here about every other Friday, it varies). If it moves to Fri, Thurs will be a bonus rest day.
F: Kickboxing or run
S: Long run
Su: complete rest day


Could the Wednesday or Thurs/sometimes Fri run become a hill workout? And do I do the same amount of mileage that the training has me running, or just do some hillwork regardless of distance? Or, if the hills don't make the full mileage, should I make up the rest of the miles with regular running?

Thank you

[clseale]

If I was preparing for a hilly marathon, I'd do hills during your weekly semi-long run, so Tuesday.

ETA: I don't think the hills have to be non-stop for the entire run, but it's going to be important to train on hills when your legs are also tired from a higher mileage run.

[Brit]

Jul 1, 2013 14:52:18 GMT -5 clseale said:

If I was preparing for a hilly marathon, I'd do hills during your weekly semi-long run, so Tuesday.

I agree with this. I would probably also make sure that there were some hills in my long runs. I don't think that every 'hill' run has to be a 'kill the hill' type of thing. I would try to 'kill the hills' on Tuesday, but also throw some 'just survive it' hills into the long run so that I was confident about climbing hills on tired legs.

[pamela]

I've heard of doing them altnerating with speed work since both are focused on pushing your body harder. But in the case of a marathon that might be hilly for a good part of it, it's probably a good idea to do your T or Th run on hills.

[biomaj5]

My Tuesday runs will most likely all be on the treadmill due to my work/class schedule. So would it make sense to do a few miles, then do some hills around the middle of the run, and then finish out the scheduled distance? I don't know much about how to do hillwork on a treadmill-googling that to find some kind of plan is my next step lol.

ETA: Option B on this could be to run the hills around my workplace and then finish on the treadmill if needed, but I'm not incredibly keen on running in this area alone. I might be able to find someone to run hills with me at lunchtime though, but that would mean finishing out the mileage after work in the gym.

[keweenawlove]

I do a hill workout on average every other week during my training cycles. Most workouts are 6-10 times up a hill that takes ~2 minutes, followed by 4-6 20 second sprints. For a hilly course, I'd work on incorporating some hills into your long runs. Not necessarily "all out" hills, but just run then like they're part of a normal run.

[Brit]

Jul 1, 2013 15:20:51 GMT -5 biomaj5 said:

My Tuesday runs will most likely all be on the treadmill due to my work/class schedule. So would it make sense to do a few miles, then do some hills around the middle of the run, and then finish out the scheduled distance? I don't know much about how to do hillwork on a treadmill-googling that to find some kind of plan is my next step lol.

ETA: Option B on this could be to run the hills around my workplace and then finish on the treadmill if needed, but I'm not incredibly keen on running in this area alone. I might be able to find someone to run hills with me at lunchtime though, but that would mean finishing out the mileage after work in the gym.

I would probably warm up at 1% incline (or flat, whichever you usually do), then repeat 4:00 hill/2:00 flat (or 1%) until you have maybe a mile to go, then do the last mile flat (or 1%). As for the incline, I would probably set it at 6% +/- 2% depending on how uncomfortable it felt. Not all hills have to be the same incline. Also, each 4:00 hills does not have to be the same incline for the whole time. I would just aim to make it uncomfortable but not unattainable.

ETA:  I think the treadmill is actually a really good place to do a hill workout because you have control over the grade and length of the hills.