If my dentist asks me ‘do you floss regularly?’ I lie. If my parents ask me if I’ve sorted out getting a pension, I lie. And if you were to ask me if I regularly include hill training in my running schedule, I would probably say yes and that would also be a lie. I know I should do all of these things and that they’re ‘good for me’, but they’re not the most tempting of prospects.

But tonight I headed out for my first hill training session in quite some time. I planned to run 1 mile to warm up followed by 5 runs up the hill with jogs back down in between, topped off with a 1-mile cool-down. Did it hurt? Yes. Did I want to stop after two repetitions? Yes. Did I finish? Hell yes!

As much as I put it off and dread doing it, I do like what hill training sessions do for me. They increase strength, reduce the risk of injury and make your stride longer and quicker. Oh, and they make running up hills easier – which is handy if you’re doing a hilly race.

My next race, however is a flat-as-a-pancake half marathon – but the hills aren’t a waste of time. Far from it. Training on hills is like vertical speed sessions – so it makes you run faster on the flats. Sub-2 hours here I come!

Hill training is also very time efficient. It took me just half an hour to feel very tired and deserving of a lie down. If I was running on a flat road it would be about 6 miles before I felt I’d put in the same level of effort. So more time for sitting on the sofa.

Here’s a couple of tips that I’ve found useful for hill training:
1) Don’t look at the top of the hill. Look about 10 meters in front of you.
2) If you listen to music, turn it off for the jog recoveries then crank it up as you head up hill- your body will react like a Pavlovian hound.

What’s your hill training tips?