Mission: Eat Hills 4 Breakfast

Thursday: 3 x hill repeats (30 minutes)

As I mentioned in my New Year, New Goals post, I am working on a lot of glute and quad strengthening exercises this year. As part of this training, I am also focusing on hill repeats (those morning hill runs with my dad gave me a great insight into my current fitness level---uh, HELLO--Can you say OUT-OF-SHAPE?)  

So I have given myself a new mission:

 EAT HILLS FOR BREAKFAST!! 

(In other words, no more avoiding painful hills. Instead...conquer them!) 

You with me?!

So on Thursday morning, I came up with this gradual hill climb workout on the treadmill, check it out!

2 minute warm up 

then...

 Repeat 3 times with a 2 minute recovery (easy paced) run between each set
Finish with a 2 minute jog and a 1 minute walk to cool down

I would categorize this workout level as: intermediate. However, it can easily be tailored to both beginner and advanced level runners as well. Here are a few examples:

Beginners Level

2 minutes warm up

30 seconds @ incline level 1

30 seconds @ incline level 1.5... etc 

(and build on until incline level 3 or 4)

Advanced Level

For the advanced level runners you could play with speed on this one. Increase your speed to a comfortably hard pace during the hills or try sprinting during increased incline levels and so forth. 

 I loved this workout because it gradually build up to a difficult incline. I felt my muscles working hard and my heart pumping out of my chest by minute 4! It's a quicker jump into the hills but that's what makes it a challenge worthy of accepting! :) You could also definitely play with a few factors: speed, length of workout and level of incline. Again, this is just a guideline--do what suits your health and fitness level. 

I was sweatin' like a pig when I finished.

Short-n-sweet. Perfect for time left to stretch it out!  

So give it a try, let me know what you think!

Do you enjoy running hills?

Do you hate them as much as I do? 

(I'm trying REALLY hard to make friends with them but they just aren't consistently kind to me...we're working on our relationship right now.)

How do you get through hard workouts? Any tips or tricks?!