Every route from my front door starts with a steep hill. Even if I intend an easy run, the first ten minutes feel too hard and I spend the rest recovering. I could walk the climb, jog embarrassingly slowly or take a bus to flatter ground, but the convenience of running from home matters. Have you learned to treat a big opening hill as a warm-up constraint rather than a pace challenge?
Dealing with routes where every run starts with a long hill
- running
- routes
- starts
- long
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4 replies
I’d just power-walk the hill and call it part of the warm-up. I do that on my street because the first climb is brutal, and my easy pace sta...
I’d just power-walk the hill and call it part of the warm-up. I do that on my street because the first climb is brutal, and my easy pace starts after I flatten out. Trying to “win” the hill only makes the whole run feel wrong.
Same here. If I force the opening hill, my calves complain for the rest of the route.
I’m going to disagree a little: if the hill is always the same and you always start too hard, walking it might be the smarter training choice. It’s not embarrassment, it’s just matching effort to the route.
That makes sense. I was wondering if walking the first climb means I’m giving up on the workout, but maybe it’s just the setup.