How Did You Celebrate?

NaTioNal RunNinG DaY

June 1st marks an exciting day for us runners. It's a day that while many of us solo runners are out pounding mileage, we know there's a whole lotta people out there celebrating with us.

In honor of National Running Day I finally left my slacker habit behind. I've been meaning to do some hill repeats for a while but had a lot of "good" excuses to focus on getting my base mileage done instead. Well not any more! Yesterday on my 5 miler I snaked some blocks set on a hill so I would get both an uphill/downhill length and a flat length between them.

Why do hill repeats? Here's some benefits...

1. You'll Build Strength - Running on an incline is a form of resistance training and will strengthen all your running muscles (calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors) more than training on flat ground.


2. You'll Decrease Chance of Injury - Since your strengthening your running muscles your less likely to get running-related injuries.


3. You'll Get Faster - The muscles you use to run up hills are the same ones used for sprinting, so the strength you build will improve your speed. Often as I've conquered a hill on my route, my pace gets faster for the remaining mileage.


4. You'll Fight Boredom - If you're getting tired of your flat courses then changing it up a bit can renew motivation

There is technique that goes into a hill repeat as well. For some great advice visit this link.

How did you Celebrate National Running Day?