Half Marathon Training Plan for Hills

I’ve decided on a couple of races for the fall season. First up will be the Turkey and Taurs 10k Trail Race on November 4. While I’ve done many a trail run, this will be my first actual trail race! I’ve also got the Tulsa Route 66 Half Marathon, also in November,  on tap. I completed this race last year and while I definitely enjoyed it, I didn’t preform they way I would have liked. I came in around 1:56, a full four minutes from where I wanted to be. What was the problem? The hills. Are there huge hills on the course? No. Are there smaller hills peppered throughout the first 10 miles? Yep. That, my friends, is what did me in. This year, however, I am going to approach training differently and make those hills mine. If you want to find success in one area of your racing, well, you gotta train specifically for it. No getting around that one. I’ve done some research and come up with a training plan that I think will do a good job of getting me ready for this race.

This schedule will cover four different types of runs: long, hills, speed, and easy. I’m also going to keep up with my strength workouts. We all know how much those help and it wouldn’t be in my best interest to slack in that department.

My long runs will be preformed on the weekends (usually Saturday) and will start at 5 miles and increase a mile each week until I get up to 12. The hill workouts will consist of simply running on hills, duh. In all seriousness, my goals on these runs with be to power through the hills and keep pace, not slow down. I can recover and stabilize my breathing on the down slope. Speed work is vital too, it is what preps your body for running fast and for an extended amount of time. I usually keep it pretty simple and do the following: warm up by running at a comfortable pace for 5 minutes, then bump up my speed for 5 minutes, running at a pace that feels uncomfortable yet achievable. Then, slow back down to a comfortable pace for 2 minutes for recovery. Repeat anywhere from 5-8 times or what will fit into my given time frame. I also always make sure to give myself 5 minutes of cool down at the end. My easy runs are just that. Easy. They are usually around 3-4 miles and run at a very comfortable pace.

All put together…(click to see in excel): Half-Marathon Training Schedule Hills

If you have a hilly fall race on the books, you should give this plan a try!

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