Hill Training
The idea of the hill runs is to get your legs used to the eccentric contractions
caused by running the down hills pretty quickly. The soreness that stems from this
is the same as the soreness that you get in your quads during the marathon. By doing
these eccentric contractions on the hills before the marathon, your body builds an
immunity.
1. Going up hill - run with a prancing, bouncy on your toes style with more
of an emphasis on knee lift and vertical elevation than on speed. This bouncy effort provides a great strength building
stimulus for all of your leg muscles. Use your arms more forcefully and hold them a bit higher going up hill. If you need
to go very slowly for a minute or two between these repeats, that would be fine.
2. Going down hill - try to exercise
good form by taking slightly faster steps, keeping your feet closer to the ground and trying to maintain a neutral or
slightly forward lean rather than leaning back to slow yourself down. Go a little faster without trying any harder by
letting gravity pull you down. Be careful on the Cemetery Hill and Big Bertha going down.
3. On the straights - try to run relaxed and as efficiently as you can. Think about maintaining a slight forward lean from the ankles not
by bending you waist, maintaining good posture with your head straight and your eyes up and focus on your elbows pushing
back to counterbalance you falling forward as you run.
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