Running in the mountains

HOW TO START?

Not so long ago, I thought running on hills was impossible. I had almost exclusively been running on flat terrain and I couldn't imagine what the effort would be to run on hills and even less on an uneven terrain. 2019, as I was taking an "Ironman" break and felt like discovering something new, I took the challenge of running a trail. This is how I learned to run on hills. Here's how I did it:

- first I choose a route I am used to do on foot, one that I used to walk during my pregrancy: a constant 800m climb on a varied terrain incl. stairs

- after a short warm up, I chose to run aiming at at running for about 5 to 10 minutes (having a specific visual goal helped, for example "I run till the beginning of the stairs")

- very soon, I realized that running slowly, adapting my rhythm and the length of my steps would allow me to run much longer than I first thought I could

- as I know myself quite well, I understood how to manage the effort. For example, I compared the intensity of the effort on steep and technical parts running vs walking fast. I realized that running is not always faster than walking fast and that it is much more tiring

- step by step, I could increase the distances and discovered new beautiful routes. What a kick and delight!

Today, I just love to run in the mountains!

Maybe this video will encourage you to try it out yourself...

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