I travelled out to Olathe (O-LAY-tha), KS (Home of Garmin by the way) to visit friends and run a half-marathon this past weekend. First off, I had a great time visiting and being back in Kansas.  It’s just a nice area where I used to work and it was good to hangout with friends for the entire weekend.

Now, it is a popular misconception that Kansas is as flat as a pancake. I am here to tell you that this may very well be the case in several locations around that state, but that is not the case if you are visiting or running a half-marathon in Lawrence, KS. Lawrence, KS is home to The Jayhawks (KU). If you are an NCAA basketball fan you may have heard of them…just not this year. 🙂

Up until now the half-marathons and one full-marathon I’ve ran have all been relatively flat. I train weekly with a slight incline on the treadmill, but it looks like I need to add some hardcore hill training to the mix. So I went out and found a good program for hill training that I can do once every 7-14 days.

Indoor (Treadmill) Hill Training: From Runner’s World

Warm up for 10 minutes, then set the treadmill at your approximate marathon pace. (If you’ve never run a marathon, estimate your marathon time by multiplying your typical 10-K time by 4.65.) With the treadmill elevated 1 degree, run for 2 minutes at marathon pace, then elevate the incline to 2 degrees and run for 2 minutes. Next return to 1 degree for 2 minutes, but then climb to 3 degrees for 2 minutes.

Continue in this manner, raising the grade on every other 2-minute repeat until you’ve reached 7 degrees (the inclination pattern is 1-2-1-3-1-4-1-5-1-6-1-7). If you feel exhausted before you reach 7 degrees, stop, and don’t let it worry you. Try the workout several more times and you’ll develop the ability to handle the hills. Finish the workout by running an easy 8- to 10-minute cooldown.

This should help me take on those hills better. I really think I could have ran a 02:10:00 half or better had I been conditioned for hills. There was a hill in the middle of the course that seemed to go on (and up) forever. The race started and ended on several smaller hills and there was only two areas of the course that were over a mile without a significant incline.

Now I’m really looking forward to the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon which is almost completely flat.  Good chance I’ll PR again and come closer to that sub 2-hour half I’m chasing!

Happy Training!

Brian