“The hills are your friends!!” shouted my 7^th grade cross country coach. That is the day 13-year-old Holly became an introvert. Mostly kidding…but if the hills are my friends…then I’m fine chillin’ on my own. Friends are supposed to support you, challenge you, and make you feel good…right? Running hills DEFINITELY challenged me, but I was not convinced about the whole support and feel good part. Hills left me gasping for air, legs burning and weak, beat down, and sometimes defeated. There’s no way the “hills are my friend”. Right?

Flash forward a couple of decades later. Adult running coach Holly, now understands what my 7^th grade coach meant all those years ago. Hill repeats are a phenomenal workout for strengthening running while reducing risk of injury. This style of workout generally involves running up an incline, looping around back to the bottom, followed by a prescribed rest period for the heart rate to recover, and repeat. Up the hill, rest and recover, repeat. They build muscle and aerobic capacity without the heavy pounding of speed workout. The incline almost forces you into efficient running economy and prevents over striding (Magness, 2014). While these workouts are tough, challenging, and (let’s be honest) PAINFUL they truly do support healthy running and make us stronger. But how do you tackle “the hill”?

1. Set up your posture and alignment with a slight head down position. Allow your chin to tilt gently down, drawing the crown of your head up towards the clouds. Lengthen through the spine and keep your ribcage tucked under your shoulders.
2. Take a deep breath before starting your ascent. Inhale fully, into the belly and ribcage, exhale fully releasing everything.
3. Settle into a steady cadence and breathing pattern. Place your focus not on speed, but instead focus on consistency of pace and breath. Hold that pattern steady and fight the urge to fatigue or change your pattern.
4. Finally, lean into it! Don’t fight the incline by leaning away and “standing up tall”. Instead, let the incline do some of the work for you by leaning into it and pump those arms for a boost. 

Moreover, from the physical gains of hill repeats, we also learn mental resilience to push through when our body is screaming “NO MORE!”. (Side Bar: Listen to your body! Sometimes it is saying “no more” because it’s being challenged and sometimes it’s saying “no more” on the brink of an injury…there’s a difference! But that is for another discussion, so pay attention to the cues of your body. Ok, you may now return to your regularly scheduled reflection). Nobody runs hills for fun…wellll, sometimes I do…but let’s just say MOST people don’t! We run them to build strength, but also to know that We. Can. Do. It. Each hill overcome is a message to ourselves that we are stronger than we think we are.

The benefits of hill repeats outweigh the temporary pain and stress we face attempting to tackle them. The physical and mental challenge pave a smoother path for sustaining healthy running. Overtime, long runs do not feel as long. Sprints do not leave you feeling so winded. And that same hill does not seem so daunting. The physical strength builds mental capacity to overcome and persevere. As your confidence builds tackling these workouts, you begin to trust the “actuallys”.

Actually, I can make it through.
Actually, I am strong enough.
Actually, I can do this.
Actually, I can!
And, I will.

Repetition builds the neuropathway needed to shift your mindset from “this is too hard, I can’t” to “actually, I can”. Not just thinking you can handle the challenge, but truly knowing you can. Repeat the hill. Repeat the mindset. The rest, overtime, falls into place. This is the other side of the uphill battle.

I know what you’re thinking. This is all fine and good, but either a.) I’m not a runner so I DGAF or b.) I still hate running hills because they still suck. Trust me, I feel you on this but hang with me.

Let’s flash forward again to the day my 4-week old son’s cardiologist said, “he’s fighting an uphill battle and we’re losing.” I felt like I was gasping for air, legs were weak, I was beat down and defeated. This felt familiar…this felt like those hill repeats from 7^th grade that 13-year-old Holly wanted so badly to run away from. My baby boy, Brooks, had a ventricular septal defect (VSD) which is a fancy way to say he had a hole in his heart that would require surgery. My husband and I knew about the defect around the 28^th week of pregnancy but did not know the extent of it until after he was born. His rather sizeable VSD (along with a few other complications in his heart) put strain to the pulmonary system causing his heart and lungs to work overtime. His surgeon likened it to the stress our bodies feel running a marathon. But instead of the marathon ending after a few hours, Baby Brooks was “running a marathon” around the clock and burning calories at an alarming rate from simply just existing, which prevented him from gaining weight. After weeks of medically managing his symptoms we were handed phrases like “failure to thrive”, “fighting a losing battle”, “heart failure”, and the list goes on. His system was maxed out. He was fighting an uphill battle. At the recommendation of our experienced and compassionate cardiologist, my husband and I, agreed it was time to expedite his surgery and it was scheduled for one week later…

As I gazed down at my sweet baby, watching his head bob and lungs retract with every labored breath, I knew in my soul that his uphill battle was preparing him for what was next to come. He was just beginning his hill repeats in preparation for the longer race. Getting through surgery, recovering, and coming out the other side stronger than ever. So here we go…head down, take a deep breath, hold steady, and lean into it.

Heart failure sets in…up the hill.
Responds well to medication…rest and recover.
Failure to thrive…up the hill.
Made positive weight gains…rest and recover.
Gains are not enough…up the hill.
Surgery scheduled and completed with success…rest and recover.

And so the pattern goes. With each hill he climbed, I watched him fight like hell to get to the top and then get stronger during his periods of rest and recovery.

After surgery came the next set of hill repeats. Recovery from surgery. Sometimes you can look at a hill and know just exactly what you’re in for. Other times, you look up and think it’s not so bad but half way up you realize it is much steeper and longer than you had anticipated. Do you turn around and go back? Nope, that defeats the purpose, so you keep pushing forward. Even if it means your pace slows down. Even if it means you let out tears along the way. Even if it means you tell yourself “there’s no way I can do this.” But somehow, each time, you make it to the top. Recovery from surgery was that kind of hill repeat for all three of us. Here we go again…head down, take a deep breath, hold steady, and lean into it.

Surgery completed successfully…take a deep breath.
Setbacks from ventilator…up the hill.
Opens eyes for the first time…rest and recover.
Gets an infection and collapsed lung…up the hill.
Responds well to antibiotics and is OFF THE VENTILATOR…rest and recover.
Can’t keep food down…up the DAMN hill!
Find the right “formula” and get discharged from the hospital…REST and recover.

Once again, and so the pattern goes. While there was much, much more in between, it is safe to say this was by far the absolute hardest experience of my life. But that’s the funny thing about the “hardest thing.” This was not the first “hardest thing” I’ve ever done in my life. I’ve experienced loss of loved ones, the end of a marriage, the feeling of starting over and each one of those uphill battles I fought was (at its time) the hardest thing I had ever done in my life. Each one of those hill repeats taught me that I can hit my lowest low and still make it through, stronger than ever. The other side, of the uphill battle.

13-year-old Holly wanted to run away from those painful hill repeats, but something kept her coming back for more. More challenge, more strengthening, and more confidence with each hill that was overcome. Years of running (and life) later, I have finally accepted the physical and mental strength those hills gave me. While agonizing in the waiting room during his surgery, while being painstakingly “patient” (I was NOT at all patient) during the first few weeks of his roller coaster recovery, while reluctantly trying to trust the process and know he’ll be ok…I called upon the strength of the hills. I accepted the challenge of the uphill battle desperately searching for the other side.

And as for Baby Brooks? He still has a few hill repeats left in this cycle of training, but each day he cries a little less, smiles a little more, and gets a little stronger. His dad and I could not be more proud of his strength, resilience, and stubborn-as-hell attitude!

So, the next time you are faced with an uphill battle, hear the call of my 7^th grade coach, “the hills are your friends!” Remember the pattern of the hill repeats and the lessons of Baby Brooks…head down, hold steady, deep breath, and lean into it. You never know what will be on the other side…

(Oh, and are you wondering how I coped with all of the stress, anxiety, and trauma of 2.5 weeks in the pediatric ICU? Well, I bought myself a kick ass pair of Brooks Running shoes! See you on the hills my friends.)