It’s important to differentiate the difference between 60 minutes of easy running and 60 mins on a hilly route.

This really became apparent to me when I joined my running club for a weekly session. Having come off the back of a tough session the day before I needed an easy run to shake out the legs, but it turned out anything but easy.

If joining a group led by a run leader it could be worth reaching out to discover the planned route. You don’t want to be doing 250 metres of elevation in 60 minutes if an easy run is in the schedule.

This could quickly turn into another tough run. That said, on occasions hills are exactly what we need in our training, especially if we have an undulating race coming up.

The important thing to appreciate is the training load of 60 minutes on the flat can be very different to 60 mins on the hills. So that’s why I’ve created a totally different session.

If you were scheduled to run 60 mins easy and the group leader takes you up every hill in sight, then don’t panic, simply note the extra training load and adjust your schedule in the next few days.

Over training is the biggest cause of injury so we need to monitor that training load to get the right level. Equally running this hills can give us confidence for those upcoming races, so listen to your coach and training plan to get the best out of your sessions and schedule.

If you are doing this session you can keep the pace up the hill much slower than if you were running on the flats. Don’t worry about your pace on an easy hilly run, naturally it will be much slower than if you did 60 mins on a flat route. Instead focus on keeping your RPE down and running with good form. That will help you get the most out of this session.