Getting in Some Hill Work

On Saturday, Matt and I met up with a couple of CHS hiking friends and hiked Umtanum Ridge. We met up at the Preston P&R and imagine our surprise when we encountered two other groups of CHS hikers rendezvousing for their hike also! It was nice to see seasoned and new CHSers heading off for a fun hike on a beautiful day! 

I'd never been to the Umtanum area before and had heard that the flower displays this time of year are pretty spectacular. It did not disappoint--my favorite lupine was in abundance everywhere and smelled wonderful! It was also a nice day and the views were pretty spectacular from the ridge as well. If you haven't done this trail before, it should be on your early season list. But one thing I should warn you about is the steepness of the hike. The last quarter mile of the hike up to the ridge is incredibly steep and knowing how to do the rest step is important. It's also extremely helpful if you have seasoned yourself on a few hills first too. 

There are a few ways to prepare for hiking up hills that you can do around town in a short period of time. If you work in or near a building with several flights of stairs you can walk up and down the stairs with or without weight. It works even better if you can turn it into an interval or Fartlek training session by walking fast or running up the stairs for 30-60 seconds and then walking down the stairs for double that time.  Repeat that 10-15 times each. Throw in a warm up and cool down period and you've got a quick workout that will prime you for hiking hills. 

Another way to practice hills is to find a good hill or series of hills in your neighborhood and walk or run up and down them for 45-60 minutes at least once a week. You can also make this into an interval as well. If you live on the eastside near the Tolt Pipeline trail, this is an awesome place to do that. But Seattle is full of good hills so I'm sure you can find something that will work. Throw on a pack with 10-15 lbs of weight to add a little challenge and up the weight occasionally to increase the workout once you've gotten used to previous weight.  

Doing this type of training at least once a week will really help you motor up the hills on your hikes a lot faster and with less exertion. Even the really steep ones will seem easier!