Sport Today

Hi -

I am novice/beginner in running who can run 5 miles comfortably on flat
course in around 52+ minutes. I want to know what are good trails for
beginners in San Francisco Bay area to get used to hill training? The only
trail I know so far and have enjoyed is the Sawyer Camp Trail in San Mateo.
If anyone else can share easy to moderate hills around bay area, that would
be cool.

Thanks,

- Zoom

If you are ever in the Alamden section of San Jose you can look for
Quicksilver Park. It has miles of trails which are nothing but hills. I ran
the Quicksilver Half marathon there one year. It was tough. But, the park is
great for hill training and inspirational running. It is peaceful and
beautiful there.

In the north, look for Mt. Tamalpais (in Mill Valley) in Marin County. It is
a few miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge on highway 101. There is a trail
leading up the mountain. Lots of runners go there.

HTH,
***bear

Zoom,

I've been to San Francisco a few times, and I thought it was loaded with
hills.  I guess they just aren't the *running" type of hills.  Besides,
you'd probably be better off further from the traffic anyway.

Roger

Roger, my motto, if a car can drive it I can run it.  You may
have to run/walk it at first but after a while the walk
breaks get less until you finally run every inch. Once you master
the hill, go back down and repeat.

--
Caveat Lector
"the further you go outside, the further you go inside" - B. McKibben
Doug Freese

Doug,

One thing I have noticed after doing, noticed I didn't say running, 3
marathons this year is I can tear up hills I used to go up and just keep
going, where I used to have to walk for quite some distance to recover.
That is probably the neatest difference I've seen so far after doing a few
marathons.

Thanks,
        Roger

Roger -

You are right, that's why probably it's known as Silicon "Valley". But as
you said, I wanted to know specifically which are friendly to beginners, not
steep and not too hilly.

Just curious - Doyou all marathoner/half-marathoners do hill training or
not? Is it just sufficient to keep running long distances and hope for the
best? Or is it MUST to do hill trainings if you want to participate in Long
distance racing events?

Thanks,

- Zoom

Roger -

You are right, that's why probably it's known as Silicon "Valley". But as
you said, I wanted to know specifically which are friendly to beginners, not
steep and not too hilly.

Just curious - Do you all marathoner/half-marathoners do hill training or
not? Is it just sufficient to keep running long distances and hope for the
best? Or is it MUST to do hill trainings if you want to participate in Long
distance racing events?

Thanks,

- Zoom

Hill training was part of my marathon training schedule, but I didn't work
so hard going up them at that time.

I can't talk for everybody else, but I think tearing up hills about as fast
as I can go has helped me get my 100 meter times down.  I like having some
sprint speed, but I think I lost some after doing three thons.  Rumor is I
can get my sprint speed back and I certainly hope so.

Thanks,
        Roger

roger

just a little piece of advice:
don't get too high on speed.

jobs

The good news is the strength running keeps building. You will find
you marathon times getting faster and recovery times shorter. There
is a point of diminishing returns but I think you have a few days to
go before you hit that point. :)

Some day you may decide to move to trails and try something a
bit longer than 26.2. Most people don't realize that Thoreau
went to Walden to run. It's common knowledge among the wood
nymphs and trolls.

--
Caveat Lector
"the further you go outside, the further you go inside" - B. McKibben
Doug Freese

Depends on your goals. If you don't care about how long it
takes to do a race or how much it hurts, then don't bother
with hills. If you would like to finish the race before they
take the finish line down and not need an IV and a month to
recover, skip the hills.

Hills are the foundation!!

--
Caveat Lector
"the further you go outside, the further you go inside" - B. McKibben
Doug Freese

Funny you should say that.  I plan to run my first race that will be almost
all trails on November 4th.

I wasn't planning on it, but someone talked me into doing it just for the
fun of it.

Roger

Watch out, if you have a touch of naturalist,  you may discover
another world. Years back I would do both trails and roads. The trails
were an obvious break from the pounding roads roads and usually
hilly so to serve as strength running.  The someone said how about
trying some trail race. The rest is history.

Let us know how it goes. Howe far and what kind of terrain?

--
Caveat Lector
"the further you go outside, the further you go inside" - B. McKibben
Doug Freese

The area is blessed with an abundance of hills.
I'd recommend a hill run every other day.
On a work day to may try for convenient proximity while on the weekend
go for scenery.  The latter might include the Stanford Dish, Nob Hill,
Twin Peaks, Marin Headlands, Mission Peak, to name but a few.

I'm screwed!  My knee doc told me to avoid hills.  I haven't been
avoiding them, but I don't think I am going to risk specifically
training on them. Oh well, there goes my 2hr 30 min marathon :)

--
Regards,
Dave