Training On Hills Racing on Flats.

What distance is your race? What distance do you go on your hilly training run? Generally if you're training with HR or by RPE, you will benefit from both up and down if you work to keep the effort consistent throughout the run. If you're working hard on the up, but taking it easy on the down the benefit will be much less.

Just curious - looking at your log, how does a person bonk on a run of 1.75 miles - or did I misread that?

I am sorry, my op may have been a little misleading. This is for the bike. The race route is 16 miles, right now I am riding just on either side of that (15-17 miles.), how ever I am slowly increasing.

 Yes I did Bonk in under 2 miles. It was a couple of weeks ago, on a Sunday. No excuses, but here is what I think happened. It was a Sunday, and that 1 in 3 weekend that my DW has to work, so i had our two year old son for the day.  While he watched TV I made some homemade Lasagna. I was not planning on getting a chance to run.  Around two o'clock or so we went to visit my mother, after a short visit she offered to watch Brodie so i could go run.  So I took her up on the chance. so there I was, on the trail with no hydration, a heavy meal in my stomach in the high heat and humidity of a South Alabama August, at three o'clock or so. After my first 1/2 mile I felt good, after mile 1 not so much. After 1.5 I started feeling it...and after 1.75 I dropped to walking.

  Remember I am starting all over again with running, and am still a Newbie at TRIing.

don't worry about it ditchdoc.  I am from FLorida so I  know all about that humidity and yes it can happen in that short of distance without proper hydation. 

As a note, I live also where it is "hilly" and often run uphill.  I have noticed over time my HR is lower going up hill with less effort so I can say I am getting benefit.

As far as biking uphill...wow, that has been the #1 thing for loosing weight I think.  I generally do a 5-8mile climb followed by the same downhill reaching aprox 40mph in parts.  I don't think I get too much benefit (other than nerves) from the downhill, but it is my reward for going up.  Now your hills may be a little smaller, in which case just work harder going up and use them as recovery on the down.  If the declines still allow you to pedal put it in your lowest gear and mash...just look at HR, I thinik that is the way to know if you are getting benefit.

 In a nutshell, if your race is flat, you will reap benefit from going up, but not as much down.  Try timing yourself and breaking your times going up.  The strentgh you build from climbing will help you in the flats at maintaining that nice 24mph and up pace.

Thanks for the replies. And I think my  a lot of my bonk was due to my dumb azz having to "sample" my Lasgna before sending sections to differnet people.

As far as the hills, I do like knowing that it leads to loosing weight ( I have about 30 lbs I want to drop). After riding a hilly "home" course do you think I will see  greater avg. speed while on the flat ( race) course? As I said, my training course is an out and back so I begin and in at the same altitude.

Same problem here....I train in the North East Georgia mountains, but I am racing an iron distance event in November.

 I do believe that my strength and power is increasing with the work on the hills.  Thus I hope my speed in the flats will also increase. 

 I do worry about the consistency of effort on a long flat course.  So I try and ride a trainer once or twice per week.