Running uphill (against gravity) stresses your body in a unique way that you can’t mimic on flat land.

That stress results in some fantastic adaptations and benefits:

• There’s less impact running uphill so it’s easier on your joints and connective tissues
• Hills “force” you to run with better form, reinforcing a more efficient stride
• Running up steep grades builds power more safely than running fast on flat terrain
• Hills provide the most specific strength work runners could ask for
• Hill workouts build strength, speed, endurance, VO2 Max, and every other metric runners care about!

While hill sessions aren’t too race-specific (unless you’re training for an entirely uphill race), they have a valuable place in any training program.

This episode discusses these benefits, when hills should be incorporated into your season, my 3 favorite types of hill workouts, and the type of runner who will benefit most from hills.

In reality, we have to make time and shuffle our schedules to accommodate all of our responsibilities:

• Kids and family
• Work and professional obligations
• Social events
• Sleep? Maybe?

It's no easy feat to train well, work, have a family, and find some free time to read or have fun.

I remember back to one of the most challenging times of my life: the year after college when I had a 75-minute commute and a 9-hour work day.

That meant I was running 80-85 miles per week at 5:30am in the dark, in the freezing winter of Massachusetts. I had no time to do anything besides work, run, and ensure I slept 8 hours a night.

Now that I have a family, that's not a possibility. Hard decisions have to be made...

To help with those tough decisions, I want to introduce you to Keira D'Amato.

She was a 4-time All-American at American University in Washington, DC, specializing in events ranging from the 5k to cross country.

After college, she worked for years as the marketing director for Potomac River Running and today she's the "running realtor" for the northern Virginia and DC areas.

But she never quit running. Just last month, she won the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Washington, DC.

Keira is running after the Olympic Trials marathon standard of 2:45 - and she's close with her 2:47 PR!

Oh, and she's married with two kids...

In this conversation, we discuss:

• the many roles she's had in the running industry
• what she's learned about runners from being so involved in the sport
• her marathon progression from nearly 4 hours to 2:47 (!!)
• how her current training has gone and her strategy to get the OTQ
• how she manages to train at an elite level with a job and a family

Tyler Andrews 

was a competitive Division III runner - but certainly not a multiple All-American or other kind of standout performer.

But that never stopped him from chasing big goals.

After graduating from Tufts University, Tyler kept training and improving. He's since qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials and currently holds the world record for the fastest half marathon ever run on a treadmill (63:38).

Now he has his sights set on another world record: the 50K ultramarathon distance.

And this Friday, he'll be making that WR attempt in California at the Santa Barbara Easter Relays. After 125 laps on the track, we'll know if he was ready to topple the 30-year record of 2:43:38.

In this far-ranging conversation, Tyler and I discuss a host of issues:

• The geeky nitty gritty of his training - most at 9,000+ feet altitude in Quito, Ecuador
• His pacing and fueling approach for a track 50k
• More philosophically, why is he attempting to break this record?
• And a lot more...