Hi All

I have been running for about 2 years now, twice a week for around an hour. My particular poison is hill running, I run up a great big hill (there's lots of them out here in der Schweiz), about three miles to the top and three miles back again, 260 m vertical and ranging from 5% to 15% gradient. I have a couple of questions for the experts out there...

Does anyone know the relationship between slope gradient and additional energy / calories burned, compared to running on the flat? (I am running to lose weight as much as anything.) I am very stocky and heavy, and hill running absolutely knackers me, but it would be nice to know it's doing some good.

At the moment if I do this run more than twice a week, I end up on the overtraining train, with a racing heart-beat in the mornings + hypotension + aching muscles etc.. Can anyone advise me how to work up to running three times a week sensibly?

All the best

Jim