So you'd like to take up running, but you live on a mountain. Or maybe you already jog in a nice flat place, but want to tackle some trails or a hilly race. Here's how to train your mind and your legs to power up even the steepest slopes.

The marathon is a fickle beast: at 26.2 miles, the potential for bad luck is huge. That uncharted territory can bring all sorts of unforeseen issues, reducing your goal pace to a shuffle or worse, but it's from these problems that you learn to improve.

Why run on a boring old road when you could run in the bush? There's beautiful scenery, birds, and that triumphant post-run feeling of knowing you survived more challenging conditions. Trail running is a little different than running on roads, but with a bit of preparation, it can be a great change-up.

Do you want to run faster? Great! Let's run faster today. Then we'll take a little break. Then we'll run faster again a bunch more times. There's a whole family of these interval workouts that runners call "speedwork", and including them once a week or so can help you achieve faster race times later on.