Hill training advice
HEAD FOR THE HILLS
Training on hills will:-
- Increase the efficiency of each stride
- Help to prevent injuries by strengthening the joints needed for free easy running movement (always provided you build up the hills’ gradients and intensity very gradually)
- Develop aerobic capacity (especially longer hill reps)
- Develop anaerobic capacity (especially mid-length hills)
- Develop power (especially short hills)
To help illustrate this, some suggested sessions are shown below. There’s no harm in combining different options within the same session, provided that you understand what the purpose of the session is; that you don’t just stick to your ‘favourite’ session which may result in neglecting weaker areas of your performance, and that the relative balance of volume and intensity is sensibly suited to the rest of your training plan.
LONG HILLS
Predominantly aerobic
Max Gradient 7%
Session 1 - 1000m Hill - about 4-5mins at good sustained effort
Do 2 to 4 sets of 1000 up, with descent as 90 secs jog – 2mins hard – 90 secs jog
Session 2 - 500m - about 2mins-2mins30secs at sustained effort
Do 6 – 8 sets of 500 up – with descent as 60 secs jog – 30 secs hard stride – 60 secs jog
MEDIUM HILLS
Predominantly anaerobic threshhold
Steeper gradient – 10-12%
Session 3 – 300m hill – about 60-90 secs up at hard effort
Do 8 to 12 reps of 300m up with an easy/steady run down (quicker than jog) and finish with a 60 secs stride at 10k pace on flat ground
Session 4 – 150m hill – about 30-40 secs up at hard effort
Do 3 to 4 sets of 6 x 150m up with 45 secs easy run down and 2 mins jog between sets and finish with a single 60 secs stride at 10k pace on flat ground
SHORT HILLS
Predominantly alactic/anaerobic
Steep gradient but less than 50 metres – about 8-12 secs uphill at hard effort
Session 5 – Do 2 sets of 8 reps uphill with walk back recovery. The 2nd/5th/8th reps would be done, under instruction, as a vigorous skipping motion, the others as normal action, running hard. After each set of 8 do a single 45 secs stride on flat ground.
As with all training options, there’s no perfect formula for success. A high level example of how ‘keeping it simple’ can be successful, London marathon winner and former UK 10,000metre record holder Eamonn Martin used just one type of hill session throughout his career. He ran hard up a 25 second hill, starting with 8 reps in October/November and building up to a maximum of 28 reps in March. These sessions contributed both to his ability to sustain a hard pace over 3k/5k/10k and to his great finishing speed, whereby he could run the final 200meters in under 26 seconds.
At the other extreme, Kenyan long distance runners have an almost mythical 21k uphill run, at over 2000m altitude, which is used as an indicator of approximate marathon form. Anything under 90 minutes is seen as very impressive!