Do you find you get tired at the end of races? Do you think your legs are weak and need some extra strength? Are your runs just a little dull always on the flat? You need some hills in your life!
We’ve all felt it. We’ve been chipping along comfortably on a nice flat training run or even in a race when we look up and BOOM, there’s a hill! You hit the hill and before you know it your legs feel like jelly, your stride length has shorted to a mere patter, your head is down and your heart rate is up through the roof! Hill running is awesome. It makes you super strong. Yes, hills are tough, but that’s why they work!
HOW TO DO IT
- Don’t run hills that are too steep. Your muscles usually do not have the strength to optimise the work rate for very long and hence you cannot maintain a high heart rate for very long
- Drive your knees up, shorten your stride, lean into the hill as you power up it
- Over striding can lead to massive muscle soreness and injury risk so take medium length strides on descending
- Foot-strike should be flat footed and natural when confidently descending on a hill. Heel strike if losing control or unsure of your footing
- Let gravity control your descent and so adjust stride rate
- Be confident. Lean forward a little. Lean back only if you need to slow down
- The steeper the hill the smaller your stride
- For a shallower shorter hill allow a longer stride but with short rhythmic ground contact time.
- Long ground contacts usually mean a long strain time on the connecting tissues – so cadence should be optimally short
- Don’t forget your arms. Use them for balance, drive and control. Pump them by your sides to develop power but keep them relaxed to stay controlled
5 HILL TRAINING SESSIONS
Hill Repeats
The ‘Gold Standard’ of hill running. Hill repeats are structured workouts with hard efforts ‘up’ the hill with the ‘down’ or descent used as a jog/walk recovery period before turning and hitting the hill again.
i) Using a long grassy hill (not too steep) that takes about 90seconds to run hard from bottom to top. Run hard from the bottom to the top. Turn at the top and jog back down to the bottom. Repeat the hill 3-6 times. Sustained hill runs are great for strength and stamina.
ii) Using a shorter, steeper hill. Run fast up the hill for 30seconds. Turn and jog back to the bottom. Take a further 60seconds rest and then hit the hill again a further two times. Take a 5min break and repeat the set of 3x30second hills a further 2 times. High intensity hill reps are great for building strength, speed and power.
Hill Pyramid
Extend your range by running a mixed pace hill workout. Find a 60second hill (one that takes you
60seconds to run bottom to top hard)
Run 60seconds hard up the hill, turn at the top and recover on the down section.
Run 45seconds hard up the hill. Turn at the top and recover on the down section.
Run 30seconds hard up the hill. Turn at the top and recover on the down section.
Run 15seconds hard up the hill. Turn at the top and recover on the down section.
As the duration of the uphill effort reduces so the intensity of your running should increase. The
15 second hill power effort is flat out! Take 5minutes and repeat this descending hill pyramid set 2 further times.
Off Road Hill Fartlek
An off road hilly high intensity fartlek is great for fitness and developing super leg strength. As the trail climbs up you have to shorten your stride, push up onto the balls of your feet, drive your knees and arms and lean into the hill in order to generate maximum forward and upward momentum. As you crest the climb and descend the other side relax, focus on maintaining your balance by using your arms, and let gravity and your legs carry you down.
Getting off road on hilly trails, scrambling along single-track, climbing and descending develops more than just leg strength. It’s demanding on the large muscles required for changes of direction, pace, acceleration, endurance, power on the ascents and control on the descents but it also focuses on the more subtle muscles required for stability, proprioception, and control.
Choose a varied and hilly off road route for between 30 and 60minutes. Run all the hills you hit hard and recover on the descents and the flat section. This is continuous hill running workout that requires concentration and motivation but delivers awesome strength benefits.
Up and Overs
A great way to run hills isn’t to stop at the top and collapse in a heap but to fix your point of recovery as slightly past the top of the hill. Run right over the top of the hill in training and you’ll do it in racing and put distance between you and those around you!
Find a hill that you can run ‘up and over’; so up one side and down the other. It doesn’t matter if one side is steeper or longer than the other. Run 8 hill repeats (4 up and overs) but don’t stop once you reach the top of the hill. Instead power right over the top and keep working for one third of the distance of the descent on the other side. Then relax and use the remaining part of the down section for recovery before turning and ramping it up again over the top of the hill.Â
Not got hills? Use steps or stairwells
Urban running on the flat can be great for hill training too. Instead of picking a run route that avoids steps, stairs or ramps go and actively seek them out. Multi story car parks are great places to start. Progressively build the number of flights you can run up.
Try running a flight and walking a flight and repeating until you can run more and more and walk less. Find a monster set of stairs and run repeats up and down them. When you reach the top of a set of steps turn at the top and jog/walk back down before running hard to the top. You’ll soon feel the hill like benefits!
