Importance of Hill Repeats

Hill repeats help your leg strength and your stride, even if you're competing on a track.

If you have hills in a race, then surely it's worthwhile practising them as race strategy anyway. There is even a different technique involved in running downhill.

Hills are not normally essential; what is essential is to train specifically for the conditions of competition. Therefore, if your race includes hills, it may be of value to include hill work of a similar incline/distance.

Name2 wrote:

Hills are not normally essential; what is essential is to train specifically for the conditions of competition. Therefore, if your race includes hills, it may be of value to include hill work of a similar incline/distance.

Garbage don't talk about something you know nothing about please refer to the training of the best runners in the world before bothering me with your uninformed reply

Name2 wrote:

Hills are not normally essential; what is essential is to train specifically for the conditions of competition. Therefore, if your race includes hills, it may be of value to include hill work of a similar incline/distance.

Perhaps the most stupid reply on LR this week - and that´s saying a lot.

Name2 wrote:

Hills are not normally essential; what is essential is to train specifically for the conditions of competition. Therefore, if your race includes hills, it may be of value to include hill work of a similar incline/distance.

It's good that a couple of people called you out, I'm a third.

Build your base, run hills, then go to the track.

Did not believe in hills.

All that an incline does is increase the relative effort required to sustain a given pace. It does not add a sufficient amount of resistance to constitute a form of strength training. You would get the same conditioning effect from increasing your pace proportionately while running on a flat surface. It only makes sense to include hills for the purpose of acclimating yourself to the incline you'll be competing on.

Urghhh, you really know nothing about hill training.Even sprinters (100/200/400m) run hills. There never is a track with hills in a race, you know.

Name2 wrote:

All that an incline does is increase the relative effort required to sustain a given pace. It does not add a sufficient amount of resistance to constitute a form of strength training. You would get the same conditioning effect from increasing your pace proportionately while running on a flat surface. It only makes sense to include hills for the purpose of acclimating yourself to the incline you'll be competing on.

Van Aaken wrote:

Did not believe in hills.

Given his location maybe he didn't know what a "hill" was

What happened to Henry Rono?

Distance runners bodies are constantly making adaptations to become more efficient. The problem is that those adaptations can go too far and become counter productive. When you just run on flat ground all the time, you tend to minimize the explosive power that you get from your glutes. As a result, stride length gets shorter and you spend less time in the air between each stride. Hills get your glutes firing effectively again and can improve your stride length and the explosive power you get when you push off. This kind of strength is not developed sufficiently by lifting weights, doing plyos/circuits or flat land training, whether sprinting or otherwise.

E. Africans make a point of doing lots of runs on hilly trails even when they are just running easy and in addition to regular sessions of hill repeats. You just cannot do enough running on hills.

Had a high school coach who followed Lydiard model. though we ran not bounded the hills.

First race of track season everyone PRed in their races though none of had that extra gear we would find later when it counted. At season end we all ended with significant gains in our PR s across all distances. Hill work works, if it didn't Canova would not be using it, the Ethopians would not be using it. Frank Shorter stated hill work was speed work in disguise. Try it you will like says Mikey.

Speaking of hills wrote:

What happened to Henry Rono?

Hills are one of the best tools for any distance runner to improve his/her strength and speed.

Steve DiNatale told Malmo about the time Rono walked into an Oregon bar and the conversation turned to hills. Malmo graciously gave me permission to use this story in my own book, Running: A Long Distance Love Affair. DiNatale and Malmo say this the true account:

One day in 1988, Steve DiNatale, AKA “The Dina,” was tending bar at “Guido's,” near the University of Oregon, when the legendary Henry Rono walked in. As Rono sat at the bar nursing a cold one, The Dina started a conversation about Rono's former rival Alberto Salazar and training methods. The Dina kept the beers flowing freely, hoping to keep Rono talking and perhaps extract the secrets of running from the man who once held four world records. After awhile, Rono opened up, and the conversation went something like this:

“Toooos-day, Sal-uh-zaah . . . traaaack,” said Rono, shaking his head, “No.”

“Tourrrz-day, Sal-uh-zaah . . . traaaack,” said Rono, again shaking his head, “No.”

“Saaa-tuhh-day, Sal-uh-zaah . . . traaaack,” said Rono, emphatically shaking his head, “No!”

The Dina listened intently.

“Dee heeeeeel!” Rono suddenly shouted, his arm extended upward at a steep incline.

The Dina, figuring he was privy to a rare, inside glimpse into the training that made Rono a legend, leaned forward at the bar to coax out the name and location of the secret incline.

“Henry,” he asked earnestly, “what hill?”

“Steve,” Rono answered, waving his arms maniacally, “ANY HEEEEEEL!”

– Rono's Hill Quote (Thanks to George “Malmo” Malley for permission to retell this story as he and Steve DiNatale say it really happened.)

Has Usain Bolt ever been seen going up a hill?

mmm.... wrote:

Urghhh, you really know nothing about hill training.

Even sprinters (100/200/400m) run hills. There never is a track with hills in a race, you know.

Urghhh, you really know nothing about the basics of rational thought. The fact that a particular training method may be in widespread use does not automatically mean it is valid.

Great story!

screwed a nut and bolted wrote:

Has Usain Bolt ever been seen going up a hill?

There aren't that many hills on the island of Jamaica. But Hall-of-Famers Jerry Rice and Walter Payton ran a LOT of hills. But then, we aren't really talking sprinters on this thread, are we? Sprinters tend to do more weight training than distance runners, giving them added power for short bursts. Hills are a strength tool AND a speed tool for distance runners, most of whom aren't anywhere close to fast.

kmaclam wrote:

Great story!

Yes, it is. And DiNatale and Malmo are both friends to Rono. There's nothing belittling in telling the story how it really happened, and I'm sure Rono likes the story himself.

kmaclam wrote:

Great story!

Yes it is. Heard it direct from the Dina's mouth.