Canova's hill sprints: working into a workout and into a week

I'm starting to implement these too after reading about Hudson's program, but I'm struggling with the same question. They are much too short to make the focus of a single workout, but they are supposed to be flat out on a steep grade, so they're quite a bit different from strides too, which I've always done as a gradual build up to about 90% of full gas. I'm considering doing them after about 20-30 minutes of fartlek work (and a warm-up of course). Knock out the sprints and then a 15 minute cool-down. Any other thoughts from the rest of you?

I don't view them as a workout. They are like strides. If you read Hudson's book he actually recommends you do them the day before works as a diagnostic test of readiness. Hudson argues that the hill sprints test your neuromuscular system. If you feel crappy on them then you are probably not ready to do a workout.

However, I know Nate Jenkins--who may weigh in on this thread--does his often in a PM run after an AM workout.

I think it is more an issue that you get them in 2xweek than when you actually do them.

I do hill strides as my third session of the week. 6-8 miles easy, and then 6-8 steep uphill strides/bounds and 2-4 gentle downhill strides, 1-2 mile cooldown. sometimes I do them after shorter tempo runs as well.

M-Intervals

T-Easy

W-Tempo or Fartlek

T-Easy

F-Easy + HILL STRIDES

S-Long

S-Easy or Rest

Alacrity wrote:

I don't view them as a workout. They are like strides. If you read Hudson's book he actually recommends you do them the day before works as a diagnostic test of readiness. Hudson argues that the hill sprints test your neuromuscular system. If you feel crappy on them then you are probably not ready to do a workout.

Coincidentally, I read the Hudson article in Running Times today and thought, "This sounds just like Canova." It looks like I'll have to pick up his book.

Dingler wrote:

M-Intervals

T-Easy

W-Tempo or Fartlek

T-Easy

F-Easy + HILL STRIDES

S-Long

S-Easy or Rest

I really like that schedule. It just makes sense. I'd be curious to see what you mean by "intervals" (VO2 max? Cruise intervals? Alternating between the two? Something else?) and what kind of fartlek/tempo work you do on Wednesday, as well.

Well after searching through a bunch of old threads, I dug out the above from

It looks like he has them on a semi-easy day. (Although I'm not sure how fast 2-3km "fast" is.)

If you want a long career without injury I wouldn't follow the Canova-approach. None of his athletes can handle the intensity for more than 2 years.

Hill-sprints = Hard workout

Not An Expert wrote:

Dingler wrote:

M-Intervals

T-Easy

W-Tempo or Fartlek

T-Easy

F-Easy + HILL STRIDES

S-Long

S-Easy or Rest

I really like that schedule. It just makes sense. I'd be curious to see what you mean by "intervals" (VO2 max? Cruise intervals? Alternating between the two? Something else?) and what kind of fartlek/tempo work you do on Wednesday, as well.

Depends on what time in the season. Pretty much everything gets shorter and faster as the season goes on. For intervals I start with 1ks and 800s (about 8k total) with about 2:00-3:00 recovery at about 5k pace early on. Later on I do 800-200 ladders or sometimes just sets of 400s with about 1:00 recovery (about 5k total). Tempos and Fartleks are 8k-10k at half marathon pace throughout the season, but later in the season I often do mile-2k repeats with about 1:00 recovery instead (I'm a 3k-5k guy, so that workout helps me more than longer tempos late in the saeson).

It's really not that complicated, I pretty much blended the 3 Daniel's plans for 1500-3k, 5-10k, and cross into one. I just kept the hill sessions from phase II of the cross country plan for the whole season becase they are good for strengthening and injury prevention (and a lighter third session). I added the gentle downhill strides from Lydiard, because I feel it helps with my turnover.

I also ususally only do doubles in the evenings of my workout days.

You're supposed to do them the day before a tempo or strength workout. I used to run 6 miles in the morning, and then in the afternoon, do a 4 mile warm-up, a mile of strides, and then 10x10 second all out hill with 1/4 mile jog recovery after each hill. After doing a 3 mile cool-down, I would have about 11 miles and 17 for the day.

they are meant to be done after an easy run

We can agree that they are most often done after an easy run, a la strides. Most often we'll do them after an easy run before the following morning's long run.

I have also done them, and thus incorporated them into schedules of people in our group, before a progression run. We jog for 15-20 minutes first. The number of reps up the hill is reduced to about 4 or so, and then a 30 minute run in progression immediately follows. Doing so appears to fire up the muscles, particularly in the lower legs, so that the run tends to feel at once more powerful and "floating", like JK might describe.

Can someone tell me where on the IAAF site is the link for Canova's book? I have searched the site and its layers of links but can't seem to find it? It doesn't seem to come up with any web searches either.

Hill sprints after you have built up and adjusted to them are an easy workout muscularly. They won't leave you with any soreness or fatigue in the legs. In fact, most of the time they make distance runners feel better b/c of the large recruitment, and the altering of muscle tone.

However, because they are flat out sprints, they are hard on the Nervous system. For sprinters this is a big deal, but for distance runners, especially during the base phase, we aren't doin many CNS stressful workouts. That being said, I wouldn't do the hill sprints before another workout that is demanding on the nervous system.

So, when to do them? After/in the middle of an easy day usually works best. At first, you should probably think of them as an actual moderate workout. Once you are adapted though, stick them in on an easy day, depending on what the purpose is. The only thing you have to keep in mind is how demanding the next days workout is. If it's an aerobic/LT workout your good. The only time I'd be cautious is if you are doing a very hard "anaerobic" workout, i.e. high lactate work. Then you'd have two pretty dang hard on the neural system workouts back to back.

You can even stick them between sets in a workout to increase fiber recruitment while fatigued (helps strength endurance).

terryc wrote:

Can someone tell me where on the IAAF site is the link for Canova's book? I have searched the site and its layers of links but can't seem to find it? It doesn't seem to come up with any web searches either.

It's hard to find on the web site. I googled for it (with "canova marathon site:iaaf.org"). Anyway,

is a link to the form. I sent it via mail and received my book in the mail only 10 days or so after I mailed my form (from the US). I don't understand why they don't just put a pdf of the book on the website. I was charged 6.00 euros and the postage was 5.50. They obviously aren't trying to make money.

OMG. You'll never get 100 miles in with all that extra crap. Just run, run, run. LSD is the way to go. You'll hit a hill every now and then. Go, go, go!!!!

What determines a "hard day" is the levels of lactate acid reached in a workout. Hill-sprints (10-12sec, sprints, bounds, butt-kicks) reach very little lactate levels because they are very short (ATP energy source). They should be used on a regeneration day between "hard days".

They are pure gold.

I found this by article a british marathoner when i googled hill sprints

http://adrianmarriott.blogspot.com/2008/05/canova-hill-sprints.html

which answers some of your questions.

His website also has the correct link to the iaaf site for the book and if you look at his marathon training logs you can see where in the weeks he does the sprints

hills have eyes wrote:

What determines a "hard day" is the levels of lactate acid reached in a workout.

A 3-hour long run at a steady pace is rather hard. Sprint training can be very hard and none of them give you high levels of lactate.

Short hill sprints have the final goal to help to recruit the most part of fibres in your muscles. That's the reason because is an important training NOT CONNECTED with the distance of the event, but with a physiological target.

Normally, I use this work as second training of the day, after a long run (may be 1:15 - 1:30) at good pace, but not too much fast (in the case of Marathon runners of 2:08, for example, about 5:30 / 5:40 per Mile pace).

Of course, if there are athletes training once a day only, we cannot use short sprint as full training session.

The development of this training (that remains for all the season, without any difference between general period and specific period)is to move for longer distances (for example, 10 x 150 or 10 x 200), only after reaching a very good level of speed and specific speed endurance (not before 2 months of short sprints). In this way, we can move from a MECHANICAL and NERVOUS goal, to a METABOLIC goal, maintaining the other goals too.

About the guy writing that with these workouts every athlete cannot last more than 2 years, I can give the following examples :

Shaheen (from 2002 to 2006, 26 competitions of steeple without losing, 5 full years, and his injury is due to an impact against a door)

Mark Bett, lasting 10 years at top level from 12'55" to 26'52"

Manyim, 10 years from HM, pacer of 3000 steeple and full Marathon with 2 performances every year about 2:08 - 2:09

Moses Mosop, with me from 2002

James Kwalia, with me from 2002

Wilfred Bungei, Olympic Champion 2008, using short sprints uphill from 1999

I can continue with a lot of other athletes. But when you speak, you must know what are you speaking about. Too many times, when American or European people see that a top Kenyan disappears, they suppose this fact depends on training.

Instead, the most part of times are problems not connected with their athletic activity, but with their normal life, to provoke a break in their career.

Normally, a top Kenyan athlete, going home, becomes the referement for all his village, not only his family, and goes to be disturbed by a lot of problems of other people. As is very difficult for an African to have in his mind at the same time more than one problem, the first effect is they become confused, and quit training.

This was, for instance, the reason of the stop of Nicholas Kemboi,one of the greatest talent I saw in my life, able to move from 28'19" to 26'30" in less than 2 months of continuous training with me in St. Moritz in 2003, after affected by a lot of personal problems, in part connected with his change of citizenship.

So, nothing to do with short sprints.

Instead, when you exceed in lactic training, giving too much importance to that area against the aerobic area, you really goes to short your career.