Hill sprints vs hill repeats (benefits differences)

gloria wrote:

You should have a good endurance base before doing the hills.

Absolutely yes to this.

I'd qualify that by saying that we've got Thacker Mountain here at Ole Miss--posted No Trespassing, but as long as it's not deer season they don't shoot at you--and it's a great, fairly steep (although no Mt. Marathon!!) hill exactly four-tenths of a mile long. I run it in four to four and a half minutes. Hills that length build a kind of quad strength that shorter hills just don't. I've been running it once a week this summer, and I've had some great tempo runs on the way home through the woods, finishing hard. The long hill in mid-run just seems to open the systems up.

Several weeks ago I hit a heart rate of 177 heading up a hill leading out of the woods (three miles back from Thacker), which is 93.6% of my max, which is to say, solid 10K pace, and I felt GOOD. Working hard, but in no way blown out. And it was a warm, fairly humid afternoon which should have killed me. I don't know what magic the hills contain, but one piece of the puzzle is that they bring you to a high HR at a relatively low speed--depending on the weather and your age, of course--and in some way they callus your system to faster stuff later on.

KudzuRunner wrote:

I never quite got the 10-15 second max-intensity thing. It didn't work for me. The others paid off quite visibly in faster times and faster paces feeling easier.

Well, you can´t really compare the short sprints vs 60-90sec "sprints". The longer ones will for sure make you much more ready to race than short, almost totally alactic sprints. But during the base phase the ~50-150m sprints with long recoveries are a great way to maintain your basic speed and anaerobic capacity while emphasizing the aerobic work, and then once you possibly add the lactic (anaerobic power) workouts, you can do more of it and with better quality. I think the anaerobic capacity (sprints up to ~150m) work during the base as a base work for the anaerobic power workouts done in the pre season. But the longer your main event, the less important is the anaerobic capacity (and the lower it naturally is), and in some cases you might want to drive it down purposely. In these cases the alactic sprints are great for injury prevention, when progressed carefully, to maintain basic speed etc. But, if you have achilles problems then sprinting up a steep hill probably isn´t that great idea. Maybe could use hill strides at first to strengthen your legs.

Renato Canova´s recent comments about the subject:

"It's not for increasing speed, also if short sprints work in that direction too.

It's for giving the ability to recruit the higher possible percentage of fast fibers, that become useless if the athletes never run at their max speed.

It's for training the brain to use the max intensity and mental concentration for the nervous system, which is not stimulated enough when the intensity is always far from the maximal personal level.

Also for marathon runners and specialists of 10000m, the ability to use their fast fibers is very important, since it's possible to find a small "reserve" of fuel also in the fast fibers, when can improve their ability in the oxidative process.

In fact, short sprints uphill, producing very little lactate, can be considered a training with a final "aerobic" effect, since the resinthesis of the initial status of the fast fibers happens in oxidative way.

So, short sprints uphill have, at the same time, a biomechanical and a physiological effect, if the interpretation is correct."

Kudzu, I´ve noticed the same. I once on a vacation in Savonlinna, Finland last summer, and ran much more hilly training routes than normally. There I realised why there was so many fast runners coming from that town and nearby. Lots of wonderful, hilly gravel roads and trails to run. I became fitter during that vacation.

Easy to get a car for not much more than 5k and get 130k miles out of it. Gas isn't great compared to a bike, but purchase price isn't a big factor. With a car you don't have to have the price and maintenance insurance and fees for a second vehicle, so you are going to pay for your gas easily.

[quote]KudzuRunner wrote:

I don't know what magic the hills contain, but one piece of the puzzle is that they bring you to a high HR at a relatively low speed--[quote]

Bingo. We have found that long hills provide the best bang for the buck, so to speak, when it comes to summer base building/conditioning for our youth runners.

I overheard one coach talking to his squad doing long hill repeats at a local park. I think some of the kids were delaying the start because their watches were getting location. The coach said something to the effect of "Just run...Don't even bother turing your Garmins on or even the timer. Your heart will know what time it is after the first rep...TIME TO WORK!".

KudzuRunner wrote:

I don't know what magic the hills contain, but one piece of the puzzle is that they bring you to a high HR at a relatively low speed--

Bingo. We have found that long hills provide the best bang for the buck, so to speak, when it comes to summer base building/conditioning for our youth runners.

I overheard one coach talking to his squad doing long hill repeats at a local park. I think some of the kids were delaying the start because their watches were getting location. The coach said something to the effect of "Just run...Don't even bother turing your Garmins on or even the timer. Your heart will know what time it is after the first rep...TIME TO WORK!".