Coach made us run 8x200 plus meter hill with a jog down recovery what does this workout do

Henry Rono

sounds like a speed and economy workout for me. Mostly done at the beginning of the cycle

I would imagine a little bit strength and form, little bit lactate threshold, little bit speed, little bit preparation for upcoming hilly courses.

Exactly! Hills do pretty much everything!

I would imagine that at this point in the season you are not doing much very fast, intensive work. The hills, in a sense, mimic this type of work; higher heart rate, working arms a bit more, having to drive with the legs. And if you are adding 2 reps each session, in a few weeks you will have a pretty tough session - 16x200-250 uphill jog down recovery is tough!

Great workout! you get power from the push off and you get high intensity without the pounding. if you did that kind of intensity on the flats, you have a higher risk of injury.

The king of the hill wrote:

I am only a freshman, so l am not criticizing him or anything, but yesterday we did a light warmup then we did 8x200(actually more like 250 or so, as we were running them 35-38 or so) with a jog down recovery. He told us to run them at 90 percent, but not all out, and it was to work on our leg strength and speed development. We then did a cool down jog and that was the workout.What is the purpose of this workout? This is our second time doing this workout and we are increasing two each time, all the while running the same effort and it did feel easier this week. He says run them at 90%, but on the last one we can pick it up a bit.

Oh look, the purpose of the workout. It's almost like your coach told you exactly why he was having you do this and you were still too stupid to understand.

The king of the hill wrote:

8x200(actually more like 250 or so, as we were running them 35-38 or so) .

I hope you do realize you run slower running up hill. So it was probably 200 meters long.

The king of the hill wrote:

I am only a freshman, so l am not criticizing him or anything, but yesterday we did a light warmup then we did 8x200(actually more like 250 or so, as we were running them 35-38 or so) with a jog down recovery. He told us to run them at 90 percent, but not all out, and it was to work on our leg strength and speed development. We then did a cool down jog and that was the workout.What is the purpose of this workout? This is our second time doing this workout and we are increasing two each time, all the while running the same effort and it did feel easier this week. He says run them at 90%, but on the last one we can pick it up a bit.

You clearly don’t trust his explanation because you are here to invite criticism of what is a great early/pre-season workout that will continue to be beneficial through the end of the season.

Here’s some advice: Listen to your coach until you have a clue about how this sport works. Once you have a clue, listen to him anyway until you graduate the program.

Also, 3/10 because people replied. Hopefully novice lurkers will learn something.

He rides the short bus wrote:

The king of the hill wrote:

8x200(actually more like 250 or so, as we were running them 35-38 or so) .

I hope you do realize you run slower running up hill. So it was probably 200 meters long.

probably not even 200m honestly

jpl wrote:

He rides the short bus wrote:

I hope you do realize you run slower running up hill. So it was probably 200 meters long.

probably not even 200m honestly

Nah this oblivious 14 year old kid is defo reppig 250s uphill at 55-60 second quarter pace @90% effort in August.

The king of the hill wrote:

He told us ... it was to work on our leg strength and speed development.

He told you...

the hyena you’ll see wrote:

jpl wrote:

probably not even 200m honestly

Nah this oblivious 14 year old kid is defo reppig 250s uphill at 55-60 second quarter pace @90% effort in August.

Actually, it's just a few seconds over 200, so it's just a few steps past 200. Coach says it's 200, but my gut tells me it's a step or so more, so a 35 would be a 33. It doesn't really matter according to coach, as he says," run the hills off effort, but time them so you can campare the times with effort in future weeks,". We talked about this today and we should have started out at 5k or slower effort and slowly go down from there, but not to much, but on the last one, 1/2 way though, we can go for it. I started my watch early on one of them, so that is why l thought it was way longer. And l am a Freshman in college, not high school. We are slowly going to increase each week, so two weeks or so ago we were at 6, but now we are at 8.

90% is way too hard! Should only doing 75% effort.

This way you get the hill effect without straining.

Your coach already correctly told you what it does.

jpl wrote:

He rides the short bus wrote:

I hope you do realize you run slower running up hill. So it was probably 200 meters long.

probably not even 200m honestly

this. certainly not 200m, unless the whole group is a miracle troop. if you ran 200m flat in 38sec at 5k effort (as the coach said), you get a 5k time in the range of 15:50; at 35 for the 200m even 14:35. but now it is supposed to be 200m uphill, which would be much longer in the flat or on the track. i guess the boys run at mile race effort.

a comparison: i am training on a well-measured hill with 200m length, which has about 8-10% slope. if i sprint with 100%, so absolute maximum, then i need 37sec. and i am pretty happy with the time. i need several minutes of passive recovery, if i wanted to repeat that.

when i am in 17:xx shape/5k, i use to run at this hill 15x200m at 5k effort as an aerobic workout in 48-50sec with jog down (about 70sec duration).

While I agree the OP is wrong about the hill being 250m, not all hills are created equal. He may only be using a 3-4% hill.

And my usual hill is like 6-7% and a 100% max effort go at it usually yields me a 28. So it’s tough to compare your personal hill and time to others.

The king of the hill wrote:

I am only a freshman, so l am not criticizing him or anything, but yesterday we did a light warmup then we did 8x200(actually more like 250 or so, as we were running them 35-38 or so) with a jog down recovery. He told us to run them at 90 percent, but not all out, and it was to work on our leg strength and speed development. We then did a cool down jog and that was the workout.What is the purpose of this workout? This is our second time doing this workout and we are increasing two each time, all the while running the same effort and it did feel easier this week. He says run them at 90%, but on the last one we can pick it up a bit.

Building character.

Most successful running training is about learning how to establish a rhythm.

8 is enough to get your interest and not leave you too worn next time out. Its a short enough time to let you learn how to focus. And its not boring, cos its short enough for you to pay attention to people around you.

Plus its one session amongst many, so its a variety.

moanswers wrote:

Great workout! you get power from the push off and you get high intensity without the pounding. if you did that kind of intensity on the flats, you have a higher risk of injury.

8 X 200 on the flats creates a high risk of injury? That's a new one.

Sprinting up hills will not have a significant impact, good or bad, on your race performance. I was a walk-on at Oregon for a year and Dellinger had us do reps up a hill only one time during the XC season.

Lane College wrote:

moanswers wrote:

Great workout! you get power from the push off and you get high intensity without the pounding. if you did that kind of intensity on the flats, you have a higher risk of injury.

8 X 200 on the flats creates a high risk of injury? That's a new one.

Sprinting up hills will not have a significant impact, good or bad, on your race performance. I was a walk-on at Oregon for a year and Dellinger had us do reps up a hill only one time during the XC season.

Maybe if you worked harder, and ran more hill workouts, you wouldn't be a scrub walk on! Just sayin!