Theres a few hills in my area that are 1000-2000m long at a farily steady gradient.
I've been considering adding some long hill reps to my base training (High School 1500-5k runner) but am worried that the jog back recovery will be far too long?
e.g. 5x1k hills would require a 5 minute jog back down which seems excessive....
Would love to see if the collective wisdom of LetsRun has any thoughts.
Hills>bills wrote:
Theres a few hills in my area that are 1000-2000m long at a farily steady gradient.
I've been considering adding some long hill reps to my base training (High School 1500-5k runner) but am worried that the jog back recovery will be far too long?
e.g. 5x1k hills would require a 5 minute jog back down which seems excessive....
Would love to see if the collective wisdom of LetsRun has any thoughts.
Your lucky day!!! trained with Abdi Bile world 1500m champion 1987 and here was our session on a 2k hill: 800m effort 90 seconds rest 800m effort 75 seconds rest 400m effort then jog back down. Modify and adjust. Good luck!
I used to do tempo runs during base training using a 1200m long hill. Run at a constant tempo effort both up and down.
I have some long, fairly steep hills in my backyard., but rarely does anyone recommend this sort of training. Short hill reps are more commonly recommended. I too would be interested in the view of the appropriateness of this type of training.
A lot of xc skiers include this in their summerrunning, 6 x 6 minutes for example.
It is also used by cyclists on their bikes like 4 x 6 minutes.
Skiers and cyclists are known to have the highest Vo2Max, not just because of this of course, but you see where I am going.
I do mile repeats on a route with rolling (some long) hills. Use same recovery as on flatter sections....why not? Puts hair on your chest.
SprintTriathlon wrote:
A lot of xc skiers include this in their summerrunning, 6 x 6 minutes for example.
It is also used by cyclists on their bikes like 4 x 6 minutes.
Skiers and cyclists are known to have the highest Vo2Max, not just because of this of course, but you see where I am going.
Yeah, it is certainly good lung busting training. I'm more interested in the strain it puts on the calves and achilles.
Tempo up and back down a very long gradual hill, at constant effort -- I have done that. I have done that, and felt fast and strong in the days following.
An elite marathon training group in Ethiopia incorporates fairly long hill reps into their training plan. I don’t know how well you’ll be able to apply this to you’re own running but below are links that show what they do.
https://www.nnrunningteam.com/news/2019-02-12-king-of-the-hill/
Pleasantly surprised with the genuinely good advice here! Many thanks....
Will try some 3-5 minute reps at around 10k intensity and see how that goes
If you're lucky enough to have a shorter way down, that is a great option. I have a 1300m hill with and 700m short cut back to the start, and another 3km hill road with about a 650m steep trail back to the base. I love using these!
Id think this could be really useful for some kind of tempo effort where youd do it twice and the climb would be slow and painful but youd get to crank it on the downhill.
Hills>bills wrote:
I've been considering adding some long hill reps to my base training (High School 1500-5k runner) but am worried that the jog back recovery will be far too long?
There's always treadmills...
You could try this suggestion from the Joe Rubio Middle Distance Guide
”Wake Forest Drill”: Find a gradual uphill slope of approx. 800m. Run up at 5k-10k effort, hit the top, turnaround immediately and run the same downhill section at 10-20 second slower, turnaround and immediately run uphill at 5k-10k effort. Continuous run (no breaks), up and down = 1 rep. Total workout = 3-8 reps.
I know people who have done these. Super tough and make you feel fit. Idk how much they actually helped since you go slower than race pace.
I would shorten then like coahc described. Then, you can run faster than race pace and have appropriate rest.
I just have a hard time seeing the point in running slower than race pace for these kind of intervals.
No problems with calves or anything, taking the downhill easy. Hills notoriously protect you compared to flat hard running.