I do short hill repeats for 2 reasons the first goal, and most obvious, is to gain physical strength. Since strength is in our sport is often interchangeable with speed I see why it seems strange for a marathoner to be doing this type of a workout especially with such frequency. I mean why try to get a faster top end speed when even to run a world record I only need to run 4:45 or 4:46 a mile. The first reason is that every race is a race of speed, meaning that no matter how long the race is the fastest person over the distance wins. But that alone doesn't justify hill repeats one to three times a week. The real reason is strength and speed over the short distance equal efficiency. By doing these hills and getting stronger and faster in the maxim. I teach my body to consume less glycogen, and less oxygen when moving at sub maximal speeds. The less of these "fuels" the body consumes at a given pace the longer I can hold that pace.
the 2nd reason I do short hills is that they drive my heart rate way up in an extremely short period of time, to within 10 beats of max or higher in 10 seconds or less and then because my heart rate hasn't been up that long and no acid needs to be flushed out of my system (it takes 15 seconds of an exercise to begin to produce any lactic acid) my heart rate basically plummets back down to a relatively rested level, 120 to 130 beats per minute, in a short time 20seconds to a minute. This exercise on the heart teaches the heart efficiency as well meaning it takes less energy to pump more blood.
Now if I was training for the mile I would still do short hill repeats for the same reasons I have listed above but I would probably try to go a little longer (say 13 to 15 seconds rather then my usual 8 to 12) and I would try to do it on a slightly less steep hill and with better footing. Why? Because a miler would want to improve there efficiency, muscular as well as heart but he/she would also want to work more specifically on there top end speed and running uphill but with your form closer to that which you use to run over flat ground is a spectacular way of doing that.
Finally the greatest advantage of short hills is that you can reap huge long term benefits without having to sacrifice much of anything. They are very easy on the body and mind. Sure you run all out but only for a few seconds so they really are not hard and because little or no acid is accumulated in the system they take little recovery at all. This is why if I had one thing I would recommend to all runners to add to there program right now short hills would be it. They improve your basic speed, improve your efficiency and strengthen your heart and if you do them once or twice a week your body won't be any more tired or worse for the wear. It’s a win win situation. I am convinced that these, progression runs and the use of circuit training are the biggest reasons the Kenyans are so far beyond us here in the
2 comments:
Hi. I am fascinated by the idea of doing short hill sprints (Canova style). I will incorporate these now, but curious about which sessions I would add them in. Do you have any recommendations?
1. After an easy 35-50min done 1 run
2. As part of a speed work sessions, i.e: 5x400 then 5x10s hill sprints, 5x400m, 10s hill sprints and so on.
3. In some other workout?
PS. i have huge potential in increasing speed in the sub Marathon distanse (5/10k etc). If you have any other suggestions for this, please feel free to give.
Thank you in advance,
Lars-Erik
1. this would be fine but the question would be what you did the day before. You don't want to be doing these the day after heavy anaerobic work. After tempo work or slower it is fine but not after anaerobic work.
2. You can do a session like this but it is more of a max lass training effect rather than the power building or stroke volume increasing training impact that doing the in isolation targets. Not that you wouldn't get any of that but it would be muted.
3. These can work well done on heavy legs after tempo work or in lower volume the day before speed work. If you are super focused on working on improving basic speed you should do these as a stand alone workout session with an easy day before and after. You should keep the hill on the less steep side 5% grade or less and you should hold the effort back just ever so slightly so you feel like you are running very fast but controlled.
Other sessions to improve speed would be hill springing and bounding and 100s run at around 400m to 800m race pace with near full recovery but run for volume, up to 30+ reps with a focus on good form and feeling smooth. If you have decent speed and good marathon peformances, ie aerobic condtioning and you want similar results in the 5k and 10k distances then the anaerobic specific workouts are going to be key.
Nate
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