Multisport: Training on Hills - The Missing Link to your Running Training Program?

By Dennis Newell, Carmichael Training Systems Coach

Hill training is an important element to every running training program. Hills are a great way to increase your workload and can be incorporated through daily mileage, short or long intervals, rolling tempo runs, and a variety of other methods. Hill training enhances aerobic development, leg strength, power, neuromuscular coordination, and speed; and based on these physiological responses, it should be a component of your training program.

The first way to implement hills into your training program is to incorporate hills into your Foundation/Base period by adding routes with rolling hills. By adding hills into your Foundation/Base miles, you can gradually adjust to the demands of hills in your training. You can increase the days that you run hills up to three or four days a week during this time for added aerobic capacity and leg strength.

After you feel comfortable with running hills through your Foundation/Base period, you can start to add hills in the form of longer duration intervals of 1-3 minutes (3-5 minute recovery). You should try to complete 4-8 intervals with an adequate warm-up and cool-down. These intervals will serve as an aerobic workout for the most part, but will also allow for leg strength development. These longer duration intervals are an essential progression for hill training and allow you to begin running shorter and more intense hill sessions. These longer duration intervals will allow for the body to adapt to running at higher intensities than your daily endurance pace.

Another way to implement hills into your running program is to incorporate shorter duration hill intervals of 30 seconds (1-2:00 recovery). You should try to accomplish 6-10 intervals with an adequate warm-up and cool-down. These shorter hills will develop leg strength, power, and neuromuscular coordination. Their shorter duration and higher intensity allows you to build strength that will be necessary for speed and leg turnover later in training.

Tempo runs over rolling hills should be incorporated as the last element of hill training, after you have increased your aerobic capacity through daily hill running, developed maximum aerobic capacity and leg strength through longer duration intervals, and developed power and neuromuscular coordination through the shorter duration intervals. Rolling hill tempo running allows you to incorporate all the different elements of your previous hill training sessions into one workout. A rolling hill tempo run should ideally include rolling hills and longer hills and shorter hills in a non-structured manner. At the same time, the pace of the run should remain relatively fast. These workouts allow all aspects of hill training to be implemented in one high end time-trial. You will be producing plenty of lactic acid during this workout, and your body will be learning to tolerate and process it more efficiently. Lactate tolerance experience is an important factor prior to any mid-distance or distance racing event.

Hill Running Mechanics

You will need to adjust your running stride, frequency, and posture when running hills of any kind. Try to take smaller strides at a quickened rate. Your feet should be constantly moving as if on hot coals, spending very little time on the ground. Run on your toes with your heel touching the ground just before liftoff to ensure that your leg turnover remains fast. You should drive your knees up with force. Your torso should be slightly leaning into the hill as you progress up the hills incline. These tips will help you to run hills more effectively.

Running hills is especially important if your goal event has hills. Specificity is an important element to any training program. The principle of specificity refers to training as specifically as possible to the demands of the goal event to make sure that that the training preparation is accurate to the goals you are trying to accomplish. Based on the event you choose, you can decide which hill sessions you need to focus on more thoroughly. Make sure to adequately develop your aerobic capacity, leg strength, power, neuromuscular coordination, and speed collectively so that you are well-balance and able to progress appropriately. However, after you have developed all aspects of the different elements of hill training, you can target specific hill sessions to skills and speed you need for your goal event.

Dennis Newell works as a Resident Coach for Carmichael Training Systems, Inc. (CTS) and has a successful background in distance running. To find out what CTS can do for you, visit www.trainright.co.

© 2005, Carmichael Training Systems, Inc.