Posted: May 16, 2005

Science of Sport: Dan Sets Another PR (There's Gold in Those Hills)

The Running Research News Weekly Training Update - Issue # 43, April 19, 2005

Hill work is a key component of the RRN training progression, and it is a potent producer of fitness in its own right.

The RRN set-up differs from traditional training plans (which usually "build a base", expand aerobic capacity, and then shoe-horn in a bit of speed training prior to a major competition) and also from Jack-Daniels' blocks. RRN's scheme usually involves beginning with general strength training, proceeding on to running-specific strength training, moving into hill work, and finishing with explosive training (although the progression does not have to be in that exact order). Throughout these four phases, runners work steadily on their speed and gradually expand their ability to carry out vVO2max and lactate-threshold-type training.

A beauty of the overall progression is that completion of the four phases has a synergistic effect which can produce mammoth gains in fitness. In addition, each section of the plan has its own, unique, often-quite-large impact on running capacity.

Take hill work: We know from the scientific research that hill training is a wonderful enhancer of running economy. We know from logic and experience that hill training expands a runner's resistance to fatigue, and that hill sessions are boosters of VO2max and lactate threshold (since hill climbs are associated with high rates of oxygen uptake and lofty lactate levels). As a result, a four- to six-week diet of hills can lead to remarkable gains in running performance.

Dan Collison, a runner who is using the RRN system, is enjoying the benefits of hill training right now. Dan, a 45-year-old who has been running for about five years, began employing the RRN program on August 14, 2004 (with a vVO2max test to assess his initial fitness), and he has chalked up four shiny PRs since then (not bad for a nine-month period which featured five months of hibernal weather), his most recent personal-best coming yesterday in a 10K.

Dan happens to live in New Hampshire, a circumstance which gives him certain disadvantages as an endurance athlete (as Yogi Berra once said, "It is a wrong mistake for a distance runner to live where it is cold"). From November through the end of March, his local tracks are covered with five feet of snow (six when the weather gets bad). True, Dan can compensate a bit by running on a treadmill and at the Dartmouth College Field House, but the track at the latter venue can be unpredictably covered by the booths of a Home Improvement or RV Show (Yankee ingenuity and practicality, you know). Frequently, Dan has had to carry out his speed work on marked sections of roadway. On these days, we call his workouts "doubles", since he is working on both velocity and agility (while avoiding Yankee drivers and New England potholes, of course).

However, for the endurance runner there is also a key advantage associated with living free or dying: The presence of wonderful mountains. And mountains, as opposed to mere hills, allow runners to carry out the best-possible sort of "hill" workout - a non-stop, uphill run of at least three miles in duration. At his personal beck and call, Dan has Mt. Washington, Mt. Ascutney, and Mt. Kearsarge, just to name a few close-by crags, and just a 100-meter jaunt from his back door he also has Power Sap (possibly named after two Dartmouth runners, or perhaps after the puissant maple trees growing on its slopes - and actually a collection of challenging inclinations). All permit at least three miles of continuous uphill effort (Mt. Washington actually offers more than seven).

True, such climbing is not exactly speed training; the tough inclines and the steady nature of the running tend to tone down average velocity a bit. However, ascending Washington or Ascutney on a runnable roadway or trail is the kind of exertion which optimizes running-specific-leg-strength and sends aerobic capacity and lactate threshold through their respective roofs.

Elite Kenyan runners have known about the special benefits of continuous climbs for a long time. When my friend Sammy Lelei was preparing for a key marathon (he ran 2:07:03 at Berlin, which was at the time the second-fastest clocking in the world), he liked to ascend a mountain, running very hard the whole way, in the western part of Kenya on a 13-mile (21-K) roadway which featured nearly steady climbing. Before starting this workout, he used to call out "How many reps should I do today, Owen?"

Dan was actually scheduled to move into his explosive phase of training in early April (he has managed all four of his PRs without ever moving into that profitable piece of the progression), but then a funny thing happened: Spring came to New Hampshire. The sudden availability of mountain roads and trails was simply too good to pass up, and as Ascutney's brooks tumultuously brought down the water stored over the winter, Dan was working the first three miles of Ascut's roadway, dodging catamounts and losing his cell phone, jumping over the occasional heat-resistance ice piles and snow drifts, but never letting up on his intensity. He blended this escalading with other strengthening work, vVO2max training, and interval sessions at race pace.

This past week was a tough one for Dan, with extra hours spent at work and less sleep than usual. Wednesday's vVO2max session was disappointing - he wasn't able to hold pace on his 800s. I had a rough week, too, and as a result I didn't let him know until Friday evening at around midnight that I wanted him to run a 10K Saturday morning.

Fortunately, Dan is an adaptable fellow, and he had been mindful of the extra stress in his life and thus made the "effort" to rest well Thursday night; he also took a scheduled recovery day on Friday. Fortunately, too, hill training has a wonderful way of working its magic, especially when it has been undertaken by a runner like Dan who doesn't mind letting it all hang out in races. When he toed the starting line on Saturday morning, he felt strong, and even though the course was not flat, was open to traffic, and had a million turns, Dan surged to a 36:20 PR (previous best was 37:10). Not bad for a Masters runner half-way to earning his Veteran status!

Dan and Sammy have more in common than their love for hill (mountain) training. Both always contribute far more than they take. Each has an incredible sense of humor; Sammy's cackle can ignite any room, and Dan has a fondness for Yogiisms (aka "bulls"). Dan believes that Yogi may secretly be an Irishman, since his bulls are always so pregnant. And when it comes to competition, both Dan and Sammy have Mickey-Mantle-like hearts (as Yogi once said of the Mick, "He gives you everything he has, and then he gives you another 20 percent!").

They also recover after their hill workouts in exactly the same way. At the top, Sammy would change his shirt and then walk 50 meters to the nearest Kenyan tea shop, at which he would guzzle copious quantities of highly sugared Kenyan tea. Dan hides a trove of New England tea, sweetened with generous dollops of maple syrup, at the pinnacle (usually, it's still there when he reaches the precipice). Sugar or syrup, the effect is the same: Recovery commences as soon as the challenging climb is completed.

By the way, when you run continuously upward for three miles or more, it is not necessary to recover by jogging down the slope: In fact, I strongly recommend that you do not jog back to the bottom. If you want a bit of extra eccentric strain on your quads (to help fight future soreness), simply amble down the slope for 400 meters or so, but that's it. There is no need to ruin a perfect workout by tearing your quads to shreds with a long bout of downhill running.

That was never a problem for Sammy; the top of the monticle was on his way home, so he would be picked up by car at the tea house, and off he would go. Dan stashes a bike at the top, enjoys an easy walk down, or else is collected by family/friends, and that is exactly the way to do it.

Because of Michigan's recent bout of brumal weather, RRN's business office is in a generous mood, and the folks there have informed me that they are extending the recent Malibu-Running-Camp promotion. It really is an incredible offer: Anyone who signs up for one of the sessions of our running camp (the dates are June 21-26 and July 19-24) during the three-day period from Wednesday, May 18 through Friday, May 20 can attend the camp for just $895, a sizable saving from the usual price of $995. And - here's the best deal of all: Two people signing up together can come for just $1600 ($800 per person), a 20-percent discount.

Sign-ups can be accomplished by phone (517-371-4897; if you reach voice mail, I'll call you right back) or by e-mail (owen@rrnews.com). You can also go to http://rrnews.microform.com/running-camps.php , download the camp brochure using the link at the bottom of the page, and then fax your completed application to 517-371-4447.

Our Malibu camp really is incredible - a wonderful mix of education and fun. It doesn't hurt that it takes place at a terrific location (Pepperdine University), and that many of our runs take place on beautiful trails in the Santa Monica Mountains (yes, we'll do some Collison-Lelei-type climbing there, although not for 13 miles at a crack). To find out more about Pepperdine, please go to http://www.pepperdine.edu/main/ To learn more about the Santa Monica Mountains, please visit http://www.nps.gov.samo/

Many thanks for your interest in RRN! I hope that I have the chance to meet you this summer.

With very kindest regards,

Owen Anderson