(Up) Hill Sessions = Speed Work

With me currently in rest mode and already feeling a bit twitchy, I thought i'd cast my mind to next week's planned hill session.



Before Rep 1





After Rep 8







Why hills you may add? Well running uphill recruits more muscle fibers due to the concentric action of your leg muscles, i.e. your leg is not fully extended when you have to "toe off" so the muscles have to work harder. It also works the quads, which get woefully underutilised when running on the flat. And finally it improves your general running economy by forcing you to drive with you arms and lift with your knees!

All this transposes to an improved speed when you drop back to running on the flat!

And to top it all off.... it may not seem like it but, you put around 1/3 less stress on your knees running up hill!

My hill sessions typically include 8 reps of 200m @ (20-30 degree slope) taking around 1 min -> 1.5mins

This means you can have a good hard training session in around 30-40mins!

However it is worth taking your time and walking down the slope after each rep and resisting the temptation to run down. Walking allows you to regain your breath clear some of the lactic acid in your legs and avoid the nasty eccentric contractions of downhill running which often lead to knee pain and DOMS.