Running in hills develops leg strength as well as the strength of the tendons and ligaments around the knee and ankle. Developing leg strength is important, as it makes for a more powerful contraction of the leg muscles to propel you forward faster. Including hills regularly, particularly early in your build-up will see great dividends in the improvement of your running. This workout is great to include early in your build-up to develop leg strength.
Each week I will be posting the Friday Fartlek Run Sessions that you can do to enhance your running. Fartlek is a Swedish term that is often used by runners and it means speed-play. See a previous post about training intensity (levels) to know how hard it is to work.
This workout comes from an article by Julian Goater in an old edition of Triathlon 220 Magazine. Although I can’t see a date on it, I suspect it was printed in the late 90’s looking at the bikes and heart rate monitors advertised in it. Julian was a top-tier runner in the 1970s and 1980s with a 5,000m PB of 13:16 and a 10,000m PB of 27:35!!
Goater’s Hill Sequence D
- 10min WU Level II;
- 4x 3min Level V Up Hill 3min Level I-II Jog Down RI;
- 3min Level V,
- 90sec Level V/30sec RI/90sec Level V,
- 60sec Level V/30sec RI/60sec Level V/30sec RI/60sec Level V,
- 3min Level V,
- 10min CD Level II;
- 10min Stretching
Start the workout with a warm-up (WU) for ten minutes of easy jogging at Level II which concludes at the base of a hill.
The Main Set involves running four, three-minute reps at Level V uphill. There are three different variations of how to run these three-minute reps. Run one of each style and then repeat them all.
The first and fourth rep, is three minutes long, straight up at Level V for the three minutes.
The second rep is split into two 90-second long sub-reps, both running at Level V with a 30-second Rest Interval (RI) between them.
The third rep is split into three 60-second long sub-reps, both running at Level V with a 30-second Rest Interval (RI) between them.
After each rep, lightly jog back down at Level I-II for three minutes. Once at the base of the hill, you can continue to jog around lightly or do some stretching for the remainder of the three-minute period.
Your pace may be less than prescribed on the up hills, as long as the effort is at the equivalent of race pace.
The Cool Down (CD) is at a low intensity, jogging (Level II) for at least ten minutes.
Finish with 10 minutes of stretching to assist with the recovery.
If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.
I am the Head Coach and Director of Qwik Kiwi – Endurance Sports Consultant.
I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729.
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