Question on hill training (Read 457 times)

Coach Bryant

posted: 4/16/2008 at 11:58 AM

Just a question for you..... I'm working to improve my 5K times and was wondering about hill workouts. My best 5K time is 21:07. I've been following Cool Running: Intermediate 5K program and the schedule today in the third week of the program was 5-6 hills at 5K pace but says nothing about distance. Today I did 5 hills on the treadmill with 1 minute rest between hills: 1/2 mile warm up at 30 secs under 5K pace 1/4 mile @ 3.0 grade at 5K pace 1/4 mile @ 4.0 grade at 5K pace 1/4 mile @ 5.0 grade at 5K pace 1/4 mile @ 6.0 grade at 5K pace 1/4 mile @ 7.0 grade at 5K pace (hard!) I think a 6th hill at 8.0 grade would have put me over MHR! lol 1/2 mile cool down at 30 secs under 5K pace I was wondering how long the hills should be when doing hill training....any suggestions/advice? Thanks Glenn

Personal Records 5K - 21:35

fatozzig

posted: 4/16/2008 at 12:32 PM

I can't help you with the grades because I run hills near my house and have no idea what the various grades are. However, after a 20 minute warm-up run, I come back and do 5-10 hill repeats then finish my run. Depending on how many I'm doing they last anywhere between 30 seconds a minute with an effort to keep my cadence at 28-30 foot strikes (i.e., a left foot strike is 1, left foot again is 2 etc.) in 20 seconds. Hill work doesn't need to be a long extended workout, and, unless you have some good running under your belt, should only be done once a week, same as speed work. Now for the disclaimer: I got all this information from my coach. Big grin

Good luck!

Leslie
Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain
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