So I'm in Week 2 of my Pfitz HM plan. I see that the next time I'm supposed to do V02Max intervals, I'm supposed to do them on a "moderately steep hill." I found an old thread where somebody was talking about doing them on the TM at a 6% incline. Does that sound reasonable? If you do these on a TM, what incline do you use?
With my work schedule plus the time of year, if I do these workouts during the week they will often be after dark, and unless I'm on a track the treadmill seems to be a safer choice as far as not falling on my face. My other option would be to do them during the day on the weekend. But that would put them back to back with my weekly LR, which doesn't seem like a good idea, especially as the LR mileage build is one of the areas that I think will be challenging for me.
Beer-and-waffle Powered
"Moderately steep" will mean different things to different people. If you can run up it without really changing your gait but still working harder then I'd say it's moderately steep (if it's so steep that walking is faster then it's too steep). As for 6% grade, I'm not sure because I'm never on treadmills, but I would consider 6% to be a moderate hill (comparing to one a bike up regularly).
I wouldn't put the LR and the workout back-to-back, especially at lower mileage. What the issue with the dark? Is it a speed thing? For example, I have no problem running in the dark with a headlamp, but the idea of running intervals on a trail with only that much light scares me. If you don't mind slower running in the dark then you could move your long run to a weekday evening to free up the daylight on the weekend. Or just stick to the treadmill for the intervals/tempo runs.
In the words of my late-coach : Just hang in there, relax... and at the end of a race anyone you see.....just pass them
Wickedly Average
All I can say about hills is that what was moderately steep a year ago would be what I'd consider mild now. I think that in this case, you might go by feel to a certain extent. Maybe hit 4% on the TM this workout and adjust as needed. The first couple of times, the hill will seem enormous, but as you gain in your ability, a little more incline will be needed to get the same effect.
Tom (formerly known as PhotogTom)
5K - 25:16, 10K - 55:31, 15K - 1:20:55, HM - 1:54:54
Return To Racing
I'm going to be a moderate "Bridge" runner.
Chief Unicorn Officer
I can think of one hill that fits the bill for me personally, I'm not sure if it's what Jerry meant, but it's a bridge. At least where I am, many of our bridges have a fairly long, but not-too-steep incline to them. When my college XC team needs a decent hill workout we go over and have them do 10 or 12 reps of the hill at a hard effort, jogging back down, and this replaces a speed day that week (the uphill is a little longer than 400m, we have them do 400m of it and turn around, we just put a cone out for them so they know where to stop). If you've got bridges around you that might be an option.
Mile 5:49 - 5K 19:58 - 10K 43:06 - HM 1:36:54
Reading your post made my legs hurt... and miss the hell out of my old XC team.
My issue with running in the dark at that pace is that I feel like I'm likely to trip on a bit of sidewalk. I have no problem with regular or tempo runs, but the intervals are a faster pace than I'm used to trying to navigate at the moment.
We do have some bridges around here, but they're pretty short. There is a nice hill by my MIL's house plus some trails I can try if I do get a chance to run in the daylight though. I might think about moving one around to a weeknight every couple of weeks or so. It's not really that much farther than my MLR which is already on a weeknight, and that was doable.
So I'm in Week 2 of my Pfitz HM plan. I see that the next time I'm supposed to do V02Max intervals, I'm supposed to do them on a "moderately steep hill." I found an old thread where somebody was talking about doing them on the TM at a 6% incline. Does that sound reasonable? If you do these on a TM, what incline do you use? With my work schedule plus the time of year, if I do these workouts during the week they will often be after dark, and unless I'm on a track the treadmill seems to be a safer choice as far as not falling on my face. My other option would be to do them during the day on the weekend. But that would put them back to back with my weekly LR, which doesn't seem like a good idea, especially as the LR mileage build is one of the areas that I think will be challenging for me.
For me it would depend on what race I was training for. If I were training for a flat race, 3-4% might be good enough.
My coach has me doing hills as well, but at easy pace, or just below MP. I do them on my TM most of the time. Not interested in driving 30 minutes to the nearest correct hill. I have been doing them twice a week, during either a recovery or a GA run. For one, I do 800m at an average of 5% incline and then I go down at -3% for the next 800m (running down is a good workout as well), next mile is on 0% incline, then I repeat. The second run of the week is identical, except the hill intervals are 1600m long. Yesterday, I worked my 1600m intervals (5 of them) from 4.5% to 6.5%. There was a time when doing 5% incline for even just 1/10 of a mile felt like an intense effort for me. After about 6 weeks of hills, I already see great progress. Love my hills now and hopefully I'll be able to work my way to something steeper and faster eventually.
5% seems right for you. Try it and see how it feels. You can always adjust after.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
Trail Monster
Like Lily I've been working my way up. 3-4% was tough when I started. Now I'm doing 8%. My treadmill maxes out at 10% so I will have to move outdoors soon.
2013 races:
3/17 Shamrock Marathon
4/20 North Coast 24 Hour
7/27 Burning RIver 100M
8/24 Baker 50M
10/5 Oil Creek (distance to be determined)
My Blog
Brands I Heart:
FitFluential
INKnBURN
Altra Zero Drop
8? Sheesh... now I feel like a sissy.
Fortuantely, or unfortunately for me hills are the norm for any run I do from home.
This is the 12.5 mile route I did from my house yesterday. I walked back up at the end of
the run for my cool down and I stop the Garmin at the end of the run portion.
It's a 350 ft descent (my chart is in meters) in less than 1 mile to sea level. Some of the grades
are very steep. If I have energy at the end of a shorter run I do sprints back up to my house.
Hills can suck when you first start doing them but they will improve your running. I have never
met a hill in a race that is worse than any of the hills I run regularly so it's a big help mentally.
I've been doing it a few weeks longer than you. You'll be at 8% in no time! My last workout was 8% for 5 minutes and 2% for 2 minute for 50 minutes, not including warm up and cool down.
The race is pretty flat but I think the hill work is to build strength just in general. I guess I'll start at 4-5%, depending on how I'm feeling, and see how it goes.
flashlight and sidewalk
I don't run on a treadmill. Running up the hill will slow you down...maybe slow enough to do them outside? I feel like the shorter steps and the shorter distance from eyes to ground makes running uphill "nice" at night. Just a thought
**Ask me about streaking**