When/how to do hill training
I have a hilly Oly in June. I have done it before and after the first time I said "I need to do more hill training"... but last year, same thing. Sucking wind on the hills. So how and when do I start doing more hill specific "stuff"? And what does that "stuff" look like from an EN perspective? Do I start in the OS by replacing a certain pace on the run for example, to just doing my Z4 on hills or TM incline? (The bike seems a little more straightforward to me as we're training with watts vs. a certain speed target)
Thanks!
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Know your run paces and what they feel like, what the RPE is at a given pace. So, say you're running at 'X' pace, when you hit that hill, your effort will get harder (as if you've increased pace if you were still running flattish). So, a 7:30 feels like 'this' on the flats, but on the hill climb 7:30 feels like 6:30 pace. He explained to me, to back off on RPE a little while climbing, then start applying the gas cresting and over. Sound familiar? In other words, approach it much like we handle the efforts on the bike. It's a little bit more phantom since we don't have 'run watts' to direct us, but the concept is the same.
I don't think I did it justice, but it was my best shot.
Other smarter folks will help soon...hang on...
I'm a long time runner who used to have alot of hill naturally in my training;recently decided I need to put some specific hill work back into my training especially for developing Leg Power...I get plenty of speed work & aeorbic work but nothing that specifically develops power... Some good Hill workouts/Discussin in the recent Running Times Magazine (December 2011)...you can see it at runningtimes.com or is you go to YouTube and search how to run hill workouts...look for the runningtimes video with Pete Magill.
Note that I say this as I am rehabbing a calf, but that was more of a minimalist running injury than a hill workout thing.
The pacing mistakes most people make running hills is the run to hard up the hill and not hard enough down the hills. From a running technique perspective – shorten the stride on the uphill, keep that ~90 cadence. On the downhill don’t land out in front of the body, that will decelerate you on every stride and pound the heck out of the quads. Also don’t lean back, keep your center of gravity over your foot strike as best you can. Your cadence will likely rise as your pace quickens.
How to incorporate hills into the work outs and when to start? My thoughts ( may not be the right ones) is to hit you key main set intervals on relatively non hilly terrain. This allows you to get those zones and RPE levels coupled together in your head. To Chris’s point its these RPE levels you will target on hills. If you want to put hills into the workout do it after the Main set efforts.
Most of us have an issue running down hills smooth and fast. This is where practice can help the stride adapt and the quads adapt. I would get 1 good hill workout in a week for the 8 weeks before your race. This may be your long run of the week.
Running on a treadmill with a significant incline – I would not try to hit you zone paces when doing this. I would use any treadmill running again on the 1% - 1.5% grade level to reinforce zone and RPE levels.
Bending Crank Arms
Hillacious
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Ascending Mountains in Leadville, CO
For running, hit the hills or angle up the treadmill. Be careful to give your achilles tendon time to adapt...slowly increase hill volume/elevation over a couple of months.
2x what Chris and Matt said - constant effort, not constant pace. So with this in mind, your pace will slow going uphill and you must take advantage of gravity going down by running at a faster pace. Matt is right that most people don't do this as they "coast" downhill on the run. That is when I attack in a race. To be able to run downhill fast, you have to practice this too. The big thing is to let your quads get use to the pounding, and let gravity be your friend.
I'm racing a hilly HM in March, and have begun to include hill repeats on my long run on Sunday. Tomorrow I'm running 9 miles with 4 x repeats on a hill that is just about the same length and incline as Heartbreak HIll in the Boston marathon (of course I'll be hitting the hill at mile 3 of my run and not mile 20 where Heartbreak is in the BS marathon). The down hilll segments are just as important as the uphills to get your legs use to the speed and pounding. Each Sunday I'll add one additional hill repeat (up to 8) so that most of my extra mileage is actually the hill work. I followed this same plan last year leading up to the same race in March 2011 and ran 1:40 (7:39/mile pace), felt good on the hills and ran a negative split on a course with most of the hills from miles 7-13. Passed lots of people on those later hills.
One caution: be very careful as hill repeats can increase the risk of injury. Any little sign of acute, sharp pain (not the "oh this is hard work" kind of pain) in your hips, legs, knees, calves, etc. during the repeats is a reason to stop right then, and walk or Z1 pace jog it home.