As you move closer to race season, yet before you start any serious interval training, hill work in the form of hill repeats are an important addition to any program.The following workout is one I would describe as the ‘Perfect Hill Repeat’ workout:
1. Warm up for 10-12 minutes, easy.
2. Standing activations
3. Hill Bounds – 2×20 steps total (10 ea leg). Jog walk back to start. Bounds are forceful skipping up the hill.
4. Start with 6×2 minutes at 5k-10k effort – don’t worry about speed and HR. Go at a pretty hard effort RPE of 7-9 on these. HR will lag but will probably hit Z4/5 after 90 seconds.
5. Easy 2′ recovery after each hill rep. Walk or jog slowly to starting point.
6. As reps progress try to go past the furthest point each time.
7. After your last rep, try 3√ó30 Hill Bounds (15 forceful skips for each leg). Mark your ending point of your best Hill Bound (use a rock, stick, etc).
8. 3x sprints up to the farthest point in your best Hill Bound. For example if the Hill Bounds took 20 seconds, try to run the same distance in 10 seconds. Go HARD!
9. Cool down easy for 10 minutes.
10. Get a short core workout in and aid your recovery with a recovery drink with 20-30g of protein.
Each week you can add 1-2 reps, and by weeks 4-6 you could be up to 12-15 reps. Once you’ve completed this workout block, you will be ready to hit the track.
If you have any questions please email me: Mike@d3multisport.com