Example Hill Training Progression

This is an 8 week strength training progression which could be used by an advanced marathoner during the sharpening phase of his training. These workouts are not recommended for beginning or intermediate marathoners. They are very stressful and should be used with caution even by advanced runners.

The goal of this program is to increase anerobic threshold and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max). Additional benefits include form enhancement and high speed running efficiency.

Workouts are to be done one per week on a hard workout day for 8 consecutive weeks. Each workout should consist of at least a 1 mile easy warmup run and some stretching followed by the hill repeats and then by a 2 or more mile cooldown run.

This progression increases from 3 to 8 hill repeats during the 8 week period.

Lay out a circuit, preferably on a golf course or some other soft surface, with a hill about 200 meters long having a flat runout on the top and bottom. The hill should be comfortable to run down, not too steep. Each hill repeat consists of the following:

• Bound up the hill. This is not fast running, but more like the take off of a long jump, with exaggerated knee lift and arm swing. Go for height. It may take you 1 or 2 workouts to get the hang of it.
• Jog a loop of 200 meters or so at the top of the hill to recover.
• Stride down the hill and out onto the flat. Work on a fast long stride, paying attention to smooth upper and lower body movement.
• Jog a loop of 200 meters or so back to the bottom of the hill to recover.

Credits

Run The Planet thanks Patti & Warren Finke and Team Oregon for the permission to reprint the complete online version of the first edition of the book Marathoning Start to Finish (Hypertext Version 1.02) by Patti & Warren Finke. © 1986, 1996 wY'east Consulting, All Rights reserved.

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