Regular running on hills improves your technical skills and gives you a noticeable increase in strength by overcoming the force of gravity. These strength gains are often not possible through conventional training.
Most runners need help understanding how to train for hills. They choose hills that are too long or steep, run too fast, and spend too little time on recovery. The result is poor training impact, injury, and burnout at worst.
Before running to the nearest mountain trail, we must understand how to achieve hill running results.
Why is it Necessary?
In hills, all three types of muscle fibers are involved: slow twitch (Type I), intermediate fast twitch (Type IIa), and fast twitch (Type IIx).
Slow twitch fibers produce the most minor force but work aerobically and take long to fatigue, making them ideal for endurance.
Intermediate fibers produce more force than slow twitch fibers, creating the long, powerful strides associated with middle-distance running.
Fast twitch fibers produce the most force, but they work anaerobically and are only applicable for short periods.
When Should You Use Hill Running?
There is no wrong time to use hill running:
it can be used early in the training cycle to develop fast-twitch muscle fibers in short and middle-distance runners.
For athletes prone to injury, hill running can serve as a safe and effective introductory speed workout. It’s also a suitable option for beginner athletes looking to enhance their running techniques.
Raises can also be used in the middle of a training cycle. Long climbs are a good alternative for athletes who are mentally tired from constantly running on the track.
You can also mix regular intervals and hills into one workout, creating a workout with hills at the end to work through lactate buildup and build mental toughness when running when you’re tired.
How to Train on Hills?
When we run, muscle fibers turn on one by one. We use slow twitch fibers first; intermediate fibers are added as strength increases, and fast twitch fibers are added when the demand is greatest (for example, running up a steep hill).
Therefore, we can design hill training separately for each fiber type to work together more effectively.
Five Hill Training Workouts
1. Long Climb
In the long term, it is one of the essential workouts for a long-distance runner because our slow-twitch fibers require lower intensity and exercise duration to achieve maximum endurance.
A few benefits of a long hill (or mountain):
- Increases the percentage of slow twitch fibers recruited.
- Creates additional resistance, strengthening fibers.
- Increases ankle flexibility, improving stride.
- Calms nervous inhibition improves coordination between muscle groups.
- Engages intermediate fibers, improves coordination between fiber types.
Start with 800-1600m of moderately steep hills in your long-term training plan every second or third week. Once the form improves, you can increase the total uphill volume to 3-5 km. The effort level for these runs should be comfortably aerobic.
Going too fast will not give us the best workout and will only reduce the amount of work we do and increase the time it takes to recover.
2. Long Intervals
This workout forces all muscle fibers to work. Typical Weekly Long Hill Progression – Repeats:
- 4-8 × 30 seconds, 2-3 minutes rest.
- 4-8 × 60 seconds, 3-4 minutes rest.
- 4-6 × 90 seconds, 4-5 minutes rest.
In terms of tempo, a simple rule of thumb is to finish each interval workout with enough fuel in the tank to complete one or two reps if necessary.
3. Short Intervals
- This workout is designed to achieve two goals for runners:
- Strengthen all three types of muscle fibers.
- Reduce neuromuscular inhibition.
Running uphill at 90 to 95 percent maximum effort works the full range of fibers possible.
It also requires the broadest range of motion from our stride. To achieve this movement, opposing muscle groups learn “reduced inhibition.”
Just as we relax the triceps muscle of our arm when we curl our biceps, our quadriceps muscle must also learn to coordinate contraction and release. The result is a smoother, longer, and faster stride.
Start by doing 4-5 repetitions of 30-60m (5-10 seconds) up a steep slope and working your way up to 8-12 repetitions. To recover, descend and rest for 2-3 minutes.
4. Jumping
A great way to develop stride strength and efficiency is to incorporate “jumps” into your mountain work (6-7 degree incline):
- Vertical jumps: lowering onto the opposite leg.
- Horizontal jumps: Length is significant (not height).
Skip jumps:
Land on the same foot you took off from, then take a short step forward on the opposite foot, take off, land, short step…then repeat the whole process.
The section is 50–70m long, and the interval is up, down, and repeat. One or two repetitions of each exercise are enough.
5. Downward Speed Steps
Speed steps create quadriceps strength through an eccentric contraction.
An eccentric contraction occurs when a muscle simultaneously contracts (shortens) and relaxes (lengthens). Your quadriceps contract to prevent your knees from buckling when you run downhill. At the same time, our knee bends slightly, stretching the quadriceps. This tug of war produces two noticeable training effects:
Eccentric contractions recruit fewer muscle fibers, increasing the force required from the activated ones. The increased force causes more tearing of the recruited fibers.
This shrinking set of fibers, combined with more damage, results in greater adaptation to force: stronger quadriceps, better knee lift, and resistance to future quad fatigue. Start with four to five repeats of 60 to 100 meters on a moderately steep slope (6 to 7 percent).
Run at 85% of your maximum pace, allowing 2-3 minutes to recover between reps. 6-8 repetitions at 90-95% effort. Do this workout on grass or a trail.
