The optimal incline for hill training has not been identified. It is clear that steeper inclines (for example, 8-10 percent) force runners to perform more work per step during uphill climbing, provided step length is not drastically compromised on those steeper slopes, than do inclines of 2 to 3 percent because the body must be lifted a greater distance vertically with each step. Greater work output per step should be more strengthening compared to the lower outputs associated with gentler hills assuming total climbing distance is comparable in the two situations. A potential disadvantage of steeper inclines, however, is that they often reduce stride length and running speed compared with workouts on easier slopes.4
Although science provides no definitive evidence on the matter, it is reasonable to believe that the use of different hill types—from relatively gentle to steep surfaces—would be an optimal way to conduct hill training. Research carried out with baseball pitchers has revealed that employing both a heavy ball and a light ball during training improves fastball velocity to a greater extent than the use of a regular baseball alone.5 Using the heavy ball improves the maximal strength of the throwing motion; bringing the light ball into play fosters faster arm speed and, in combination with the uptick in strength produced through use of the heavy ball, optimizes power, the creation of more force in a shorter period of time. This translates into greater fastball velocity.
Comparably, running up steep hills might slow a runner’s pace but would have a major impact on running-specific strength because of the increased amount of work per step; running up more gentle hills could then promote power because of the higher running velocities. Together, the fast speeds used on the relatively short, gentle hills and the greater work outputs employed on the steep grades could dramatically increase running power and maximal speed.
Downhill Running
Runners frequently are most focused on the uphill portions of their hill-training sessions, yet downhill training also provides several advantages. One major effect of downhill running is to promote greater resistance to delayed-onset muscle soreness, especially in the quadriceps. In an investigation completed at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a single instance of downhill running (~ 15 minutes in duration) promoted greater resistance to muscle pain during training for up to 6 weeks (the pain was simply the runners’ perceived discomfort in their quadriceps muscles following challenging workouts).6 Improved resistance to muscle soreness can prevent delays in the conduct of high-quality training and thus lead to greater gains in running fitness over specific periods of time.
Downhill running should not be approached cavalierly. In a study carried out at California State Polytechnic University with nine well-trained distance runners, a single workout including 30 minutes of downhill running on a 10 percent slope altered normal stride mechanics for at least 2 days and harmed running economy by 3.2 percent over the same duration.7 This suggests that workouts with extended periods of downhill running should not be followed closely by high-quality workouts unless a runner has already had considerable experience with downhill training.
Hill Drills
Many serious runners create hill-training workouts that consist of little more than running uphill and then jogging back down for recovery, but scientific evidence suggests that it may be advantageous to carry out special drills (e.g., bounding, hopping, backward running) on hills as well. Such drills can amplify force production by the leg muscles during uphill movement and thus promote greater gains in strength compared with just running. The drills can also enhance coordination during uphill effort, which should improve competitive ability during hilly competitions and greater stability during flat-ground running.
In a relevant study completed at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, 11 Swedish marathon runners added hill workouts to their normal training programs over a 12-week period.8 An interesting feature of this research was that the Swedish runners included a drill called bounce running during their uphill climbs, which ranged in intensity from relaxed to maximal efforts. Bounce running varies from normal hill running, which generally involves leaning forward slightly and moving up a hill as quickly as possible. In bounce running, a runner springs up more vertically onto his or her toes with each step, attempting to achieve greater loft, or vertical elevation, with every stride.
Bounce-running technique is as follows: On a hill, as a runner springs up onto the toes of one foot, the runner lifts the other knee as high as possible as he or she becomes airborne (see figure 15.1). The runner then lands on the mid- to front part of the other foot, letting the heel plunge quickly below the level of the toes, before springing up onto the toes of that foot while lifting the nonsupporting knee as high as possible. A runner bounce-runs by moving up a hill with a series of exaggerated yet quick leaps.
Figure 15.1 Runner at the airborne moment in bounce-running technique.
After 12 weeks of hill workouts that emphasized bounce running, running economy improved in the Swedish runners by approximately 3 percent at a running velocity of 4 minutes per kilometer, enough to trim about 6 minutes from marathon finishing time for a 3-hour marathoner. Although research in this area is limited, it is logical to assume that the inclusion of a variety of different hill drills, including one-leg hopping, bounding, backward uphill running, and downhill heel walking, would be beneficial. These exercises can be performed as part of the warm-up for a normal hill session.
Quick bursts of downhill running should also be included in hill sessions because fast downhill running on a gentle slope helps improve maximal running speed. During downhill running, each foot falls farther with each step compared with flat-ground running. Thus, each foot hits the ground with higher velocity compared with running on the flat, and the nervous system learns to control the foot, ankle, and leg more effectively during high-speed efforts.
Downhill running also improves confidence and balance during downward effort, enhancing competitive ability and upgrading economy during downslope movement. Proper form is absolutely essential: When running downhill, runners should lean forward slightly and use midfoot landings, avoiding the common tendencies to lean back and land on the heels. Leaning forward and landing midfoot will feel uncomfortable at first, giving a runner the feeling that he or she is close to losing control. Slow speeds on more gentle slopes should be used initially to avoid tripping, with downhill velocity gradually increasing over time as downward-running skill and coordination improve.
Hill Training by Elite Kenyans
As a group, Kenyan runners dominate the world of elite distance running.9 Elite Kenyans are also well known for their rather relentless use of hill training as a fitness enhancer.10
When Moses Kiptanui was setting world records in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, 3K, and 5K, his program centered on hill training in a rugged area near Nyahururu, Kenya. When Sammy Lelei ran the first-ever sub-60-minute half marathon, he had been training extensively on a challenging slope called Sergoit hill on the outskirts of Eldoret, Kenya.
Elite Kenyans appear to take two basic approaches in their hill training: (1) using an extremely long hill, or mountain, that permits sustained climbing for an extended duration and (2) using a shorter but steep hill to do as many repetitions as quickly as they can. Well-known examples of the first strategy include the Fluorspar climb employed by many elite Kenyans, as well as the Menengei crater ascent. The Fluorspar workout begins in a small village at the western edge of the Rift Valley near Iten and involves climbing steadily on mountain roads with an average uphill slope of 5 percent for 21 kilometers (13 mi). As Sammy Lelei himself has pointed out, it is usually necessary to complete only one repetition per workout on this incline. Countless elite Kenyans have used the Fluorspar session to improve running economy, lactate-threshold speed, O2max, vO2max, and fatigue resistance.
The Menengei crater ascent, carried out on the slope of a volcano near Nakuru, Kenya, is shorter but similar in nature, providing 12 kilometers (8 mi) of steady climbing at an approximate 5 to
7 percent incline. Four-time world-record holder Tegla Loroupe used this challenging ascent on numerous occasions prior to her victories at the New York Marathon and four world records for the 1-hour run as well as 20K, 25K, and 30K competitions.
When a shorter hill—often about 200 meters (656 ft) in length with an incline of 8 to 10 percent—is used during training, elite Kenyans will simply charge up the hill at a speed greater than 5K race intensity and quickly run back down to keep recovery periods minimal. They maintain this quick up-and-down pattern for about 45 minutes rather than for a fixed number of repetitions. Such training ensures that oxygen-consumption rate, blood lactate, resistance to fatigue, neural output, and motor-unit recruitment are all maximized, creating a situation in which O2max, vO2max, running economy, lactate-threshold speed, maximal running speed, and fatigue resistance are all simultaneously enhanced.
Incorporating Hill Work Into a Training Program
No scientific inquiry has examined the question of when hill work should be emphasized within an overall training program, so this point must be addressed logically. It is clear that hill training places great demands on a runner from the standpoints of general whole-body strength, running-specific strength, and coordination. Excellent whole-body strength is needed for training on hills because it preserves form during hill running, preventing undesirable outcomes such as excessive arm drive and the loss of upper-body control. Great general strength should also promote resistance to fatigue so that runners can climb farther and conduct greater numbers of hill repetitions per workout, thus increasing the number of adaptations associated with hill training.
Greater running-specific strength, which is the ability to produce greater force during the specific movements involved in gait, should also be extremely beneficial to hill training. As running-specific strength improves, more force can be applied to the ground per step during hill running, thus enhancing both work output per step and hill-running speed. Upgraded running-specific strength should also promote greater coordination during uphill climbing, promoting the intensity and quality of hill work.
For these reasons, it appears to be optimal to place hill training after periods of general and running-specific strength training in an overall program. A productive training program would feature general strengthening first, followed by running-specific strengthening and then hill training. Chapters 22 and 23 provide full details concerning this kind of periodization of training.
Conclusion
Hill training provides runners with many powerful benefits. Runners should use a variety of different hill types in their training; short hills on which high speeds can be maintained and longer hills that necessitate sustained efforts at submaximal but high-quality speeds. When structured to follow general and running-specific strength training, hill work is so strengthening that it sets the stage perfectly for subsequent weeks of explosive running and high-speed drills. Hill drills and downhill running are valuable adjuncts to regular hill training and should never be overlooked.
Chapter 16
Speed Training
Speed training can be defined in various ways, but in this book it means running that is carried out at faster than lactate-threshold velocity but not quicker than 800-meter race pace. Since lactate-threshold velocity corresponds roughly with a 15K race pace, workouts conducted at 10K, 5K, 3K, 1,500-meter, and 800-meter speeds would all qualify as speed-training sessions. Speed training is not the same as maximal-speed training, which is conducted at velocities faster than 800-meter race pace and is superior for improving maximal running velocity. (See chapter 28.) Readers who never race the 800-meter distance should not worry: 800-meter race tempo can be calculated easily from performances at 5K and 10K.
Speed training plays a powerful role in the development of a distance runner. Speed work represents the most productive and time-efficient way to improve almost all the key performance variables: O2max, vVod2max, lactate-threshold velocity, running economy, and resistance to fatigue. Speed training is also highly effective at promoting specific race performances; for example, conducting speed sessions at 10K speed fosters confidence, resistance to fatigue, and economy at a 10K pace and thus leads to an improvement in 10K race time.
Dozens of different speed workouts are valuable for the endurance runner. This chapter describes the basic speed sessions that can be used by distance runners of all ability levels. These sessions are organized by pace, and each includes a unique type of speed training. Among other topics, this chapter will focus on race-specific speed training, fartlek training, Kenyan-style fartlek sessions, VP speed workouts, and vO2max training.
Speed Training Using Race Paces
Frank Horwill, founder of the British Milers’ Club, strongly advocated using specific race paces to create speed workouts.1 This is an extremely valuable approach: Workouts conducted at 10K, 5K, 3K, 1,500-meter, and 800-meter race paces use speeds that are faster than lactate-threshold velocity and thus promote improvements in that and the other key performance variables.
The following sessions also provide specific preparations for popular races and form bridges that can be employed to improve performances. For example, a runner who carries out speed workouts at 10K and 5K paces eventually becomes much more comfortable at 10K speed and much more fatigue resistant at a 5K pace, increasing the likelihood that he or she will eventually be able to run 10Ks at close to current 5K speed. As Horwill recommended, the speed workouts described in this chapter will focus on 10K, 5K, 3K, 1,500-meter, and 800-meter race paces.
Speed Training at 10K Pace
In speed training, a general rule is that work-interval length expands at the slower end of the speed spectrum, that is, toward 10K and away from 800-meter speed. A 10K pace can hardly be considered lethargic, yet it is the slowest velocity used in speed training, and therefore the work intervals are the longest. A commonly used, practical, and productive work-interval length for 10K-paced speed training is 2,000 meters (1.2 mi). Thus, a speed-training session at 10K pace would include a thorough warm-up, a specified number of 2,000-meter work intervals at 10K pace, jog recoveries after each work interval, a cool-down, and then stretching at the very end.
The special warm-up (SWU) is effective prior to 10K-paced speed training since it prepares both the neuromuscular and cardiovascular systems for dynamic activity. The SWU is described in chapter 23.
The 2,000-meter intervals are easy to set up. For example, let’s say that a runner is completing 10K races in about 40 minutes. Since there are 25 400-meter segments within a 10K, that’s a 400-meter tempo of 40/25 = 1.6 minutes, or 96 seconds. There are five 400-meter components in a 2,000-meter work interval, so the goal time for each 2,000-meter interval would be 5 × 96 = 480 seconds, or 8 minutes flat.
10K-paced intervals are demanding and facilitate a runner’s capacity to move along at 10K tempo in continuous fashion for an extended period of time. Average work-interval intensity will automatically be about 90 percent of O2max, and blood lactate will be elevated during the intervals, so O2max and lactate-threshold velocity will improve. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that running at 10K speed enhances economy at this pace, an effect that should lead to upgrades in vO2max. Thus, a platform is created that makes current 10K speed easier to handle in race situations—and the physiological advancements prepare a runner to move up to faster velocities in future 10Ks.
If a runner has no experience with 10K racing, 10K pace can be calculated easily from other race tempos. For most runners, 10K speed is about 4 seconds per 400 meters slower than 5K pace, 4 seconds per 400 meters faster than half-marathon pace, and 8 seconds per 400 meters quicker than marathon tempo (all of these correspondences are from Frank Horwill’s famous “Law of Running”).1 In elite runners, the same trends are apparent, but the gap in 400-meter pace between races is usually 2.5 to 3 seconds per 400 meters rather than 4 seconds. For example, an elite runner might slow down by just 2.5 to 3 seconds per 400 when moving from a 10K to a half marathon and by only 5 t
o 6 seconds per 400 when jumping from a 10K to a marathon.
Another rule of speed training is that relative recovery interval duration shortens as training speed moves toward the 10K end of the overall spectrum. There is little science behind this dictum; it is simply a logical concept based on the decreased intensity of work intervals at the 10K end, which thus permits a faster recovery. Training velocity has decreased to the greatest extent with 10K-paced speed training, and therefore recovery length as a fraction of work-interval length can be small. A good beginning with the 10K-based speed training sets recovery length at 25 percent of work-interval duration. Recoveries for the session described previously, with 8-minute work intervals, would consist of 2 minutes of easy running. The workout difficulty can be increased over time by gradually trimming the recovery time, with just 1 minute of recovery being the ultimate goal.
Science can’t guide us as to whether the recoveries should involve running or walking because there are no relevant data, but running is certainly more specific to race situations and will also tend to keep the overall quality of the workout higher than walking by keeping average oxygen-consumption rate more elevated. A caution is that the recovery running should not be so intense that the subsequent work interval is impaired. A normally easy pace should be used for recovery, although it may not feel particularly easy due to lingering fatigue from the preceding work interval.
The number of work intervals to be performed per session can be approached progressively. Runners carrying out 10K-paced speed workouts for the first time might simply complete two 2,000-meter intervals during the initial session and then—depending on the challenge of the session and recovery during the 48 hours afterward—progress to three and ultimately four intervals per workout. Jack Daniels’ quality rule is also a good guide for this situation.2 Daniels suggests that the amount of quality running (i.e., running at faster than lactate-threshold velocity) per week should generally not exceed 25 percent of weekly volume. Thus, a runner completing 30 miles (48 km) of training per week would be allowed .25 × 30 = 7.5 miles (12 km) of weekly quality training. If the runner completes two quality workouts per week, it would make sense to include three 2,000-meter work intervals in the 10K-paced speed session, which would total 6,000 meters (3.75 mi) of quality running. The other 3.75 miles could be incorporated into the second quality workout of the week.
Running Science Page 23
