Nick's Running Tips: Hill Workouts
This month’s running tips from coach Nick Hauger: Hill Workouts
When thinking about fall training and the base phase as you have read about in my last few pieces of training tips, I had to write up on hill workouts. Hill workouts have been a staple for me year round during my running career. I find them to be especially important during a base phase of training as it is a way to work hard without necessarily having the typical stress on the body as other big workout types. Along with this, you get a huge aerobic power benefit when utilizing hill workouts due to uphill running being well, HARD! So here are some tips to ensuring a quality hill session that you can incorporate into your routine.
Gradual Ascension: Start out smooth with hills and find one that isn’t too steep and has good length to it. This allows you to first attack the hill without it feeling overbearing to begin with. As you do more of these workouts on these hills, it will inevitably come easier and easier. This is when you transition to a steeper bigger hill and begin again on that.
Form Form Form!! Good posture and running form is everything when it comes to hill workouts. The nice thing about hills is they tend to force you to have good form as the demands of uphill running are much greater than that of flat ground running. But as you climb, my 3 pointers are this:
Drive with the knees high,
Maintain an upright slightly leaned forward posture
Drive the elbows back.
These queues will have you running strong uphill.
Vary the Length: Whether it be short sprints of 15 seconds per hill or longer duration runs up long hills in tempo fashion, you will get great benefits from hill workouts. Keeping the length varied will allow you to get a different stimulus out of the work and put different tools in your toolbox for race day. Some workout lengths I like to go by are: 10X20 seconds fast with a walk/jog back down for recovery, the 30/45/60 where you first run 30 seconds, then 45 seconds then 1 minute uphill for multiple sets, and finally the long tempo. The last workout takes a long uphill climb which not everyone will have access to, but is a great way to grind it out for several minutes at a time.
Downhill Form: We talked about the uphill form now we have to dive into the downhill form. If you are running downhill, you need to ensure good technique while heading back down to keep the body healthy and upright. So control your descent back down by not going too fast, raise your arms up slightly to balance out your center of gravity and allow for a slightly longer stride length to compensate for more time in the spent in the air (just not too long of a stride). Stay safe!
Consistency and Recovery: Hill workouts are demanding in an entirely different way to tempos, fartleks, and track work. While they are safer in a way because you get a higher effort in a short amount of time, they still command respect as they force your muscles to work in a higher range of motion compared to flat running. So with this, take your time with them, incorporate gradually over time and ensure a good amount of recovery like a nice flat run the next day and give your body a week until you attack another big hill workout. Enjoy the process of grinding up a big hill, the view is worth it.
About the Author:
Nick Hauger is a two time All American from the University of Portland. He has been running professionally for NAZ Elite sponsored by HOKA for 3 years. His PR’s consist of 13:55 in the 5k, 28:43 in the 10k, 1:03:48 in the half marathon and 2:12:59 in the marathon, and he holds the American Record for 10 miles run on the track. Nick likes to place an emphasis on assigning a variety of workout types so that runners can toe the line with confidence knowing they have felt all sorts of pacing types in training.
“Running is a discovery of finding out just how far you can go, and that begins with confidence in yourself.”
If you’d like to work with Nick, contact us to learn more about our virtual running training programs.