FAST TRACK TRAINING - Neglect Hills at Your Own Peril

Regardless of the event you participate in utilizing hill training will significantly improve your performance. Our 800m runners at Columbia performed hill intervals of 100m-600m on a regular basis year-round. Much of our hill training program was built around the amazing success of the University of Minnesota’s 400m training in the years of Mitch Potter and Adam Steele (two local MN guys who ran 44. in the same season). The University of Colorado has become the nation’s most prolific cross country program over the years. A staple of their training program has been long steady runs of up to 20 miles up MAGS. Usain Bolt and the Jamaican sprinters center their entire off-season program around running up grass hills. Even many of the nation’s top throwers incorporate short hill sprints to increase power. Find a way to incorporate hills into your training regime.

SAMPLE HILL WORKOUTS:

Sprints/Jumps - 6 - 8 x 250m Hills with slow walk down

Middle Distance - 10 x 150m done as quickly as possible + 1 x 600m Hill at MAX effort

Distance - 15 min easy - 45 min hilly fartlek (surging up the hills at RP) - 15 min easy

Throws - 8 x 40m Hills with slow walk down