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5 Replies Last post: Apr 5, 2007 3:47 PM by runninirish  
Click to view brianinptown's profile Legend 254 posts since
Nov 17, 2006
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Mar 30, 2007 4:39 PM

What's better: One long hill or hill repeats?

Hey everyone, I'm training for a 12k with a couple killer hills...one is known as Doomsday Hill. Here's an elevation map:

[img]http://www.bloomsdayrun.com/assets/images/elevation_map_standard.gif[/img

Here's my question...what would be better to train for this race?

A: doing hill repeats...something like 2 mile warm-up, 10 hill repeats up 150 meters, and then a one mile cool-down.

B: Run Rocky Butte here in Portland...it's a two mile climb and with the route I run it ends up being 1183 feet in total elevation change over the 4.8 mile loop. You can check it out here:

http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=34443[/URL" target="_blank">

Thanks for your help!

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Click to view donnyl's profile Legend 590 posts since
Nov 9, 2007
2. Mar 30, 2007 4:55 PM in response to: brianinptown
Re: What's better: One long hill or hill repeats?
They are totally different workouts, both good in their own way. The one long hill would be good for tempo/ time trial, whereas the short hill would be good for faster paced training. Why not do it both ways?
Click to view Born to Run060's profile Legend 557 posts since
Jul 1, 2002
3. Mar 30, 2007 8:27 PM in response to: brianinptown
Re: What's better: One long hill or hill repeats?
They're different, but equal in terms of benefits--do both. Variety is important. You could also do some fast running over a rolling course. Keep one of your weekly speedwork sessions and replace the second with the hillwork.
Click to view runninirish's profile Legend 233 posts since
Feb 26, 2007
5. Apr 5, 2007 3:47 PM in response to: brianinptown
Re: What's better: One long hill or hill repeats?
Not that I'm an expert-but I have read A LOT about hill training (specifically Lydiard's views) and "how" you run the hills is very important...I used to find a hill and charge up it as fast as I could numerous times...then I figured out that hill repeats are all about power and not so much about cardio (or course they can be)...hill springing is what Lydiard called them, the idea was that you would climb the hill with a high knee lift and good arm swings, and in a slow, bounding type motion, work your way up the hill. He also emphasized using your ankle to "spring" upward...this was NOT a workout to leave you exhuasted cardio-wise. And the hill work was done 2 to 3 times early in the training cycle and maintained throughout at least 1 every two weeks as goal race approached (marathon for me)...Obviously hill running can be done many ways-including hard running up the hill which will put you anaerobic rather quickly...this type is best saved for the end of your training cycle when you are developing your anaerobic engine. Hope that made sense...good luck!

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