Story added: 12th July 2017

In blog three of his series, Riverside Leisure Centre’s (RLC) Matt Plane talks hills

In this week’s blog, I would like to talk about an aspect of training that many of us (myself included) like to omit.

If you have ran Run Norwich before or assessed the route, you will know that there are sections of the race where the gradient varies.

Now, we all know that Norfolk is not blessed with many peaks or mountainous terrain associated with true hill running but incorporating the resistance associated with hills into a gym routine can be done in time for race day.

Hill training or training using some form of incline has been used for decades by many world class athletes, so why does it often get overlooked?

From speaking to a lot of runners and endurance competitors in general, I believe that it can be very easy for anybody training for an event to become wholly focussed on running faster, which of course is understandable.

Remember last week how we examined the effects that strength had on factors such as force generation and propulsion for a stronger run? Well, think of that as being one of a few elements that we need to work on to give our bodies the best potential to produce positive results and runs.

So where does hill training play a part in this? Like strength training, running uphill increases strength in your glutes, quads and calf muscles to delay the onset of fatigue. But because hill training is less measurable then aiming to hit your target times throughout training, it can be perceived as an unnecessary training method.

However, the advantages of hill training go much further than just an increase in leg strength and tone….

The way it advances the mechanical potential we talked about earlier is through rocketing run economy. Which broadly means that you will use less oxygen to run faster. This is achieved through increasing your neuromuscular responsiveness that is boosted following the inclusion of this new training stimulus or stressors. Imagine training with weights in the gym for months on end and not changing any of the factors i.e. weight, repetition speed, or even the exercise itself! You can start to appreciate how crucial it is to challenge the body to adapt to these new stressors for maximum gain.

Now of course, being able to quantify these amazing benefits can be quite difficult. However, research concluded in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning has revealed how running at intervals programmed closely to the ones in this plan, can improve running economy by 3-4%. Furthermore, other similar studies have recorded up to 2% speed over 5 and 10 kilometre distances which, again, were owed to using the hill drills in this week’s vlog once a week, for 6 weeks.

That’s not all though. Other benefits of hill training include:

Improve your ability to resist fatigue
Decreased risk of injury (particularly hamstring)
Better foot turnover, which allows increased leg cadence (running faster!)
Allows the runner the ability to improve running form, whilst placing reduced stress on joints
Increase in v02 max and aerobic capacity
Using different muscles will help prepare the body for different terrains and obviously, gradients
As I said in the video, use the following workouts on either a treadmill or on a suitable piece of terrain. You’re RPE is your rating of perceived exertion (how hard the activity feels to you). So, take a look at this chart here to help you gauge how much effort you should be exerting whilst completing the sessions below. As I said earlier, completing one of these workouts weekly usually works best.

1: short medium: 20-90 seconds work, on a steep climb (6-10% GRADIENT) RPE 8-10. 3-5 rounds.

OR

2: long sustained: 2-3 minutes, medium gradient (3-6%) RPE 6-8 2-4 rounds

So, I hope this gives you an insight into how utilising these difficult sessions will enable you to run more efficiently for longer.

Which leads me into next week’s blog, which will focus on the ‘core’ (a hot topic inside and outside of the gym). We’ll delve into what our core really is, and how we can effectively produce a sturdy and resilient torso. Plus, we will investigate how we can train our bodies to try thwart potential injuries.

Please note: if you are training with any pre-existing injuries or medical conditions that require specific stretches or routines, you may wish to speak to your GP or medical professional to determine their suitability.

Riverside Leisure Centre’s Run Club meets each week at 6.45pm. To find out more, please click here.