Hill Training

1 Hills in steady running

I always used to incorporate hills into my easy / steady runs. 

When I lived near Oldfield Brow and Dunham golf, woods and park, I made a point of running on the hills, and completing a few laps of a loop to incorporate the hill several times. Regularly including hills in your routine will provide extra training stimulus, which completely flat running would lack.

2 Short hill sprints

Performing about five maximum effort sprints on a steep hill for about 10 - 15 seconds provides a short, sharp training stimulus without the total amount of work being too great, and with minimal lactate build.  A leisurely walk back down ensures a good recovery. At least once a week, I included this in my steady running so it was not a stand-alone quality workout but just a little extra. Sometimes I would do it barefoot on the golf course.

3 Hill circuits

Uphill repetitions usually call for running up and down on the same course. But finding a loop course which includes a hill is a terrific alternative. While running continuous laps, you can vary how you use the loop. For example, you could run hard uphill, practice accelerating off the top of the hill, hone your downhill technique, or even run fast the whole way round and make it into a hilly tempo run or fartlek run.

4 Uphill repetitions with variations

There are several ways you can modify uphill intervals. For example: a) find a spot where there is more than one hill. Perform one set (eg four hills) on one hill, then move to another hill and run a second set there; b) vary your pace: with my club, Harrow AC, I used to run a very long hill in two bursts with a brief section of easy running halfway up; c) include a set of uphill efforts in a fartlek session which might also include eg short sprints, intervals of a few minutes in length, or strength exercises eg squat jumps.


5 Uphill runs

If you live in the hills or somewhere suitable, continuous uphill runs are a brilliant form of hill training.  Difficult to find ideal locations for these runs in the UK. Lasting for 30 mins or more, I would start at the lowest point and run gradually and continuously uphill, either as a steady run or a tempo workout. A treadmill could be used to replicate these but I always prefer outdoors with beautiful scenery

6 Downhill running

Of course, running downhill is also important. In a race, you can make big gains on your rivals by running fast downhill. In trail, mountain and fell races, being able to run downhill fast  and doing it safely is essential, and requires technical skill. As with uphill repetitions, try varying the length, gradient and terrain when practising running downhill.

Frequently using downhill training, and explains why it is helpful: “Downhill running can strengthen leg and core muscles by getting them to work eccentrically (what the muscles do when they resist being lengthened, as they do when landing). It also increases running economy by training the athlete to reduce their ground contact time.” 

Try to incorporate hill sessions three to four times within a six-week period, and use hilly courses for steady running. Run sessions which include uphill and downhill repetitions, for example: 8-12 x 200+200m (uphill/downhill), or 6-8 x 500+500m, and even up to 4-6 x 750+750m, with 90 seconds rest in between. 

N.B. a word of caution about downhill running, though: “Downhill running can sometimes cause injuries such as tendinopathies, anterior knee pain, ITB syndrome, shin splints and stress fractures. Runners should only incorporate downhill running after a few sessions of just uphill running, and ideally having done regular resistance training during the previous months. Start with fewer reps and shorter distances.”

Hills offer so much variety and tick many boxes in terms of providing a stimulus to improvement. I hope I have whetted your appetite for trying different ways of using hills in your training. They will always be my favourite form of speed training, as i find them exhilarating.

By David Rodgers 2014

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So to updated version December 2023

Part 5 Hill training for XC

(also a strength base for future track fells & road)

So in my opinion it makes sense to believe that using hills in your training can help you become a better runner and racer.

For me training on hills is the best form of strength & conditioning training there is for middle and long distance runners.

There are many ways of using hills in your training from simply doing some of your steady and long runs on hilly courses to using hills in your hard sessions. 

Each type of session has different effects and benefits. 

To break it all down for you, here are some of the ways I use hills, 

mainly specific types of sessions, hard reps or medium tempo's.

A brief explanation of each.

1 Tempo run or reps on a hilly course.

When I lived near Oldfield Brow and Dunham golf course, woods and park, I made a point of running on the hills, and completing a few laps of a loop to incorporate the hills several times. Either continuous or broken up into long tempo reps or fartlek. Hard up and cruise down letting gravity work for you  a bit steadier on flat if any.  

The roads around Oldfield Brow have a few sets of longish hills I like, but quite tough, but also John Leigh Park and surrounding roads are a challenge, but good.

Regularly including hills in your routine will provide extra training stimulus, which completely flat running would lack.

a)Physiology : Running a tempo on a hilly route, means you add a strength component to it. Every time you run uphill, your muscles have to work a bit harder and downhill the pounding creates more muscle damage which regenerates stronger. In addition to that, running uphill causes you to produce more lactate. In other words, even if you run at an aerobic pace (for example, half marathon pace), you will use your lactic or anaerobic system a little for the uphill parts. 

This way, your tempo run becomes more all-round, giving you different stimuli that a flat run does not. 

For example, you teach your body to produce higher amounts of lactate (clean-up and redistribute that lactate around the body again) while running at a threshold pace. 

This buffering can be extremely valuable and I believe runners need some of this, but obviously when you are on your limit, the remaining hydrogen ions, will start to give you that thigh burn!

b)Sessions : 1) 3 - 4 x 10min for Seniors or equivalent relative to fitness, age and event. 4 x 6min. 5 x 5, 3 x 8, 3 x 8 or 9+ 1 x3min. 

c) Crash and burn tempo : 10 - 15 min out@ LTP or just under, turn and try to get back to start point slightly faster. 

d) Tempo : 15 - 30  mins LTP or threshold run, slightly hard on uphill, cruise downhill.

e) Progression tempo or Obla run : I liked to do on a looped course 

With rolling hills, preferably around 1200m, but could be 1k, 1 mile or more. After a warm up, 13min @ marathon tempo or just below as steady state, 12mins @ LTP or Half M tempo, finish hard with OBLA or 10k.

The percentages of each stage can change or equalise over time.

Younger or less experienced runners would do less time on each stage.

N.B. Make no mistake, the OBLA can feel very hard, but great for racing.

OBLA = Onset of Blood Lactate

N.B. Marathoners etc, may develop to a greater volume session

With different stage percentages.

2 Short hill sprints

a)Objective : Performing about five maximum effort sprints on a steep hill for about 10 - 15 seconds provides a short, sharp training stimulus without the total amount of work being too great, and with minimal lactate build and easily recovered from.  

A leisurely walk back down ensures a good recovery 1;30 - 2mins.At least once a week, I included this in my steady running also, so it was not a stand-alone quality session but just a little extra. Sometimes I would do it barefoot on the golf course.

Hill sprinting is a type of training for all year round. We do 5 -10 reps of 8-13 seconds with approx 2’ rest in between 90sec minimum. 800m runners sometimes can make it a session with up to 20 reps, in sets with a longer jog recovery, to clear waste products and relax your muscles.

b)  Physiology : if you sprint 8-13 seconds, you use the short burst Creatine Phosphate (CP) system only, which does not produce lactate as a by-product. 

If you sprint longer, you will start to produce lactate  but still up to nearly 20 sec and it is fairly negligible. 

The CP system is normally recharged after 2 minutes rest. 

So keeping sprints short and the rest long enough, you don’t build up any lactate with this training.

Because of this, we can do hill sprints the day before a quality session. 

Eg. Monday evening 10 hill sprints and Tuesday, tempo reps or a run session or longish intervals / reps. 

So it’s not a session, but can be put in your training next to the other sessions because it does not really cause tiredness, unlike the longer hill reps, which are so heavy that they are a session  needing  an easy day or rest after that.

c) Technique : How do we do the short hill sprints? 

It’s important to give maximum or close to maximum effort, while maintaining good running form. 

We run up with powerful strides, not jumping, but really trying to hit the ground hard with each step, on your toes (legs popping off the ground), rather than having a high frequency and small steps. Slightly longer than when racing up a hill.

You use your arms well, engage your core and keep your head up for good posture.

Doing hill sprints in this way is the best way to recruit a higher percentage of your muscle fibres. 

It’s also a great way to work on power, speed and running form. 

As I said, all runners need to do this. 

I am not a bounding subscriber, you need to be highly developed for that.

d) For marathon runners : it’s sometimes the only really faster thing they do and waking up unused muscle fibres is valuable for them too.

As can be recruited towards the latter end of long runs and races. 

One more piece of advice: you don't want to do this too early in the morning, because then your body is not ready for it. 

You should have been awake for a few hours and have drinks and something to raise blood sugar levels, juice or something to eat, 

banana, honey yoghurt etc

So we normally do it after 10.00 am or even in the afternoon.


3 Longer Hill sprint / intervals 30 - 60 secs

Straight forward running hard up a hill, on grass but road is fine.

Carry them out every few weeks over the winter, ease off before a key race. Also in Spring before short road and track season.

Keep to a good surface under foot ie decent short grass, smoother trail path or good tarmac road.

a)Start with low volume 30 sec 2 sets of 4, walk / jog back 90sec  - 2mins recovery and 3 - 5min jog between sets. 

build up over the weeks To maximum 4 sets of 5.

Interchange weeks with the longer 60 sec efforts up to 3 sets of 5 max.

These will really aid xc racing ability and again track racing from 400m upwards.really good for 1500m racers.

b)Don't rush the recovery and get a good 4 - 5 mins EASY run between sets, 

so as to flush waste and relax muscles & tendons before the next set.

Sometimes with extended warm up, adding 5 -6 mins tempo pickup.

c)In terms of lactic production, the efforts are very comparable with a hard session at 800m to 1500m race pace. But the actual speed is of course much slower and we are not concerned with particular splits, 

only with effort and maintaining form when the body is fatigued.

d)This type of training is particularly important for all runners who focus on track races from 800m up to 5k. And even 10k - half marathon runners can use it during the off-season to work on strength and to wake up their lactic system, or undulating fartlek a mixture of 2, 3 and 4.

4 Hill Reps / intervals 

I used to really love doing these sessions

a)Usually from 1.30 - 4 mins  so 400m - 1200m, recoveries dependant on the phase / Season / training cycle / age, so 1.30 to 3 mins.

Uphill repetitions usually call for running up and down on the same course. 

b)So find a loop course which includes a hill is ideal,  while running continuous laps, you can vary how you use the loop for efforts and easy recoveries. E.G. you could run hard uphill, practice accelerating off the top of the hill, hone your downhill technique, or even just run fast the whole way round, then recover. 

c)Up to 5 - 10 x 600m's, 800m's, 1k's sub tempo or even 1200m reps around 3k - 5k effort, depending on your pending event specifics, 2 min to 4 mins, while any longer takes you nearer to 10k / LTP tempo effort. Recoveries 90sec to 2mins, maybe up to 3 mins for some you later on. Maybe make it into a fartlek type run as an alternative.

5 Combination session

This is a different type of session that not enough runners do, but I find it to be beneficial. 

You mix doing hill reps (often 20-60 seconds) with doing some tempo in the same session. 

a)For example, 3 - 5 x 30 sec uphill, followed by 2 - 3k  at threshold pace 6 - 10mins, then a few minutes rest and a total of 3 sets of that. 

So that makes a total of 9 hill reps and 6k to 9k of tempo running

Make Hill rep efforts of 30 – 60 seconds.  

I like a book ends session of 10 - 12 mins tempo followed by the long sprints of 10-12 times 30sec or 6 - 8 x 60sec, then 10 - 12 mins @ tempo

Younger or older ones would do a reduced volume.

b)This is like a standard interval session but efforts are uphill!
This type of hill work is heavy and very lactic. I have done a lot of this in my life myself, and would often feel great satisfaction and accomplishment, but tired by the end of the session. 

c)This kind of hillwork is great for improving running form and strength. 

I personally like to use this training during the base phase (the early preparation), as a way to prepare my body and mind for xc champs racing, spring road races or later on the demanding sessions of speed work on the track which will follow. 

I would not do much of this in the weeks leading up to your most important races, since it’s not so specific. 

Closer to the important races, the focus should be on more specific sessions, but further from the race, this type of training is very useful.


6 Uphill runs

If you live in the hills or somewhere suitable, a continuous uphill run is a brilliant form of hill training.  Difficult to find ideal suburban locations for these runs in the UK. But plenty in the fell’s and peaks, 

Lyme Park area and trails  etc Lasting for 30 mins or more, I would start at the lowest point and run gradually and continuously uphill, either as a steady run or a tempo workout. 

7 Downhill running

a)Of course, running downhill is also important. In a race, you can make big gains on your rivals by running fast downhill. In trail, mountain and fell races, being able to run downhill fast letting gravity take you. But doing it safely is essential, and requires technical skill. As with uphill repetitions, try varying the length, gradient and terrain when practising running downhill.

b)Frequently using downhill training, and why it is helpful. Downhill running can strengthen leg and core muscles by getting them to work eccentrically (what the muscles do when they resist being lengthened, as they do when landing). It also increases your running economy by training to reduce the ground contact time.” 

c)N.B. A word of caution about downhill running, though: Fast Downhill running can sometimes cause injuries such as tendinopathies, anterior knee pain, ITB syndrome, shin splints and stress fractures. Runners should only incorporate downhill running after a few sessions of just uphill running, and ideally having done regular resistance training during the previous months. Start with fewer reps and shorter distances. 

I always used to incorporate hills into my easy / steady runs also. So try to incorporate hill sessions three to four times within a six-week period, and use hilly courses for steady running. Also liked to run sessions which include uphill then downhill repetitions, up to 60 secs up, 60sec recovery, up to 60sec downhill easy in between. 

Hills offer so much variety and tick many boxes in terms of providing a stimulus to improvement. I hope I have whetted your appetite for trying different ways of using hills in your training. They will always be my favourite form of speed training, as I find them exhilarating.

N.B. I will be doing regular hill sessions / runs on most Saturdays over the winter, when not clashing with your races. At John Leigh Park, Altrincham and the University Fields. Also later on some specific sessions leading into the pre-competition phase for track races.

This has been adapted and embellished in detail from my basic article written in 2014. ENJOY !!

By David Rodgers 2023 🤔