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15 KM to 20 KM – Week 03 – Lesson 07

Hill training

It might seem like you always want to have the flattest terrain, but just like treadmills, it’s fun to look for some terrain with height differences as well. A Hill Run is a good run between the normal ones. The idea is that you ‘fight’ the hill as it gives you a new challenge you need to conquer, often the say ‘Kill the Hill’ when participating in this method. Your own bodyweight will become an instrument of resistance while you go uphill on a high-intensity level and then you go down the hill while you take it a bit more easy on yourself. Repeat this a few times with short cycles like 30sec-1 min to go up and then go back down in double that time.

The big selling point here is that it offers a high intensity, but it reduces the risk of injury. Once you are at the top you take it easy again when going back down so your body takes less of a beating. It does not need to be a real hill, it can be a dune, bridge or anything else that has the big terrain difference a hill would provide. Next, for being fun, it might help you out when you run a race, often the routes are long and you will encounter some parts where you need to climb or decline. This trains you for those parts.

Example of a hill training (4x 45 seconds * 2 minutes)

• Run 45 seconds
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 45 seconds
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 45 seconds
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 45 seconds
• Walk 2 minutes

Tips for the Hill Run:

• First time? Keep it at 5-8 sessions of going up and down. Get used to the new exercise before overdoing it.
• Pick a starting and end point you can easily recognize like a tree, street sign or park bench.
• Try to keep up the same pace every time.
• Can you see a cyclist going up as well, race them for fun if you can keep it up.
• Keep an eye on people around you before you all of the sudden turns around again.
• Take your rest when going down. If the points you have chosen seem to be wrong adjust and keep going.

There’s more then hill interval trainingen

There are more interval workouts then hill training. Meet one of the following interval training sessions:

• Interval training
• sprint interval training
• Fartlek Training

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