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Hill training

Posted by on 23 May 2010 | 0 Comments

Hill running will strengthen your legs and boost your power, particularly up hills. In hill running, the athlete is using their body weight as a resistance to push against, so the driving muscles from which their leg power is derived have to work harder. You should aim to drive hard, pushing upwards with your toes, flexing your ankle as much as possible, landing on the front part of the foot and then letting the heel come down below the level of the toes as the weight is taken. This stretches the calf muscles upward and downward as much as possible and applies resistance which overtime will improve power. You should look straight ahead as you run and not look at your feet. Make sure your neck, shoulders and arms are free of tension. When running downhill lean forward slightly into the hill. This will use less energy that if you try to lean back as you come down the hill. Hill training offers the following benefits: • promotes strength endurance • develops co-ordination, encouraging the proper use of arm action • develops control and stabilisation as well as improved speed (downhill running) • helps develop power and muscle elasticity • improves stride frequency and length • develops maximum speed and strength (short hills) • improves lactate tolerance (mixed hills) • A short hill is one which takes no more that 30 seconds to run up. • A medium hill is one that takes between 30 to 90 seconds to run up. • A long hill is one which takes from 90 seconds to 3 minutes plus. Focus on a running technique which has vigorous arm drive and medium knee lift, with the hips kept high, so that you are 'running tall', and only a slight lean forward. Steps can be shorter and quicker in the short hills and may lengthen out in the longer hills. Recovery time can be a slow jog back down the hill . Complete around 5-10 repetitions depending on the length of the hill.