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Hill Sprints - share your wisdom

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Kieren Feb 2017 3:33pm, 12 Feb 2017 3,862 posts	Quote Pin Kieren Any tips or wisdom for hill sprint sessions? I found a 13%-20% hill 2 miles from me and want to use it as part of a strength / power routine (which is also incorporating body weight exercises as I have given up the gym) Today I ran 11x 20 second efforts with about 80 seconds rest (including walk down). I think the rest was too long for threshold and too short for power. Do you train hill sprints and if so, how do you structure your session?
SPR Feb 2017 8:24pm, 12 Feb 2017 23,517 posts	Quote Pin SPR I do weekly hill sprints, for the last few months I've done 10 x 10 with walk back recovery and taking at least 2 mins. 3 miles warm up before, a mile after. Doing properly means quite a bit of time the sprints bit takes about 20 mins on its own. This a good series about sprinting for distance runners. The second link is about how to do it, first is mainly why. scienceofrunning.com scienceofrunning.com
Kieren Feb 2017 10:08pm, 12 Feb 2017 3,863 posts	Quote Pin Kieren Thanks for the links it was very useful. I think I might go sub-maximal next time and concentrate of form and have longer recoveries. Looks like ~~strava~~ was off on the hill incline. Veloviewer gives a more precise breakdown and lists it as 8% at the steepest part. Also gives distance and elevation at both points to work out the average. 8% is plenty hard enough for me.
Kieren Feb 2017 10:10pm, 12 Feb 2017 3,864 posts	Quote Pin Kieren Oh actually, 5.7% for the distance. Clearly I have a lot to learn
Kieren Feb 2017 11:08am, 19 Feb 2017 3,865 posts	Quote Pin Kieren So I found the following article which is also useful: blog.joshstrength.com Although it recommends a hill of 20% grade, I don't know any of that grade near me. My monster hill is around 6% Take aways from the article, to provide a starting point at least: -- It is recommended that those considering sprint training, perform exercises to activate and strengthen the muscles of the hip flexors, which include deep squats, pause squats, duck walks, and monster walks(?). -- Effort should be capped at 90% or an RPE of 9/10 as to prevent taxing the Central Nervous System. -- Work to rest ratios should range from 1:12 to 1:20 depending on the goal. If improved body composition is desired, 1:12 is appropriate. If technique and force production is the objective, a ratio of 1:20 is sufficient. -------------------------------- Last weeks sprint literally wiped me out until Wednesday with severe DOMS - possibly the worst I have ever had. My quads are strong from cycling and I think carried me further than I should have gone. Glutes and hips are weak and were not 100% until 6 days later. Today I decided to run further up the hill for 35 - 40 second efforts with 2:30 recoveries and as this followed some HIIT, I kept the reps low at 4. I will see how that feels tomorrow and then try to easy in before going back to the sprints.
SPR Feb 2017 11:42am, 19 Feb 2017 23,528 posts	Quote Pin SPR "11x 20 second efforts with about 80 seconds rest" Given that was your first attempt (which means did too many reps which were too long reps with too little recovery), not surprised you suffered after.
Ninky Nonk Feb 2017 1:08pm, 19 Feb 2017 2,591 posts	Quote Pin Ninky Nonk 6 days of DOMS is impressive. 😂
Kieren Feb 2017 1:16pm, 19 Feb 2017 3,866 posts	Quote Pin Kieren Ha yeah - it was an expensive mistake. Too sore to cycle to work, so £40 in train fares last week.