20 x 100m Hills + 5 Miles Steady
20 x 100m Hills + 5 Miles Steady
Designed for 10,000m runners
Intensity
100m hills @ 1500m - 800m effort
5 Miles steady @ 1/2 Marathon Effort
Recovery
1 minute between each hill rep
2 Miles easy running before 5M Steady
Exertion
7/10
Periodization
Foundation Period, Introduction Block
Context & Details
Running economy can be influenced in several ways.
One way is to improve running technique.
A significant amount of energy is wasted with poor technique. Runners with sloppy mechanics experience higher fatigue levels sooner in a race. This results in running slower for a larger portion of the race making for slower finishing times and high placing.
Another factor impacting running economy is muscular strength in the legs and truck.
Runners who have a higher degree of lower body muscular strength can produce more force with each footstrike resulting in shorter ground contact time and longer stride length. This will translate to sustaining faster running speed for longer durations as with each stride the runner will travel further with less momentum lost due to friction forces.
Finally, a faster velocity at lactate threshold (vLT) indicates a greater running economy.
Good running economy means minimal energy expenditure, which physiologically means the runner has a lower rate of carbohydrate metabolism, calmer rates of glycolysis, and therefore reduced lactate production to produce and sustain locomotion at a given speed.
One of the most effective tools to improve running technique, muscular strength, and vLT in runners is hill training.
Most coaches and runners are aware of the benefits of hill training, what occasionally stumps some is not why to run hills but rather how to do it.
There are three main types of hill training runners use:
Repeat Short Hills (10” - 60”)
Repeat Long Hills ( 60”+)
A continuous run over hilly terrain
This workout incorporates short hills.
Short Hills are great for advancing power and running speed as they stimulate higher neural outputs, greater motor-unit recruitment, and advanced power outputs by the leg and trunk muscles. In this workout, you’ll notice the recovery between the 100m hill reps is kept brief. This keeps the heart and oxygen consumption rate from falling too far between climbs, which stimulates upgrades in both VO₂ Max and vLT.
Twenty 100m hills may seem like a lot, but it’s only 2,000m (5 - 6 minutes) of work on a roughly 1:4 to 1:3 work:rest ratio — a very manageable ask for most competitive runners, even in the early periods of training.
I like to start the hills out at 800m speed. As the athlete starts to fatigue the pace will decline to 1500m speed which is where it should stay for the rest of this segment of the workout. Should the pace slacken to 5K speed or slower on the hills, that’s a clear signal to end the hill portion as fatigue is accelerating beyond the point of no return.
Younger or less powerful runners may benefit from breaking the hill workload into sets or lengthening the recovery between reps during the later reps.
The 5 Miles steady is intended to be about 30 minutes (+/- 5 minutes) of moderate pace running. After the block of repeat hills, the runner has accumulated a fair amount of acidosis in their bloodstream due to the high power nature of the activity.
Running steady for 30 minutes will signal the need for the body to improve its clearance rates of lactate. In this situation, the pace really doesn’t need to be too specific or strict, an effort around half marathon pace (+/- 15 secs/mile) will do. It should feel moderately challenging, but not overwhelmingly difficult. You’ll know the pace is appropriate if the runner thinks they would be able to go another 10 minutes at the tempo if asked.
I like to repeat this session, or something similar, once about every 7 - 10 days in the Foundation Period of training, giving the runner a total of about 6 - 10 sessions. This workout frequency will ensure the runner enjoys a strong improvement in running economy so the more difficult work in the specific period can be faster, denser, and overall of higher impact.
Continue Learning
Join the Scholar Program for $29 to learn more about successful 10,000m Training and get unlimited access to courses and training programs on middle-distance running.
Good books on 10,000m training
The Science and Practice of Middle and Long Distance Running by Philip Hayes, Richard Blagrove
Run Strong by Kevin Beck
Daniels Distance Running Formula by Jack Daniels
Healthy Intelligent Training: The Proven Principles of Arthur Lydiard by Keith Livingstone