VO2 Max Hill Blasters

Workout - VO2 Max Hill Blasters

• 5min @ 6'00''/km
• 8 lots of:
  • 1min @ 4'00''/km
  • 2min 30s rest
• 5min @ 6'00''/km

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Intro

Coach Sage Canaday’s “BEST UPHILL RUNNING GRADE FOR ALL DISTANCE RUNNERS? Training Talk EP. 62” (Vo2maxProductions) is worth watching. Here’s what the episode covers. Full video has more.

Key points

• A 5% grade (5 m vertical per 100 m horizontal) works best across distances. Steep enough to demand effort, but you won’t be hiking. Good for speed and strength.
• Hill running is speed work in disguise. It strengthens legs, improves knee drive and ankle flexibility, recruits fast-twitch fibres, and helps you run faster on the flat.
• Short, hard hill repeats of 1-3 minutes at 5% with the right recovery hit VO2 max or lactate threshold and reduce joint impact compared to flat sprints.
• Mix hill workouts in: a 20-minute steady uphill tempo, 1-3 min repeats, or a full uphill tempo session. Treadmill, bridge, parking structure, or local slope all work.

Workout

5% grade hill session (scale to where you are):

1. Warm-up: 10-15 min easy on flat ground.
2. Hill repeats:
   • Option A: 8 x 1-minute repeats uphill at 5%, hard but controlled (VO2 max effort).
   • Recovery: walk or jog downhill for 2-3 min.
3. Cool-down: 10 min easy jog.

Alternative: 20 minutes continuous uphill at steady pace at 5%. Treadmill or a steady slope works. HR near lactate threshold.

Closing note

Run a 5% hill session once this week and use the Pacing app to dial effort to your zones.

References

• BEST UPHILL RUNNING GRADE FOR ALL DISTANCE RUNNERS? Coach Sage Canaday Training Talk EP. 62 - YouTube (YouTube Video)