Foundational Hill Repeats
Workout - Foundational Hill Repeats
- 12min @ 6'30''/km
- 6 lots of:
- 2min @ 5'00''/km
- 1min rest
- 10min @ 7'30''/km
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Quick summary of Transform Your Running with This Hill Interval Masterclass from Lee Grantham
Lee Grantham walks through an effective hill interval approach. Here’s the breakdown to help you run this session today. Watch the full video for the rest.
Key training concepts
- Effort-based pacing: stay within a target heart-rate zone (Zone 3: 150-165 bpm, Zone 4: 166-180 bpm) rather than chasing a fixed pace.
- Short, high-intensity hill repeats: 2-minute climbs followed by 60 seconds of easy recovery.
- Hold the same effort across all repeats. Avoid drastic pace changes early on.
- Form: tight elbows, hands forward, short steps on steep terrain (6-7% gradient) to protect your muscles.
Workout structure (the core session)
| Reps | Hill interval | Duration | Rest | Target HR zone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Uphill climb (about 460 m) | 2 min | 60 s | Mostly Zone 4 (can drift into Zone 5) |
Total volume: 10.8 km of climbing (about 800 m elevation) plus 20 minutes of recovery, around 40 minutes of total work.
How to adapt:
- Start with 5-8 repeats (10-15 minutes) if 20 feels too demanding, then build up as fitness improves.
- To focus on speed, keep the 2-minute effort but cut recovery to 30 seconds.
- For endurance, extend recovery to 90 seconds and add repeats.
Practical tips
- Set a heart-rate alert around Zone 3’s upper limit (roughly 165 bpm). Dial back when you go over it.
- Use a 60-second countdown during recovery. It teaches your body to clear lactate more efficiently.
- On hills, keep steps short and quick. Over-striding causes HR spikes and compounds fatigue.
- Breathe deliberately. Exhale through the mouth, inhale through the nose during the 60-second recovery to reset your breathing rhythm.
- Film your form on your phone to spot arm drop or excess forward lean. Small adjustments make a measurable difference.
Example you can run today
Warm-up: 10-15 min easy jog on flat terrain
Then:
- 2 min uphill (about 460 m) at effort that keeps HR at or below 170 bpm
- 60 s easy jog or walk back down
Repeat 5 times (or 20 times if you're ready)
Cool-down: 10 min easy jog plus stretchAdjust the number of repeats to match your current fitness. The structure stays the same.
Try the hill intervals above, tweak the rest and rep scheme to fit your goals, and log your paces in the Pacing app to track improvement. Watch Lee Grantham’s full video for more form cues and instruction.