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 in this video. Here’s the breakdown to help you run this session today—watch the full video for complete instruction and additional context.
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.
- Progressive consistency – hold the same effort across all repeats and avoid drastic pace changes early on.
- Form awareness – maintain tight elbows, keep hands forward, and use 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 (~460 m) | 2 min | 60 s | Primarily Zone 4 (can drift into Zone 5) |
Total volume: 10.8 km of climbing (approximately 800 m elevation) plus 20 minutes of recovery equals roughly 40 minutes of total work.
How to adapt:
- Start with 5–8 repeats (10–15 minutes) if 20 feels too demanding; you can build up as fitness improves.
- To focus on speed, keep the 2-minute effort but cut recovery to 30 seconds.
- For endurance development, extend recovery to 90 seconds and add additional repeats.
Practical tips you can use right now
- Set a heart‑rate alert around Zone 3’s upper limit (roughly 165 bpm) to maintain sustainable effort; dial back when you exceed it.
- Use a 60‑second countdown during recovery; this teaches your body to clear lactate more efficiently.
- Monitor stride: on hills, keep steps short and quick; avoid over-striding which 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 improve efficiency measurably.
Example you can run today
Here’s a concrete session to try today:
Warm‑up: 10‑15 min easy jog on flat terrain
Then:
- 2 min uphill (~460 m) at effort that keeps HR ≤ 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 + stretchAdjust the number of repeats to match your current fitness—the core 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 additional form cues and deeper instruction.