At Landice, we want to help you be the best YOU you can be. We’ve enlisted the help of Janda Ricci-Munn, accomplished triathlete and coach. Together, we want to offer you practical training tips to help you reach your own fitness goals. Let us journey with you. Leave us comments and updates. Tell us how you’re doing. Let us know when you’re training for a race so we can cheer you on. Come back next week for another edition of Beginning Running Tips from Janda!

This week’s training tip will provide you with an example of an advanced hill training interval session that I might set one of my competitive triathletes or runners up with.  As stated in previous training tips, treadmill based hill interval training presents many advantages, the biggest being that eccentric stress on muscle, connective and bone tissue is reduced due the fact that a runner does not have to run down the same hill they run up over and over again when executing a hill workout outside.  As a result, the athlete is still able to reap the numerous benefits associated with hill based interval work while reducing the possibility of injury and muscle soreness that can accompany this specialized form of training.

The following workout is designed to stress the uppermost limits of the athlete’s aerobic capacity and is not intended for the beginner or novice runner. From a stress score standpoint, this session would be akin to a set of 5 x 800 – 1000 meter repeats executed on the track.  Although the grades being utilized during the main segment will mean the athlete will be running significantly “slower” than when on a flat surface, make no mistake about it; this workout is tough and not for the faint of heart.

Fit Phrase of the Week: Treadmill based hill training reduces stress on muscles and bones. http://ow.ly/YcOg @LandiceFitness #running #treadmill

Warm Up:

• Mins. 1 – 15 = Gradually build from 2 minutes per mile slower than open 10k race pace → 1 min. per mile slower than open 10k race pace, while incrementally increasing grade from 0 → 2%.
• Mins. 15 – 17 = Gradually build to 10 seconds per mile slower than open 10k race pace by 16 minute mark and maintain through min. 17.  2% grade throughout.
• Mins. 17 – 20 = Easy jog.  0% grade.

Main Segment: Hill Repeats

• 5 x 3 minutes at 4 – 7% grade and corresponding speed that equals your 5k flat land race pace (see conversion chart here).  For example:  If your open 5k race time is 18:45 (roughly 6 min./mile pace), and you use a 5% grade for your hill repeats, you would run at 8.8 – 8.9 mph to simulate the effort that would correspond to running 6 minutes per mile pace on a flat course.

Recovery in between intervals = 2 minutes of EASY jogging at 0% grade.

Cool Down: 1 mile of easy jogging, 0% grade.

Post workout: Hydrate & stretch.  Try to consume a meal within 20 – 30 minutes of the completion of your workout in order to expedite recovery.