[tedc]

Hi David – I couldn’t find any plan in the book the prescribes the RHR workouts detailed on page 286-287 of the triathlon book. Maybe my tired eyes are just deceiving me. When do you include hill workouts? I know from experience hill repeats have helped me in training to become a stronger runner with better form. Thanks!

[David Warden]

You’ll find these in Week 5 and 7 of the IM Level 0 and Level 1 plans. We have phased these out in favor of the RAn workouts, which we find to be more effective and less risk for injury.

David

[tedc]

Circling back on this topic… I have had running coaches (in my adult life, wasn’t a runner in school) in the past promote hill repeats as a great way to build running form and strength, which they argued lead to improvements in speed. I am not a strong runner these days – I struggle to be a mid-foot runner, have always had lazy calves, land on my heels too much, and roll my ankles forward more than spring off in my stride. I work on this consciously in every run to try to improve, keep my cadence up, stride length not excessive etc. I haven’t done any hill repeats since starting the Maintenance Plan. I never experienced any injuries with hill repeats as far as I can recall. Are you suggesting that RAn workouts on flat or rolling roads are just as good as hill repeats when it comes to building running form, speed and strength?

[David Warden]

Ted, I’m confident, but not positive that flat intervals are superior than hill repeats. The empirical data shows that high intensity intervals performed on a track can dramatically improve performance. I’m not aware of any empirical data that hill repeats do the same. Intuitively, we know that hill repeats force high intensity, but as long as you have the discipline, you don’t need hills.

So, as a coach I’m faced with a known (high intensity on flats), an unknown (hill repeats) anecdotal #1 (the best runners and coaches in the world use at least some hill repeats, including 80/20) and anecdotal #2 (my athletes were more likely to get injured doing hill repeats). So, balancing that all out, I choose to limit hill repeats.

I think the compromise is: do some of the intervals specified in your plan in the hills. Then you get both.

David

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