It’s winter, so here is how to do hill repeats on a treadmill:
- 10 min easy running
- 2 Short hills – 3% grade, 90 seconds, 3 minute recovery between each hill
- 2 Moderate hills – 5% grade, 60 seconds, 2 min recovery between each hill
- 2 Steep hills – 7% grade, 30 seconds, 60 second recovery between each hill
Technorati: running hillrepeats winter treadmill
Here are two other patterns that you can try (all work on the same ‘progressive overload’ idea)
Pick a speed (say 6mph) and then do the following one (minute) on / one off pattern:
2-5-2-6-2-7-2-8
So start off at 2% for a minute, then go to 5, then back to 2 then up to 6, etc, etc. Adjust the speed or steps as you see fit.
My treadmill has a ‘hills’ program that does this by default after a 10 minute warmup period. Whatever I specify as the ‘level’ becomes the ‘low’ number (5 in the example above) and it then goes up to 3% steeper.
Another pattern that you can try to mix it up is the stair step: 5/6/7/8 and then repeat (same as above, but pull the 2% "recovery" steps out). Typically you wont run as fast or steep as the 1 on 1 off pattern, but it will help build endurance since the inclines keep getting steeper
My goal this year is to work up to 12+%. If all goes well I hope to get registered for the Pikes Peak Ascent again this year. 13.3 miles, almost 8000ft gain with an 11% average grade.
Comment by John — February 12, 2008 @ 8:25 am