Part IX · Running workouts
Hill Sprints: Short, All-Out Efforts That Build Leg Power
After an easy warm-up, sprint all-out up a steep hill for 8 to 15 seconds, then walk back down. Do 4 to 8. It builds power in your legs.
Workout at a glance
25–40 min
- 01
Warmup
Breathe in and out through your nose
You could keep this up for hours
10–15 min
HR 65–80% · RPE 3/10
- 02
Sprints
Past thinking about your breathing
You could hold this for only a few seconds
1.5–2 min recovery · walk
4–8 × 8–15s
RPE 10/10
- 03
Cooldown
Breathe in and out through your nose
You could keep this up for hours
5–10 min
HR 65–80% · RPE 3/10
The lesson
- 01
What it trains
Your biggest, fastest muscle fibres only switch on at a truly all-out effort, and easy running never reaches them. A few seconds of sprinting uphill works them, along with your calves, hips and Achilles.
- 02
Find a steep, firm hill
About 8 to 12% on grass or tarmac, not loose gravel: steep enough that you lean in to walk up it. 40 to 60 metres of slope is enough. If you reach the top before 15 seconds are up, that rep is done. The slope holds your speed down while the effort stays all-out.
- 03
Arrive warm
10 to 15 minutes of easy running, then a few strides on the flat. Leave the hill alone until your legs feel springy.
- 04
Sprint for 8 to 15 seconds
Everything you have, from a standing or rolling start. Lean from the ankles, not the waist, drive your arms and knees, and push all the way through each stride. Stop the rep when you feel yourself slowing.
- 05
Walk the whole way down
90 seconds to 2 minutes, every rep. There is no heart-rate target, and this is not interval training. Start the next one only when you feel ready: if you are still breathing hard, wait longer.
- 06
End the set when a rep slows
4 to 8 reps. Note where each rep ends on the hill, or how long it takes to reach the top. End the moment a rep falls short or feels sloppier than the one before, and stop straight away for anything sharp. Then 5 to 10 easy minutes to finish.
Watch for
- Sprinting longer than 15 seconds. It turns into a hard interval, your legs fill with burn, and the next reps lose their speed.
- Cutting the walk short. Each rep starts tired, the power drops, and you train tiredness instead of speed.
- Folding at the waist. Your stride shortens and the push moves away from your hips and calves.
- A gentle slope or loose ground. Too gentle and it becomes a flat-out sprint at full speed, hard on your hamstrings; loose and your feet slip instead of pushing.
How often should you do hill sprints? Your plan spaces them for you: at most two a fortnight, counting sprint rides and sprint swims together, added as your legs handle them.
How long should hill sprints be? 8 to 15 seconds each. Long enough to reach full speed, short enough that every rep stays all-out.
Do hill sprints build endurance? Not directly. Easy, threshold and VO2 max running build the engine; hill sprints build the power and fast muscle that steady running never reaches, and power is what fades fastest with age if nothing asks for it.
Next
Base Run: The Easy Running That Builds Your Engine→Most of your running is the aerobic run, the easy effort that builds the engine every other run uses.
From the book
31Learn to feel the right effort by heart rate→