Hill training

[Morrisbro97]

Hello I am a college vaulter who just finished his freshman year. I was thinking for summer training that I do mostly hill workouts with and without a pole/stub pole. Would this beneficial? I would probably run 4 times a week and run hills 2-3 times out of the 4. Any thoughts?

[dgracecpv]

In my opinion, hill training is best incorporated as a part of pre-season training. With that being said, summer, post-collegiate season is certainly a good time to consider doing so; however there are more beneficial ways to go about it. Personally I think the purpose of running hills is to emphasize running mechanics, it is far harder to execute proper running technique on a hill than a flat track or pole vault runway so beginning your season with hills will make your running mechanics sharp as you transition from the hill workouts to sprint workouts on the track.

From my own experience, a good way to approach this type of training would be to run hills 3 days of the week, with 1 day of recovery between workout days. I do so by running a hill of roughly 30-45 degrees for 3 sets of 30m sprints upwards. Sprint up and walk down to complete your 3 sets. I do not use a pole because I think the running mechanics themselves are most important to this part of training, however I have not tried it differently. I take 2 minute recovery between each of my sets and continue this workout routine for two weeks or 6 sessions. Ideally, this is done in fall training prior to your indoor season and then again when you beginning summer training after your outdoor season.

I know there are other ways to incorporate hill training but I have been training this way for several seasons and have seen much success when I then shift my early season and mid season training to track workouts. The goal is always sharp running mechanics, strength and speed. As far as including your pole, I would do walking or running drills on a flat surface before the hill workout or on alternating days. Something to consider, hope summer training is going well!