Matt Fitzgerald shares three tips for hill repeats: pick a hill that's clearly uphill but not so steep it feels like weightlifting, use them to practice form with an upright torso and full leg extension, and on a treadmill, add ten seconds per interval and use brisk-walk recoveries to lower your heart rate.
Here are 3 tips to help you get the most out of hill repetitions. 1. Don't worry too much about the exact incline of the hill. Just work with what you've got. The hill should be steep enough that you would know you were running uphill even if you were blindfolded. At the same time, it shouldn't be so steep that the effort feels more like weightlifting than running. 2. Hill repetitions are a great time to focus on form. Keep your torso upright, your hips forward, your eyes ahead, and try to extend your leg fully when you toe off the ground. 3. Hill repetitions can be done on the treadmill, but certain adjustments are necessary. First, extend the duration of each interval by 10 seconds to account for the time it takes for the treadmill belt to accelerate. And second, for the active recoveries, simply keep the incline fixed and lower the speed to a brisk walk to get your heart rate back down.
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