For example, ive been doing 200m hills with jog back recoveries. The past 2 weeks or so, the speed of the 200m hill has increased, but ive had to jog down a little slower - we are only talking up to 10secs slower (maybe up to 20-30 secs towards the end)
In general does the speed of the jog back matter too much? Does it matter if the jog back takes 1min? or 1:30?
Same with 300m with jog 100m or 100m jog backs, does it matter if the jog back is 1min or 50s? or 1:20?
I try to keep them consistent - but ive found that as the reps get faster, it is more difficult to keep the jog backs the same pace. But then again, i dont want to give myself too much recovery - hence can detract from actual point of session
Usually with middle athletes the work to rest ratios are 1:1, eg run 1min 1jog. Being a 400m runner you probably don’t need that level of conditioning. I wouldn’t go longer than 2:1 for this time of year.
The answer to some extent depends on the question: what are you looking to get out of doing hill runs?
How steep is your hill?
What event are you targetting for success? If it’s 400m, why are you only running 200m hills? What is your thinking behind choosing a relatively short hill to prepare for a race twice that distance?
How many reps to how many sets?
Bet you wished you’d never asked!
In general terms though, the sprinting effort up a hill is far more important than the recovery time.
In the simplest terms I would view jog back recoveries in the same context as normal recoveries in that they are roughly inversely proportional to the time taken for the rep. That is, the quicker the the rep, the longer the recovery, and if the recovery is a jog back, then the quicker the run, the slower the jog will be. I’m sure there are more scientific underpinnings to that however!
Wouldn’t it repend on the break? IE wouldn’t 2 x 200m hill with jog back be similar to 2 x 200m on the track (faster than race pace) with a walk/jog across break. That was a common approach in my day.
Only doing a 200m hill because that is the longest i have access to.
2 sets of 3x200m hill with jog back. So the rep is 600m with 400m of jog backs.
Not sure of the degree of hill
Yes 400m
ive found that the hills work well, stretngh and fitness wise. i have a steep level of improvement with the hills.
Not sure if i should be putting in an additional rep, or additional set? or just leave as is, and slowly get faster?
I guess I have my preferences. I’ve seen so many 400m runners bashing out 150m and 200m hills with all sorts of numbers and recovery options and not one of them has improved much if at all over 400m.
I think the 200+200 on the track is primarily a race-modelling, partial race-simulation option because everything can be so specific to the race pace and rhythm.
I prefer the hills to help generate and tolerate lactic buildup, as well as to cover “over-time” (as a preferred option to “over-distance”) and to build sustained leg-power as a supplement, substitute or bridge to weightlifting.
But someone will come along one day and run incredible 400m times using exactly the session Los has done, so what do I know. Maybe Michael Johnson did exactly that. ??
But since it’s an open forum, I figured I’d offer my opinion on that kind of work.
I could see the argument for mid-range hills helping the 200m, although the people I’ve known who did the session didn’t improve their 200s either.
Then again, perhaps the hills was the best part of their training and they went badly astray in other areas which caused lack of progress at 200/400.
Yes, off hills during SPP, except if it seems there is additional requirement for some power work. But usually then it would be a case of putting in a small “wedge” of about, say, 10 days away from competitions to hit the hills on two or maybe three of those days and do a bit more work in the weightsroom to top up the strength base in terms of volume for the final dash to the major meet.
That might be the wrong thing to do, but it was what I had the athletes do and I’m convinced they were better for it. The timing of such a “wedge” is crucial.
And in the wedge I never went 2x360. It was always 1x360m Long Hill, followed by shorter hills distance of, saying 60-80m depending on the angle of the hill.
So we did 1x360 jog to the bottom of the long hill, walk back up say 300m, and then sprint the final 60m to the top, jog back to the 60m, turn and sprint to the top again.
