Every Thursday at quarter to seven, thirty odd people in cobalt vests jog out of the pavilion looking mildly worried, and every Thursday at eight they jog back looking delighted with themselves. The bit in between is hill reps, and it is the single most effective session this club runs. Here is why, and how to do it properly.
Why hills at all
A hill rep is strength work wearing a running costume. Driving uphill loads your calves, glutes and hamstrings harder than any flat running can, without the impact of fast flat reps, which is why it builds injury resistance at the same time as power. Six weeks of Thursdays and your flat running simply has more engine behind it. This is not folklore; it is the most reliable adaptation in distance running.
What a rep should feel like
Strong, not desperate. You should reach the lamp post at the top feeling like you could have run five metres more, breathing hard but in rhythm, tall through the hips with short quick steps. If your form collapses in the last quarter, you started too fast. The session is eight to twelve reps depending on the block; the effort that survives rep ten is the right effort for rep one.
The mistake everyone makes
Racing the first rep. Every new Harrier does it: fresh legs, a point to prove, straight up the cobbles like the town is on fire. By rep five they are walking and by rep eight they hate me. The cobbles have been there since Victoria was on the throne. They will not be impressed, and the session only works if the last rep is as strong as the first. Start slower than feels heroic.
The recovery is part of the session
Jog down slowly. Properly slowly. The downhill jog is where your heart rate settles and where the group re-forms, which is the other point of Thursdays: the front of the pack and the back of the pack finish every rep in the same place. Nobody is ever more than a rep away from company.
That is the whole method. Start conservative, run tall, finish strong, jog down like you have nowhere to be. See you Thursday, quarter to seven. Bring gloves after October.