As a coach of masters athletes aged 40 and above, I regularly extol the virtues of hills. Those vertiginous lumps of rock many runners avoid at all costs as their lungs wince at memories of past tortures. I would encourage every runner to seek them out and take on the challenge of this ‘Hungry Hills’ workout.

For older athletes in particular, I’d recommend making hills a cornerstone of your weekly training, whether you’re targeting a road marathon or a mountainous ultra.

One reason is that as you age, hills present an opportunity to train hard with a lower risk of injury. They build strength and stamina, recruit fast-twitch muscle fibres that don’t get used on the flat and optimise power output, all with a lower overall impact than pounding similar-length reps on the road.

To keep injury risk at a minimum, ensure that you walk the recoveries downhill back to the start, or jog them at a very easy pace to keep the quads from being overworked.

Although this session looks easy, by the end of the short reps, you’ll be counting down the seconds until it’s over. It takes its name from the local hill that I regularly train on – and you’ll also be hungry for it to be over…

The Workout

Before starting the main session, ensure that you warm up for between 10 and 20 minutes, finishing with four to six strides, ending at the base of a short, sharp, steep hill.

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Ideally, the hill will be around 10% gradient and long enough for 90 seconds of continuous running. This workout is also ideal to do on the treadmill if you live in a flat area – run the reps at a gradient of around 10-12%.

The duration of each block of reps gets shorter, but the intensity ramps up. As with all intervals, it’s important not to blaze out too hard on the first rep so that you have enough left in the tank to complete all the reps in a controlled manner.

The Details

  • XL reps: 3 x 90 seconds uphill. Aim for half marathon effort (note effort, not pace – hitting actual half marathon pace would make this too difficult)
  • L reps: 3 x 60 seconds uphill, slightly easier but still fast – 10k effort
  • M reps: 3 x 40 seconds uphill, slightly easier but faster – 5k effort
  • S reps: 3 x 20 seconds uphill, hard and fast (but saving enough to complete the workout) – mile effort

After each rep, take a walking recovery back down the hill.

If you’re doing this for the first time, reduce the number of reps – for example, do two of each distance, or lose the XL reps completely and allow two minutes of rest between each rep. This workout can be taxing on the body, so it’s sensible to build up over time.