13 replies to this topic

[richardegg]

Hello all,

I live and train in Orange NSW. For those unfamiliar with the place, its quite hilly. When I go running normally I go quicker downhill and slower uphill. How does one fartlek in hilly terrain??

R.

[Curreo]

Depending on the gradient you could aim maintain same pace throughout so that you are working on the ups and recovering on the downs. Not strictly fartlek per se but similar workout

[meinmuk]

I'm interested to see what others say, but you could just try to alter the effort levels rather than the pace per se. For example, run up a hill hard and ease back afterwards, next effort might be on the flat, another effort on a downhill. I can't see hilly terrain being an obstacle for this kind of training at all.

[adr1an]

I read tha Rob de Castella would hit the hills harder and then relax a bit more going down hill.

[richardegg]

Well, thats sort of what I did just now...set out for a 10km fartlek effort; after 6km of hitting the hills hard then relaxing on the downhill bits I was out of breath and even a bit dizzy...so the remaining 4.1km to get home was done at my normal running speed after an extended rest to lower my heartrate. Hopefully next time it will be a bit easier.....

[speedmeup]

richardegg, on 04 September 2012 - 11:38 AM, said:

Hello all,

How does one fartlek in hilly terrain??

Try running the same hill over and back again, run over it slowly, back over it quickly, and then in reverse slowly again.. .

a note on downhill training .. Mona's used to practice racing down-hill, he reckoned it was a big advantage in races like the city 2 surf. . . really gives the quads and lower stomach a good smashing.

[Jaxta]

I would use the climbs as efforts, though it depends on the length and gradient of them. I wouldn't use one too steep as you want to keep your form and not be so stuffed after it that you can't keep going and maintain your form.

Most of the areas I run are hills and there are two around 400 meters long with a consistent gradient that are fabulous for smashing it. What's then great about them is rather than going straight back down, they flatten out for another 200m which provides an excuse to keep working, not just get to the top and have breather. Then recover when the descents do occur.

Not the same as fartlek but still elevates the HR significantly and gets your legs in good climbing condition (and therefore descent condition too). The trick is finding the right hill.

[walker1st]

runners are thinking about training too much in terms of oxygen, HR, sugars etc

but too little as a muscle exercise.

in this case you need to be clear which muscles you are going to train

and that will tell you if uphills should be hard and downhill easy or the other way around

and apart from muscle specificity, it is also about the cadence, the leg turnover

the downhill is 1 way how to train it.

the true fartlek does not have the lengths of speed intervals prescribed it should be done strictly by feel, so the hills are kinda limiting by their length

the hill might be longer and the downhill does not come soon enough etc, which leads to running uphill much slower than the fartlek effort would call for

[chrisso]

I don't see why a Fartlek session should be any different on hilly terrain to flat terrain, choose random points to start and stop the interval, be that at the top, bottom, or any location in between.

[UnfitnessFanatic]

I find you need to train for how you will be racing. If you are going to race on hills then do lots of hill work, if your race is flat, then drive ten minutes up the road and find a good flat area to train. I thought you used different muscles on each of flat, up and down hills. So if you don't do any flat speed work then you wouldn't expect to do to well in a flat race can someone tell me if this is right? I find the flattest piece of road/path I can and do all my speed work there. Even if it means running around the same block 3times to do one 3km rep.

[MG4R]

Treat it normally. If it is 2 on, 1 off...or anything for that matter...then just power through as usual. If you start on a hill, unlucky. If you are on a downhill, awesome. Just vary it up so it does not get stale. Maybe one day do the hills hard and the downhills easy, or visa-versa. The beauty of fartlek is the flexibility it possesses.

Happy running.

[richardegg]

UnfitnessFanatic, on 05 September 2012 - 02:08 PM, said:

I find you need to train for how you will be racing. If you are going to race on hills then do lots of hill work, if your race is flat, then drive ten minutes up the road and find a good flat area to train. I thought you used different muscles on each of flat, up and down hills. So if you don't do any flat speed work then you wouldn't expect to do to well in a flat race can someone tell me if this is right? I find the flattest piece of road/path I can and do all my speed work there. Even if it means running around the same block 3times to do one 3km rep.

Next race will be blackmore's half in sydney; could be a bit hilly going on and off expressway ramps, sydney cbd is also a bit hilly as well. Then its the carcoar cup which has a mega heartbreak hill in it - I could really train for this but because its mainly unsealed I don't think i'll be getting a PB on it. There is a hill I can use for this near where I live, is 2km long goes up about 60-70m. Then its central coast half which is a billiard table - defenitely looking to go fast in this, def. aiming for PB, even to reduce PB from 1:45>1:40.....then am training for 42.2km marathon here in orange over gently undulating terrain.

[UnfitnessFanatic]

richardegg, on 05 September 2012 - 09:51 PM, said:

UnfitnessFanatic, on 05 September 2012 - 02:08 PM, said:

I find you need to train for how you will be racing. If you are going to race on hills then do lots of hill work, if your race is flat, then drive ten minutes up the road and find a good flat area to train. I thought you used different muscles on each of flat, up and down hills. So if you don't do any flat speed work then you wouldn't expect to do to well in a flat race can someone tell me if this is right? I find the flattest piece of road/path I can and do all my speed work there. Even if it means running around the same block 3times to do one 3km rep.

Next race will be blackmore's half in sydney; could be a bit hilly going on and off expressway ramps, sydney cbd is also a bit hilly as well. Then its the carcoar cup which has a mega heartbreak hill in it - I could really train for this but because its mainly unsealed I don't think i'll be getting a PB on it. There is a hill I can use for this near where I live, is 2km long goes up about 60-70m. Then its central coast half which is a billiard table - defenitely looking to go fast in this, def. aiming for PB, even to reduce PB from 1:45>1:40.....then am training for 42.2km marathon here in orange over gently undulating terrain.

Ok I just try and separate the two as my coach specifies hill sessions and fartlek sessions completely different and to me hard up a hill and easy down isn't fartlek its just a hill session.

[speedmeup]

UnfitnessFanatic, on 05 September 2012 - 02:08 PM, said:

I find you need to train for how you will be racing. If you are going to race on hills then do lots of hill work, if your race is flat, then drive ten minutes up the road and find a good flat area to train. I thought you used different muscles on each of flat, up and down hills. So if you don't do any flat speed work then you wouldn't expect to do to well in a flat race can someone tell me if this is right? I find the flattest piece of road/path I can and do all my speed work there. Even if it means running around the same block 3times to do one 3km rep.

Hi UFF yeah i kind of think the same way.. however, just ran a PB on a completely flat course with only hill training.. so starting to rethink my theory. . Having said that, Im also throwing in a track interval session once a week, so that's no doubt helping.