One-Hour Workout: Hidden Speedwork Hill Repeats

This week’s run workout comes from Dave Sheanin, a coach for D3 Multisport (D3multisport.com) in Boulder, Colo. “This is a great early-season threshold builder and also a great taper workout,” Sheanin says. “It’s actually speedwork, you’re just doing it on a hill instead of a track. It’s awesome because you get the mental discipline of pacing (build over 2 mins—don’t just blast out of the gate) and the physiological benefit of threshold work without going above threshold (so your legs shouldn’t be trashed the next day).”

Warm-up
15 min easy, including a few 30–45 sec pickups. End warm-up at a hill with 2–4% grade (not too steep).

Main Set
6–10 x 2 min hard but not all-out pace. Build to threshold (or just above) but do no over-run! Recovery is jog back to start.

Cool-down
At least 5 min easy

RELATED: Run For The Hills And Become A Better Runner

More one-hour workouts.