Power hills are very short, very steep hills that have a lot to offer runners of various disciplines and abilities.

The goal: Find a very steep hill. It need not be long, as you will only use 50m of it. A grade of 10% of greater is appropriate. You are striving to spend 8-10 seconds (50m) running at top speed up the hill. This means as fast and powerful as you can go. For many this is an effort seldom requested by their training and they may be reluctant to really run as fast as they can. You will need to do a warm up similar to a race or workout to activate the muscle groups involved in fast running. 4-6 repetitions of the hill are to be done. A long (2-3 minute) rest is essential for the proper benefits to be achieved.

The benefits: Hill repeats like these are a wonderful way for runners to develop greater power in their running stride. This new found power translates to greater running economy at key race paces. Think strength training with running on this workout. It needs to be short to use the alactic or CP energy system and not become a ‘cardiovascular’ workout. The rest is also ESSENTIAL for making sure that each repetition is of the highest quality and the greatest benefit.
Notes: runners coming off of a recent injury or novice runners inexperienced with running at this intensity should begin by doing these hills at 90-95% of top speed until they are comfortably challenging themselves.
This workout can be added after a recovery run and done 2 times a week. It is an excellent addition to a base phase of training to introduce new muscle groups into the endurance running being done at this time.