Yesterday I spoke about believing in YOURSELF to dream big. Today WE are talking about what we’re WORKING ON in order to DREAM BIG. Enduring and building strength. Yep, the kiwi is working on both. Overcoming a knee injury takes TRUE physical strength, and making a come back takes even more MENTAL strength. I am witness to both!
I recruited the Kiwi to share what it is he’s doing to keep building that PHYSICAL strength as a professional triathlete. —>Hills, Hills, and more Hills!
Running Tips by Kiwi Cotter (aka the husband)
I love running with a passion, it is my favorite of the three disciplines even though the past year has no suggested that all. The key in sport is knowing what works for you as an athlete and what does not. For me what works is strength endurance. I love running hills and it is a huge help in developing the strength needed to stay strong over the course of the event you are participating in. Here is one of my favorite early season workouts I do after having a good 6-8 weeks of aerobic work in my legs.
WARM UP:
15+ drills and strides
MAIN SET:
6-10×300 meters
I find a 200-400 meter hill with 3-5% gradient. At the top I look for a nice 100 meter section to open upon. Run at 75-85% to the top. Once at the top I like to make sure I keep my turn over nice and high over the flat section. I like to do this so come race day my turnover doesn’t slow down much at all. If if it isn’t slowing then more than likely you will be up to speed faster than the next guy.
COOL DOWN:
10 minutes
Want to save this workout–> Click on picture to pin it.
When performing hill efforts always keep your gaze 50 meters up the road.
Focus on staying nice and tall and not hinging at the waist..
Keep your turnover as constant as you can.Again this is a set that works for me. Make sure you go in warmed up and have some miles under your legs before going into this session.
JC — www.kiwicotter.com
So, who’s joining me on my next hill workout? Anyone?
How often do you run hills?
Cheers,
LC
Hi, I’m Lindsay! Gluten Free Nutrition Specialist, food photographer and author of 
Sign up & get 5 FREE RECIPES from my
LATELY Ive run a lot of hill.
MANY.
STEEP.
Ive crawled a great deal—but Im at the top and stronger.
and yes.
I DO mean metaphorically–but it’s all the same huh?
xo
and life’s hills build lots of endurance and strength. xxoo
Great tips! I don’t usually run hills, I’m more of a walker;) but I do love to bike hills! Biking is probably my favourite.
Reading this makes my legs hurt because I remember the pain of hills when I used to be a runner, and the hills over here are big ones!
walking hills is just as good in my opinion. Builds lots of strength! and great for the glutes. hehe
Oh hills….gotta love ’em. My normal route has many long long gradual inclines. It’s great training for the LR half/full b/c the route goes through my ‘hood and is full of those fantastically gradual inclines that sneak up on you. But, I really need to do true hill repeats. I did finish out with a strong final push on a steeper hill today – does that count?
maybe you should come visit and do hill repeats here. hehe
Ill join y’all. I have a mt trail run next month so hills have been important. And by hills I mean running the one we have here. Hard to do hills when you live below sea level. Thanks for a ridiculous bridge
This is some great info! I hate running up hills and have always struggled with it. This will be super helpful once I get the all clear to start running again. Thanks for the info!
hoping you heal soon friend!! How much longer until you are all clear? do you know?
Thanks Lindsay! I go back to the doctor in about a week and a half where he’ll x-ray it again and see how I’m progressing. Hopefully, I’ll know something more concrete at the visit. Fingers crossed! 😉
crossing fingers, toes, and praying!
Thanks so much!
One of my usual routes is kinda hilly out and down back so I count that as my hill work 🙂
sounds good to me!
Love the hill workout!! Thanks, Kiwi Cotter!!!
Every time I run outside in my neighborhood I get some pretty good hills in. I will have to try this workout – it has been awhile since I’ve just done straight hill repeats!!
I’m one of those weirdos that loves running hills! I love the challenge. I hated when we lived in FL because the only hill I had was a bridge… ay yay yay. 🙂
me too! I LOVE HILLS! Crazy weird here too haha
I really love his advice about keeping the turnover going on the flat at the top–this is so overlooked and yet so valuable. Great workout, too. Hills really are speedwork in disguise!
Love hill workouts..for my cross country team (yes, I know they’re good for me too). I love the tip about keeping the turnover going on the flats, I will be sure to use that for the team.
We have a workout that we call the Valley of the Champions. Two hills, one slightly steeper than the other, with about a 100 meter flat trail between. We have the team first run up one hill, run down, across the flat, then up the other hill. Repeat 4 or 5 times. Challenging, but oh so effective.
that sounds like an awesome workout! I’ll join you some day, yes?
Any time! Open invitation (though I guess that would mean I have to do it too? 🙂 ).
This is basically what I do up Stone Mountain! My trainer told me to do it for my bum. It works! 🙂
A friend gave me a great tip once too: march the hills. Rather than head down/lean forward, stand up (like you say here) and sort of high knee it. Makes it sooooo much easier.
ohh i like those tips. i want to come run stone mountain
I’m waiiiiiting… come on!
Thanks so much to your hubby for posting this! I have been needing some good hill workouts to help get me push my physical abilities for my Big Sur half marathon in November!! I seriously love your blog. It inspires me in so many different ways and I LOVE your recipes 🙂
thank you dana. You are gonna rock that marathon! keep me posted. xxoo
Thank you! I definitely will =)
I needed this post! I am working on changing my internal dialogue from “I hate hills” to “I love hills”. I forced myself to tackle some big hills today and I actually enjoyed it. Shocking!
let me know how it goes!
Um, you’ve seen The Woodlands. We don’t have too many hills here in the Gulf Coast region. (But, boy, do you feel those long, gradual inclines on long runs!) My only hill running right now is done on the dreadmill…soooo, not a lot!
another reason to come visit more
Ooooh man… how often do I run hills?
Never, haha. I haven’t really been running much lately, and all my running paths where I’m at now are super flat. My old place was pretty hilly though, which was good for me training for the half, which had a few killer ones to start.
Oh hills. This flatlander is so challenged by them. She will get training on them (it) again soon to train for the FLying Pig next spring.
flying pig? now that sounds awesome!
Hills…they never get easier, although we do get stronger when we work our way up 🙂
I run hills all the time. My whole neighborhood is hills. It’s definitely a love/hate relationship. They have made me a stronger runner for sure.
and you look strong too! gonna rock it at your marathon!!!
I run hills every time I run! I love hill runs and doing hill reps. I live at the top of a hill, and the area in which we live is incredibly hilly, so there’s no such thing as a flat route. I can’t believe some runners actively avoid hills, they’re so beneficial to any training programme, and make you a stronger runner. I even use that as my mantra as I’m running up a particularly long and/or steep hill ‘Hills make you a better runner!’
i agree. we can’t avoid hills. it’s liking avoiding rest, both make us stronger!
I am not a “runner” but I do some hill work in the gym – not a ton bit some. I stopped racing when my knees hurt from the hills in the races so I do a bit of hill jogging & some hill walking in the gym on the treadmill. Not many hills around me where I run outside on the weekend.
I need to run hills more often… thanks for the inspiration!
let me know if you tackle any soon maggie!
Hill reps are the best!! I LOVE them (and hate them all at the same time) 😉 I have a standing date with my hill on Friday night every week.
Thank you to your husband for this post! I love and hate hills, both at the same time 🙂 I will definitely be using this workout once my knee is healed and back to 100%. If we lived closer to each other I would definitely run some hills with you!
i wish we lived closer too! keep me posted on when you try this. hope the knee heals well
I know I need this workout, as I feel myself slowing down on hills more than I should be. Thanks for sharing!! I am not going to lie and say it sounds fun, but it sounds good!!
i did it yesterday. it was good but hard. yes!
Not a fan of hills.. never have been (esp when training for marathons), and I don’t think I ever will be. Oh well 🙂 Ha!
haha, i bet you are still speedy up them anyway!
No hills in Florida! Incline treadmill is about as close as I get 🙂
That sounds tough but awesome…in a painful sorta way 😉 I could definitely use some hill training for my Dec marathon.
Thanks for sharing, Lindsay and James! I actually like running hills but rarely do it (maybe that’s why I like it?!).
I want to start trail running more so hill training would be a huge help!
Thanks for telling us all about these hill workouts! I admit I love running hill workouts and love the benefit of them being speedwork in disguise. Your photos are beautiful! I like the idea of enduring and building strength!
Hills suck – but they are so good for you! There’s a LONG hill by my house that has the best views, so that’s my go-to spot for hill workouts. Not that I’ve done those recently. 🙂
How often do I run hills – um like 2x a week when the Kiwi assigns them to me! Yesterday we had 7 x 0.5 mile repeats on the tready at 4.5% incline. OOF!!!!!
he’s been on quite the hill kick lately, 4.5%? oof indeed!