Guide: Hill Intervals – how to run them

Length of the intervals

Often hill intervals are associated with short, explosive runs uphill, but hills are also used for long intervals (and the in-between).

Here’s how you can divide the intervals:

Short intervals (10 to 30 seconds)
“Medium-length” intervals (30 to 60 seconds)
Long intervals (primarily over 2 minutes, with a gray area in the 1-2 minute range)

The various interval lengths

Here we go through the three interval lengths mentioned above – both in terms of method and benefit.

The short hill intervals

Benefit: Improvement of running economy. Ability to work at sprint intensity with less strain than on flat ground.

As mentioned, the short intervals are runs that stay around 10-30 seconds in length. With such a short interval length, you can maintain a really high intensity. This type is categorized as hill sprints, where 30 seconds is certainly the upper limit, and you often see sprints of 10-20 seconds.

When doing hill sprints, ensure you take a good, long break. If you take too short breaks, it won't really be a sprint because you gradually tire out, and then the benefit isn't optimal. Therefore, you should take at least 6 times the length of your sprint as a break – and preferably longer.

In this form of hill intervals, it is also important that you do not tire out during the interval itself (and slow down). If you do, the interval is too long to count as a hill sprint (or you should have had a longer break).

Hill sprints are thus very short and explosive intervals with long breaks.

Examples of short hill intervals (hill sprints):

8 x 15-second hill sprints with 2 minutes of easy jogging break
6 x 20 seconds with 3 minutes of easy jogging break

HERRE

Medium-length hill intervals

Benefit: Improved tolerance for fatigue substances, improvement of running economy and possibly improvement of VO2-max (maximum oxygen uptake).

Here we deal with intervals where you manage to produce a lot of fatigue substances in each interval. The interval length is still short enough that the intensity can be kept really high. The benefit is therefore a mix between tolerance intervals and sprint intervals.

Like the short intervals, it is important to keep the intensity very high (close to maximum). Therefore, the break must also be sufficient here. You might get by with twice the length of the interval as a break, but if it affects the intensity in the subsequent interval, take a longer break!

Examples of medium-length hill intervals

8-10 x 45 seconds with easy jog back as a break (minimum 90 seconds)
6 x 60 seconds with 2-4 minutes of easy jogging break

Long hill intervals

Benefit: Primarily improvement of VO2-max (maximum oxygen uptake)

Long intervals naturally require first and foremost that you have a hill that is long enough. If you do, long hill intervals can be an excellent way to get your heart rate really high and put significant pressure on your oxygen uptake – which means you are expected to improve your maximal oxygen uptake from this form of hill training.

You can approach interval length and break length like regular, long VO2-max intervals. Typically with breaks that are the same length as the intervals, and with intervals of a length that is over 2 minutes.

Depending on the individual runner, long hill intervals can actually allow for an even higher heart rate compared to running on flat ground. However, you risk your legs being strained before your heart – this can typically happen if you find too steep a hill or start too hard on the intervals. Experiment – then you will figure out how much you can push it.

Examples of long hill intervals