Guide: Hill Intervals – how to run them

Interval Length

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

You can break the intervals down like this:

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 range of 1-2 minutes)

The Different Interval Lengths

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

Short Hill Intervals

Benefit: Improve running economy. Opportunity to work at sprint intensity with less strain than on flat ground.

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

When doing hill sprints, ensure a good, long rest. If your breaks are too short, it won't be true sprinting because you'll gradually tire, and the benefit won't be optimal. Therefore, you should rest at least 6 times as long as your sprint lasts – preferably longer.

In this form of hill intervals, it's also crucial you don't tire during the interval itself (and slow down). If you do, the interval is too long to be classified as a hill sprint (or you needed a longer rest).

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

Examples of short hill intervals (hill sprints):

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

HERRE

Medium-length Hill Intervals

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

These intervals allow you to produce a lot of fatigue substances in each interval. However, the interval length is still short enough to maintain high intensity. The benefit is therefore a mix of tolerance and sprint intervals.

As with short intervals, maintaining very high intensity (close to maximum) is crucial. Therefore, the rest must also be sufficient. You might manage with twice the interval length in rest, but if it affects the intensity in the following interval, take longer breaks!

Examples of medium-length hill intervals

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

Long Hill Intervals

Benefit: Primarily improving VO2-max (maximum oxygen uptake)

Long intervals require, first and foremost, a hill long enough. If you have that, long hill intervals can be an excellent way to get your heart rate really high and put good pressure on your oxygen uptake – meaning you are likely to improve your maximum oxygen uptake with this form of hill training.

You can approach interval and rest length like regular, long VO2-max intervals. Typically with rests equal in length to the intervals, with intervals over 2 minutes.

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

Examples of long hill intervals