Fast Fridays Vol.: 3 Hill Training
Hill Training: What are the benefits and Why train it? Plus, four workouts to try at home.
Hills. You either love them or you hate them, right? Whether you enjoy a good climb, or dread the sight of one, there is no denying that incorporating them into your training will make you a stronger rider. Let’s talk about all the benefits of hill training and then you’ll find four workouts to try.
Benefits of Hill Training
Builds Physical Strength. Hills build leg strength, glute strength, and core stability. As you go up your body is forced to recruit more muscles to move you forward. Strength is being built as more force and power is output each rotation of the pedals. Think of hills as natures gym! Having a strong core is also important. If you have a strong, stable core power can be transferred more efficiently down through the legs into each pedal stroke. Hill will enhance that core stability, but having a solid core routine is very helpful.
Builds Neuromuscular Strength. Remember during our Neuromuscular Power training, the goal was to teach the body to recruit muscles efficiently to produce high power. Hills continue to build those connections. More muscle fibers are engaged during a climb, but they are also being broken down a bit (this is ok). During your recovery those broken down fibers get to rebuild and come back stronger making you a bit more efficient over time.
Builds Heart Strength. While the heart has to work harder to supply oxygen and blood to where it is needed, this is over time building heart strength as it allows your heart to pump out more blood with every beat.
How to Incorporate Hills
It’s important to have a thoughtful approach to incorporating hills into your training, especially if you are not used to riding them! You can train on hills year round, in every phase of training, but the types of sessions will vary. If you aren’t used to riding hills, I recommend planning a route that has a couple of hills. Just ride and get a feel for how your body works differently when climbing. How does your cadence change? Are you comfortable seated or standing while climbing? If you are someone that rides hills often, then moving into more specific hill sessions that are in line with the phase of training you are in is the next training progression.
The sessions outlined below progress from basic to more advanced. If you are someone that struggles with knee pain then I suggest omitting the workouts that require very low cadence work (#4). I’ve included a low cadence session for a couple of reasons. 1.) If you are someone that always rides with a high cadence, then there it is likely you are not recruiting all of your muscles, 2.) Low cadence work produces greater muscle activation increasing the muscles time to fatigue.
The Workouts
Workout 1: Endurance Hill Riding -> 1 - 4+ hours (Can be done in all phases of training: Preparation, Base, Build)
Ride moderately (RPE 3-5 or power zones 1-2) for 15 minutes. Then, ride steady in your power zones 1-3 (RPE 5-6, or 65% - 89% FTP). Increase the time from 30 minutes to several hours. Cool down with 5-10 minutes of easy riding (RPE 2-3) or power zone 1.
Workout 2: Power Development Force Repeats -> 90 minutes to 2 hours (Can be done in the Base Phase of training)
Ride moderately (RPE 3-5 or power zones 1-2) for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Then, on a 6-8% grade do 8x8 second "force" repeats. Start at a low cadence around 50 rpm and a low speed and forcefully accelerate (standing). Transfer as much power to the pedals as possible (as max % of FTP as possible or RPE 9-10). Really stomp on them! Take 3 full min. of recovery between each. Very important to take the full recovery as we want max output each interval. Cool down with 15-20 minutes of easy riding (RPE 2-3) or power zone 1.
Workout 3: Over/Under Hills -> +/- 2 hours (Can be done later in the Base Phase or early Build Phase)
Warm up 20-30 minutes in power zones 1-2 (RPE 3-4). Then, find a climb that takes about 10 minutes to climb (if you don’t have one that long, work with what you’ve got and modify the interval accordingly). Ideally the gradient is 4-7% and pitches are okay as well. Begin a 9-minute block of the over/under work as follows: 2 minutes “under” (85-90% FTP or RPE 7-8) straight into 1 minute “over” (95-100% FTP or RPE 8-9). Repeat this sequence for 9 minutes. Recover downhill for 6 minutes of easy spinning. Keep the cadence between 70-80 on these! Start with 3-4 reps with the goal of building up to 6 reps! Cool down 10-15 minutes easy with a high cadence.
Workout 4: Power Development Low Cadence Pyramid -> 90 minutes (best done in the Prep or Base Phases of training)
Warm up 20 minutes in power zone 1 (RPE 3-4). Find a steady climb that takes about 12 minutes to climb and that is 4-6% grade. Then do the following pyramid –
3 minutes at 40 rpm (! Or as low as you can hold!) around threshold power (95% or RPE 8). 2-minute-high cadence recovery – spin it up!
6 minutes at 50 rpm at high power zone 3 (85-89% or RPE 7). 3-minute-high cadence recovery.
12 minutes at 60 rpm at low to mid power zone 3 (76-85% or RPE 6-7). 4-minute-high cadence recovery.
12 minutes at 60 rpm at low to mid power zone 3 (76-85% or RPE 6-7). 4-minute-high cadence recovery.
6 minutes at 50 rpm at high power zone 3 (85-89% or RPE 7). 3-minute-high cadence recovery.
3 minutes at 40 rpm (! Or as low as you can hold!) around threshold power (95% or RPE 8). 2-minute-high cadence recovery – spin it up!
Cool down 10 minutes super easy and a nice, high cadence.
Did you do the workouts? I’d love to know what you thought! Comment below or send me a note: sarah@boltonendurance.com