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Offseason Speed: Improving Your Running with High Intensity Hill Repeats

Hill repeats are the best and safest form of speed work for endurance athletes. In my 10 years of coaching triathletes and runners, I've used hill repeats to train high school sprinters to run 49 seconds for the 400m dash, ITU athletes to run under 16 minutes for an off-the-bike 5K, and IRONMAN athletes to run sub-three-hour marathons. We do hills and drills all year, almost every week.

As a coach of age group world and national champions, I have a firm belief that an athlete should always be between eight and 12 weeks away from an exceptional performance. Which means you should always work on speed development. If you drift too far away from speed work, you will see a plateau in performance and potentially injury.

Why are Hills so Important?

MORE: Offseason Speed: 5 Reasons You're Not Swimming Any Faster 

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About the Author

Steve Brandes, TrainingPeaks

TrainingPeaks provides the complete web, mobile and desktop solutions for enabling smart and effective endurance training. Products include TrainingPeaks web and mobile platforms for athletes and coaches, Best Bike Split performance prediction software, and the new WKO4 desktop software for cutting-edge, individualized analysis. TrainingPeaks solutions are used by Tour de France teams, IRONMAN world champions, Olympians, age group athletes and coaches around the world to track, analyze and plan their training. Learn more attrainingpeaks.com.
TrainingPeaks provides the complete web, mobile and desktop solutions for enabling smart and effective endurance training. Products include TrainingPeaks web and mobile platforms for athletes and coaches, Best Bike Split performance prediction software, and the new WKO4 desktop software for cutting-edge, individualized analysis. TrainingPeaks solutions are used by Tour de France teams, IRONMAN world champions, Olympians, age group athletes and coaches around the world to track, analyze and plan their training. Learn more attrainingpeaks.com.

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