What's the best hill training?

[plodding bear]

Hi all, I need some help getting up hills! Short of catching the bus, what's the best method of training for hills - a long shallow hill that takes minutes to run up, or a short steep climb repeated? and how many times do you have to do the reps, is just four a session any good, or am I looking at a minimum of six or more?
This is bugging me now, I want to join a club, do the odd race and generally join in but I'd feel pathetically inadequate at the moment.
Also, how many hill sessions a week would you go for? I seen a trail running guy on youtube advocating hills every day; sounds a bit scary..!

[Derby Tup]

As the old Nike adverts used to say just do it. Any hill training is better than none and mix it up to keep interested. Hill reps every day sounds like a great way to get both bored and injured!

It's the re-introduced Addingham Gala race next Sun. Get over and do it then join K&C or Wharfedale, you'd be made very welcome by either I'm sure

[mr brightside]

Everyone has their own preferences in this but like DT says i wouldn't hill rep every day as rest is important. I think of this type of training in terms of 'what are training for'? If you're training for out and out power and muscle gain then short very steep hills are best and keep running as long as you can. I do this type and use reservoir dam walls, 40 metre distance but very steep and i do squats top and bottom. If you want to train for endurance then long medium to gentle hills will probably suit you. I formed this theory based on body builders using weight and number of reps to train for different things, it's completely unsubasantiated and no more than an educated guess but i don't see why the theory shouldn't cross over.

[plodding bear]

Cheers guys, the kind of thing I'm thinking of is to join a club and be able to keep up (almost!) on the hills, and a bit more speed up hill, even if walking, on long days out.
But, I want to get a wee bit better at hills before I approach a club, probably one of the two you mentioned above. I know Wharfedale do a regular tuesday run in my home town, Silsden - is that a road run, off-road, or a mixture does anyone know?

[nikalas]

Intense hill reps every day would be a recipe for injury... why not try fitting in these two sessions each week.

1) short steep power Find a steep hill 25%+ grade and run up it for 20-30 seconds as hard as you can. Jog back down, rest for 60-90 seconds and repeat. Aim to do 5-10 reps. Make sure you warm-up beforehand.

2) Long draggy hills use a moderate 10% grade and run up it for 5 minutes at an intensity of "sustainable discomfort". Use the jog back down as recovery and repeat. Aim to do 3-6. reps. Again make sure you do a warm-up.

Don't do these sessions on back to back days. Throw in a long and steady run and you've got a nice balanced three runs per week routine.

[Welsh Harrier]

Don't forget the downhills - it's no good getting to the top quickly if you can't descend.

[Rodders rambler]

Cheers guys, the kind of thing I'm thinking of is to join a club and be able to keep up (almost!) on the hills, and a bit more speed up hill, even if walking, on long days out.
But, I want to get a wee bit better at hills before I approach a club, probably one of the two you mentioned above. I know Wharfedale do a regular tuesday run in my home town, Silsden - is that a road run, off-road, or a mixture does anyone know?

Just get along,i'd say in my experience, at least 50% of club runners are of very average standard. That's not a criticism,just a realistic gauge as to what you should expect. You will be fine. Don't worry about any efforts on your own. Just get out and run,if you go along to a club run and they're doing hill reps then fine,get amongst it. It will give you an idea of what you might want to do in the future. Ask questions and learn.
Have fun.

[Welsh Harrier]

Don't forget the downhills - it's no good getting to the top quickly if you can't descend.

Unless it's an uphill only race of course!

[plodding bear]

Welsh Harrier - an uphill-only race will NOT have me in it!!!
I found a hill which gets steeper towards the top, and ran as far as I could, then (ahem!) briskly walked the rest of it, twice, ran on for about four minutes and found another little hill which I went up and down three times, then ran for about ten minutes before finding another incline, which I did four times.
After that, I stuffed my lungs back up my arse and jogged home.
Does that sound any good?