Hill Reps - Good for you?!

[Derby Tup]

Plenty of climbs closer to Silsden plodding. Ilkley Moor, Farnhill Pinnacle, Beamsley Beacon and Simons Seat

[southernsoftie]

Hi folks, very interested in this at the moment, as I'm desperately trying to get faster up hills!
A couple of questions; is it more beneficial to do less reps (6, say) up a longer but not-as-steep hill, perhaps one that takes two minutes to get up, or more reps (8-10) up a shorter, steeper slope?
I am asking because I'm doing the Fellsman again next year, as mainly a walker with a bit of running thrown in, but I could do with getting up the three or four big early climbs a bit faster...

You can see from my post above yours that I love hill sprint sessions. If you're going to do a session of reps I'd look at what you're doing normally first. E.g. If you're regularly getting some decent long hill climbs in, then go for a short high-intensity session to build additional power and speed.

Given the Fellsman is your target though, if you're not doing long runs with decent climbs this should be your priority. If you don't have access to such a run just try to climb as much as you can in your reps, but aim for lower intensity with a longer session. As for the gradient, I'd say the steeper the better.

[plodding bear]

...this is gonna hurt, isn't it?! Oh well, I'm sure I'll reap the benefits! I'm due a hilly session tomorrow so I might just have a crack at Beamsley Beacon, from Addingham. A brisk walk in the general direction of 'up' as a warm-up and then what? just keep plodding till I reach the top, or do it more than once?

[Derby Tup]

...this is gonna hurt, isn't it?! Oh well, I'm sure I'll reap the benefits! I'm due a hilly session tomorrow so I might just have a crack at Beamsley Beacon, from Addingham. A brisk walk in the general direction of 'up' as a warm-up and then what? just keep plodding till I reach the top, or do it more than once?

Nice thing with the Beacon is you can run up then drop down right through the little disussd quarry then go back up the main ridge/tourist path and repeat as often as you like. First two fields up to the ginnel are good too

What time you going tomorrow? If its after say, 6.30pm I'll have a run out with you if you like. I've got a spare headtorch

[Trimm Trab]

Plenty of climbs closer to Silsden plodding. Ilkley Moor, Farnhill Pinnacle, Beamsley Beacon and Simons Seat

Ooh you bad sod DT - I went up Simons Seat for the first time yesterday (from Howgill), and thought it was, to put it mildly, a bit of a bugger! Cracking run though (Burnsall - Simons Seat - Rocking Hall - Round Hill - Ilkley). I can vouch for the training benefits of Beamsley Beacon too - I've been up that hill more than any other since I took up fellrunning and I've improved quite a bit!

[plodding bear]

I'll be going early, 8ish, I've got some wall papering to do tomorrow. Also, I'm not yet commited to Beamsley Beacon, might do some littler hills near Silsden.
...But hills I will do...!

[Derby Tup]

I'll be going early, 8ish, I've got some wall papering to do tomorrow. Also, I'm not yet commited to Beamsley Beacon, might do some littler hills near Silsden.
...But hills I will do...!

Some of the paths climbing from the canal up to the Silsden to Farnhill road are very runnable but deceptively tough, especially when the grounds wet

[Multiterrainer]

Ooh you bad sod DT - I went up Simons Seat for the first time yesterday (from Howgill), and thought it was, to put it mildly, a bit of a bugger! Cracking run though (Burnsall - Simons Seat - Rocking Hall - Round Hill - Ilkley). I can vouch for the training benefits of Beamsley Beacon too - I've been up that hill more than any other since I took up fellrunning and I've improved quite a bit!

Sounds a good un TT. Bet it was wonderfully boggy for most of the route especially between SS & Rocking Hall. Was thinking I must do SS from Howgill at some stage -simply because it is quite a bit steeper than the VofD route (mind you I've only done that route 3 times!)

[Trimm Trab]

Sounds a good un TT. Bet it was wonderfully boggy for most of the route especially between SS & Rocking Hall. Was thinking I must do SS from Howgill at some stage -simply because it is quite a bit steeper than the VofD route (mind you I've only done that route 3 times!)

You're not wrong there; the river was over the footpath from Burnsall in a lot of places, the top bit of the path to SS was really a stream, SS all the way to the A59 was a quagmire and the descent of Round Hill was exactly the same. Loved it! Let me know if you fancy giving it (or something like it) a go one weekend.

I haven't been up there via VoD, but went up to Rocking Hall from Cavendish Pavillion not long back, and the climb from Howgill to SS is much harder than that - a real calf killer!

[Derby Tup]

You're not wrong there; the river was over the footpath from Burnsall in a lot of places, the top bit of the path to SS was really a stream, SS all the way to the A59 was a quagmire and the descent of Round Hill was exactly the same. Loved it! Let me know if you fancy giving it (or something like it) a go one weekend.

I haven't been up there via VoD, but went up to Rocking Hall from Cavendish Pavillion not long back, and the climb from Howgill to SS is much harder than that - a real calf killer!

We ran up Simon's Seat this spring three days after the Haworth Hobble. I thought my calves were going to explode