Hill sprints

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by al-xc
Hi,
I devote one day a week of precious training time to hill sprint reps that go to a maximum of 60 secs. I hate them, I'm not good at them and I am wondering if they are really beneficial?
The fact that I'm weak in this area probably means that they ARE of benefit. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Al

You are right to think that just because you are weak in this area that they are likely to benafit you. Also consider, are you improving at them? The people who are poor climbers tend to be the people who avoid hills.

Sometimes there are better ways to get good at something. For example, some people can't climb well because they are overweight - so its best for them to spend some time on weight loss. Similarly the thing that could be holding you back is your aerobic or anaerobic capacity, or your technique and for all of these there might be better ways to train.

The amount of rest you have inbetween these repetitions has a massive impact on the effect of the session on your body and needs considering too.

My advice is therfore consider what actualy makes you bad at performing this type of effort and then complete training that allows you to address that weakness specificaly. Who knows it might be 60 sec hill repeats or might be something more enjoyable.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by al-xc
Hi,
I devote one day a week of precious training time to hill sprint reps that go to a maximum of 60 secs. I hate them, I'm not good at them and I am wondering if they are really beneficial?
The fact that I'm weak in this area probably means that they ARE of benefit. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Al

Al,

The other thing to consider is: when you race (or whatever you do) are you poor on these short hills (i.e., < 60-secs) or are they longer hills that you suffer on?

Ric

Hi Ric,
Yes, I race cross-country. I am 42 and 74kg so I guess its inevitable that I find hills hard. I have improved markedly on long hills and I am fortunate to live in a region where there are lots of hills to train.
The shorter hill sprints are particularly hard and I find I reach my lactate intolerance within 30-40 seconds when doing these sprint sessions and must slow down.
The only other cyclist I can compare my performance with happens to be my training partner whio is a light weight 17 years old so maybe I should not expect to be able to keep up on these hill sprints.
Al

74kg isn't exactly heavy for a bike rider. The pure climbers are much less, but the average competitive cyclist would be around your weight.

60 second efforts up hills will train you to become a good sprinter. Find a longer hill and ride consistently, you need to develop sustained power to be a good climber. Or just call yourself a sprinter .

Al-xc:

60 second efforts are not sprints. Sprints only last 5-15-30 seconds at the most. 60 second efforts might be part of a good program, but not the basis of one. You have improved on longer climbs which is good. I'm guessing you are doing the 60 second efforts to improve climbing speed.

Sprinting uphill is one of the best ways to get faster on climbs. Sprint as hard as you possibly can which should only be 10-15 seconds or so, then completely blow up. Pedal however easy and slowly you have to in order to recover, then sprint hard again. Repeat until you get to the top. Hill sprints are one of the hardest forms of training.

Eventually, in a few weeks or next month, you will notice you can climb faster or climb at your old speed with much less effort.

Cycling is the hardest sport on earth. If you want to be fast, you have to train very, very, hard. Someone you compete against will!!!

Good luck!!!