2020 RunBlogRun Spring Track & Field Training program, in the time of the coronavirus, Week 34, day 4

The hills. The secret sauce to many athletes. Arthur Lydiard, the man who changed distance running training, set aside a hill workout period to make the athlete amazingly strong. Some athletes have tuned the hill time. 1972/1976 Olympic double gold medalist Lasse Viren had achilles issues his entire career. In both 1972 and 1976, Viren did 800m gentle hill repeats to build his strength. In both 1972 and 1976, Viren’s coach, Hakkola, did the same session to test. One was a 5000m run on a football pitch, with 50m hard/50m easy.

Shelby Houlihan, Nikki Hiltz battle it out, 1,500m, 2019 USA, photo by Courtney Ware

European Athletics Euro Cup 10,000m 2025 (27th edition), Pacé, France, courtesy of European Athletics

Coffee with Larry, May 23, 2025, adidas Atlanta City Games, Doha, Rabat, European Cup and Sound Running’s TRACKFEST!

This Day in Track & Field, May 23, Dutch Warmerdam breaks own WR in PV (1942), Daley Thompson breaks own WR in Decathlon (1982), compiled and edited by Walt Murphy

In 1972, Viren went 13:51. In 1976, Viren did the same workout and went 13:32. The next workout was 20x200m.

Viren averaged 29 in 1972. In 1976, Viren averaged 27 seconds per 200m. Think hills do not get you quick?

John Landy, the second man under 4 minutes, used hills and paddocks to build strength. I just spoke with an athlete who uses 60m uphills to 200m uphills to build speed.

Thursday, 20 August 2020: warm up, 60 minute hilly run, include a long 10 minute hilly grind, and 5×3 minute hilly charge, cooldown

2020 RunBlogRun Spring Track & Field Training program, in the time of the coronavirus, Week 34, day 4

Monday: warm up, an easy 50 minutes, 6 x 150 m stride outs, cooldown

Tuesday: warm up, 15 minutes easy, tempo run, 20 minutes, at pace 30 seconds above your ave mile pace for 5k now. So, if you ran 18 minutes for 5k, you can run 20 minutes at 6:20 mile pace, this is not to exhaust you, but to build you, 4x300m cutdowns, cooldown

Wednesday: warm up, an easy 45 minutes, 6 x 150 m stride outs, cooldown

Thursday: warm up, 60 minute hilly run, include a long 10 minute hilly grind, and 5×3 minute hilly charge, cooldown

Friday: warm up, an easy 45 minutes, 6 x 150 m stride outs, cooldown

Saturday: warm up, Fartlek: 5 minutes at 5k pace, 5 minutes easy, 4 minutes at 5k pace, 4 minutes easy, 3 minutes at 5k pace, 3 minutes easy, 2 minutes at 5k pace, 2 minutes easy, 30 minutes, steady state, cooldown, or,

20 x 1 minute, 5 k pace, 2 minutes easy, 20 minutes, steady state, cooldown.

Sunday: Long runs, 70-75 minutes

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
View all posts