by Larry Eder
This is Tuesday, January 23, 2024.
During my six years coaching at Foothill Community College in Los Altos, CA, the head coach, Joe Mangan, taught me his secret sauce.
It was the hills. We had hills all over campus and in the surrounding Los Altos Hills, a very wealthy enclave near Los Altos.
Our theory was that we could get most 800m-5000m athletes in racing shape in about six weeks if the did THE HILLS.
Hills can build speed, strength, and confidence.
Here’s a challenging one!
Workout for Day 2, Week 4:
Warmup slowly,
20 minutes, eay to moderate,
8 x 400m hills, push hard, jog down slowly,
20 minutes, moderate,
8 x 300m hills, push hard, jog down slowly,
20 minutes moderate to hard,
6 x 150m stride outs,
Cooldown, slowly,
hydrate,
change into dry clothes,
recover.
Larry’s deep thoughts: Many coaches use Hill Reps all year long. The great Rob De Castella, WC 1983, Boston 1986, Comm Games twice gold, had his Tuesday workout each week a hill day. If you can not find hills, do an overpass, or run two minutes, high knees in snow, that will wipe you out! Just one set of snow reps, please.
