Want To Run Fast? Run Uphill

Find More 5 Ways to Increase Your Stride and Run Faster The Get Strong Plan Find the Best Shoe For You

Ten seconds. That's all the time it takes to become a faster runner.

Too good to be true? Not according to Brad Hudson, the coach of such distance stars as Dathan Ritzenhein and Jorge Torres. All you have to do is run those 10 seconds uphill—as fast as you can. "There's nothing better for developing speed and muscle power," says Hudson.

When Hudson, a 1991 and '93 world championship competitor in the marathon, started coaching a few years back, he looked at successful programs and found they all had one thing in common: hills. And as he sifted through research, he noted that even a small amount of hill work could yield big results: a jump in leg strength, running economy—how efficiently your body uses oxygen—and aerobic capacity. "I saw the science, and then I saw the results in my athletes," says Hudson.

One of those athletes, James Carney, improved his 10-K personal best last spring to 27:43 after incorporating Hudson's hill training into his routine. Torres credits hill work for putting him in contention for the 2008 U.S. Olympic team for the 10,000 meters. And Ritzenhein, who ran 2:14:01 last year in his debut marathon, believes hills have made him less injury-prone.

Of course, Hudson's athletes are professional runners, so short sprints are only part of their hill routine. But for the rest of us, 10-second hill repeats are the most efficient way to build year-round strength and speed.

Uphill Gains

Hit the hill, but make it fast and short, and you get the maximum amount of training effect with the minimum amount of injury risk. "The best way to recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers is to run at max intensity," says Hudson. "The best way to build leg strength is hill running. So we run all-out up a steep hill. But we keep it to 10 seconds to avoid producing lactate and becoming fatigued." Running no more than 10-second repeats also reduces injury risk by limiting your fast-running time. And hills by their nature lessen the risk of injury because the slope shortens the distance you have to "fall" or land, reducing impact. "Studies of sprinting uphill show that the muscles are in constant 'overload' and the nervous system is firing hard," says Hudson. "It's the same speed benefit as track sprints, but safer."

The fast pace builds speed, but it's the hill that provides the strength benefit. Running up an incline places the same demand on your muscles as weight training - your glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves must "lift" you up the slope—but they're more specific to running. And just as with plyometrics (jump drills), the "explosive" action of uphill sprints improves elasticity in your muscles and tendons, which allows you to spring quickly into action after landing.

Hills Year-Round

To develop leg strength throughout the year, Hudson's runners do short sprints on a hill that is between a six to 10 percent grade. They tack these surges onto the end of two easy runs a week. At the start of the season, they'll log just two 10-second repeats. The next week they'll do three. Once they reach eight, they cut back to doing them once a week. The first repeat is done at a fast pace, the rest at top speed. Each repeat is followed by at least two minutes of recovery, which includes walking downhill backward to keep pressure off the knees. "They're not easy to do," says Hudson. "But the pain's gone in a second or two." And you're left with stronger, faster legs.