30 Minute Hill Workout

Running hills is an effective, high-calorie burning workout. Running on the treadmill is a great way to train on hills because one can control the grade and their knees and quads won’t get the stress of the downhills.

Warm-Up:  Warm up with 10-minute easy jog or walk. Towards the end of warm-up, increase speed for 10 seconds 2 or 3 times, so as to get the legs used to turning over faster.

MAIN SET

Work interval:  If on a treadmill, increase incline to 3 or 4% and run for 1 minute. If running outside, look for a moderate hill that will take about a minute to run up. Run at a hard effort — similar to how one would feel if you were racing a 5K. The breathing should be a bit labored and the legs should start to feel tired after a couple of repeats.

Recovery interval:  Lower incline to 1% and the speed, run for 1 minute at an easy pace. If running outside, recover downhill. Go at an easy pace (walk if required) to get breathing back down to normal.

Repeat work and recovery intervals 6 more times for a total of 7 work/rest intervals.

Cool Down:  After the last recovery interval, finish with another 6 minutes of easy jogging.

For a quick version:

Warm-up: 10-minute easy jog

Work interval: 1 minute run hard effort @ 3-4% incline

Rest interval:  1 minute at easy pace @ 1% incline

Repeat work/rest interval 6 more times.

Cool down:  6 minutes easy jogging