Hill sprints
Eight 10-second sprints up a steep hill (about 8–10%) with a slow walk back down. A coaching staple for power and form, with less pounding than flat sprints. Do them outside: a treadmill can't speed up fast enough. Stop early if a sprint gets clearly slower.
- Time
- 36 min
- Main set
- 8 × 0:10 all-out
- Good for
- Hill
Warm-up8 × 0:10 all-outCool-down
The session
- 10:00Warm-upFinish with a few quick stridesEasy
- 8 ×
- 0:10Sprint upTall, quick, powerfulAll-out
- 2:30Walk downWalk down slowly. Full recoveryEasy
- 5:00Cool-downEasy
How to pace it
Ten seconds, all out, up a steep hill. Run tall, drive the knees and arms, and keep the steps quick and powerful. Then walk down slowly and take the full recovery. These are about power, not fitness, so every sprint should be fast. Stop early if one is clearly slower.
Who it’s for
Runners of any distance who want power and better form with less impact than sprinting on the flat. If you have never done them, start with fewer sprints, and run them fresh rather than at the end of a hard week.
Running it as a group
The long walk down is where a group loses count. A shared timer sends everyone up on the same call, so nobody has to wait for a count at the bottom.
Host the Hill sprints in PacePack
Pick it from the program library, share the code, and every phone in the group runs it on the same second, with a voice calling every interval and its effort.
The program library is part of Pro, with a 7-day free trial on the yearly plan. On Free, host the same timing as a Quick session: 8 × 0:10 with 2:30 recovery, a 10:00 warm-up and a 5:00 cool-down, for up to three runners.
iPhone only for now. Android is coming soon.
