Nicole Mericle's Favorite Running Workout

Nicole Mericle Running Photo provided by Nicole Mericle

No matter what your running discipline may be, from triathletes to trail runners to mid distance track athletes, everyone can benefit from uphill workouts. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “hills are speed work in disguise.” It’s true, hills increase muscle recruitment and improve running economy in a similar way to sprinting. Decreased impact forces make uphill workouts a great option for injury-prone runners too!

If you race on flat terrain, keep the hills short and sweet- nothing longer than 1 min intervals. If you’re a trail or OCR athlete who sees plenty of vertical in races, consider longer intervals of about 3-5 minutes.

My favorite hill workout:

• 5x3 minute hills
• Jog down easy between each effort, returning where you started.
• I like to choose a grade that I can still maintain a pretty quick pace, so nothing too steep
• I’ll typically follow this with a 10 min easy jog and then 4-6 steeper, short (20-30 second) hills or 8x 1min fast/1min easy on flat ground

Don't forget to take your AltRed 1 hour before starting your workout!