The 2:15 marathoner recently finished third at the Commonwealth Games, yet the Scottish athlete is more widely known in the mountain running world, winning races across Europe and medalling at the World Mountain Running Championships too.

So naturally, when we spoke to Simpson about his favourite training session it would have been a disservice to list just one. The versatile Scottish hill runner takes Fast Running through his favourite hill session and his favourite marathon workout as well

As in Simpson’s career, the hills come first

“It has to be continuous uphill fartlek,” states Simpson when asked about his favourite hill run. “I started doing these sessions after my second summer season in the Alps.

“I was struggling with the sustained uphills of an hour or more and found these much more race specific rather than sprinting up a hill then jogging all the way down. My coach at the time (Martin Cox) suggested trying these and they helped a lot.”

A lot of the mountain races that Simpson has excelled at in recent years have sustained uphills of 1000 or more metres of climbing. With training advice coming from seasoned mountain athlete and coach Martin Cox the workouts were perfect for these events. 

“First find a long climb ideally 40-50 minutes long averaging about 10% with some flatter and steeper sections mixed in,” he says. “Normally I’d do a session like 6 x 5 minutes (3 easy) or 8 x 3 minutes (2 easy) but the recovery is also ran uphill, just at an easier effort.”

Controlling the effort in these sessions can be key, for both the hard sections and the recoveries. Too hard in either and it can affect the session as a whole.

The GB mountain runner agrees and says: “It’s hard to recover fully if you push too hard in the rep so it’s important to ease in the session rather than attacking the first rep or two.”

Enjoy the view

There is of course also the great views to be enjoyed on hill workouts.

“The best thing is you get to finish at the top of a big hill and appreciate the views rather than traditional hill reps with downhill recovery,” he says. “Sometimes I’ll do the session up a mountain with a cable car then take that back down afterwards and save the legs. After such a tough aerobic session, the lift means they can feel great the day after.”

Now a cable car may be a luxury for Alpine mountains but there is always the Snowdon Train for those based in North Wales. If you’re reading this in somewhere like Norfolk or Cambridgeshire then there are plenty of UK hills that would fit a session like this. 

Areas such as the Lake District, Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia and huge areas of Scotland can be visited in a weekend and it can be great to combine a faster, higher quality session like this with a easier longer day in the hills the following. 

The Deeside runner continues to show his versatility. On the 13th May victory in the Ben Lomond fell race, followed by running 30:29 for first place at the BHGE 10k in Aberdeen (20 May) and then just a week later winning the Gamperney Berglauf in 45:57 in Switzerland. That’s 8.8km with 1000m of climbing and three victories in three weeks. Chapeau.

Check back next week when Simpson has promised to share his favourite marathon session.

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Mountain and ultra runner Natalie White started running competitively when eight years old and has probably knocked out more sessions than you’ve had tepid dinners.

“Living in the mountains it’s actually all done by time these days,” says White. “If I did mile reps near my house in Chamonix, France I could be out for hours. We work off the equivalent time and then take whatever terrain is most suited to races ahead.”

Time also takes into account the athlete’s ability. One way to look at it is if everyone at the club is doing 5 x 1 mile that could be 5 x 5 minutes for one athlete, but 5 x 10 minutes for another. One athlete is doing double the work there.

“As I had a few years away from competition due to a niggling injury,” she says. “I know there is still speed to be tapped into in the mountains. So shorter sessions like one or three minute reps can be really beneficial.

“Something like 6 x 3 minutes is a great workout, with 90 second recoveries in between each effort but still uphill. Those three minutes are done around the same effort as a 5k race. It’s hard but sustainable.”

White is pushing her VO2 Max. Getting above the lactate threshold and raising the top end speed as a mountain runner. If you’re able to sustain a high percentage of your top effort for a long time then you need to raise that top effort.

6 x 3 minutes is a stable diet of world class mountain runners like New Zealander Jonathan Wyatt. It’s not a huge session but it can have a big impact on your performance.

Progression

“As the season goes on I might even build it up to 8 x 3 minutes,” she explains. “You might even shorten the rest periods. Then we try to get the lift down, a luxury not available for everyone, I know. It just lowers the physiological load of the session by removing the impact of the downhill.”

If you don’t have an 18-20 minute hill nearby then this can be done on a treadmill or on a three minute hill with a jog back down.

Recovery on the downhill can be a useful tool for racing in the mountains too.

 It can even be done on rolling trail or the flat. It depends on the race you are preparing for. If you can make your training more specific to the goal then it has more value.

The Odlo & Profeet sponsored athlete is preparing for long ultras like the 120km Lavaredo Ultra Trail and the 119km UTMB TDS.

Training has a good mix of uphill tempo running, longer easy effort and hard sessions like this, to keep raising the top end. The faster you are, the easier it is to run easy.

The post My favourite session: Natalie White appeared first on Fast Running.

With most runners recognising the benefits, and whether they enjoy them or not, they put the time in (usually in the winter months) sprinting uphill reps on their favourite or not too favourite hill, and jog easily back down to recover, before turning and going again.

And come race day on an undulating course, whether it’s road, cross country or trails, you are ready for the uphill battle you face. But what do you do once you reach the summit, you have spent all that time in training jogging easily down the hill, not running a quick or challenging pace.

Running downhill is not often practised in training, but if you take the time to integrate a specific downhill session into your training every so often it can have huge benefits come race day.

Downhill running does increase the stress on your quads and hamstrings and can cause micro-tears in the muscle fibres leading to sore muscles, but if you give the body adequate recovery time, it positively adapts to this stress and repairs the micro tears and strengthens the tendons. Meaning that the muscles can withstand the strain of running downhill in the future.

Benefits of the downhill training
Running specific sessions in training, such as downhill strides or uphill-downhill repeats helps promote a faster turnover (the number of steps you take in a minute), which help improve your basic speed. This combined with the extra quad and hamstring strength you have built will leave you in a stronger and more comfortable place to reap the full benefits of running down hills come race day.

Err on the side of caution
Running downhill correctly takes time and precision, and because it doesn’t require the same amount of effort, it can be easy to get carried away and run too fast. Add this to bad form and over-striding and it’s a recipe for disaster.

As running downhill encourages over-striding, it’s important that you stay disciplined. To help combat the natural instinct of over-striding try to be light on your feet, look forward, increase your turnover, use your arms for balance and aim to strike the ground as close to your centre of gravity as you can.

Downhill training sessions
Below are a couple of downhill specific sessions that you can experiment with, but remember to err on the side of caution if they are completely new to you and give the body enough time to recover afterwards – recovery is just as important as a specific high-intensity session.

1) Downhill strides/accelerations
If you are unfamiliar with strides, they are a great drill to initiate fast-twitch muscle fibres, without doing a specific high-intensity session and also encourage you to focus on form. They are usually performed after an easy run and involve an acceleration, then holding that pace for a short period of time and decelerating over the final few metres. 100m on flat terrain is the normal distance covered, but there is no set distance to adhere to.

Hopefully, you live in an area surrounded by hills. Seek out one that is roughly 100-160m in length and not too steep, but with a gradual incline ranging between 3-6 percent. Following two of your easy runs during the week, perform six to ten strides lasting roughly 25-seconds; accelerate with a short burst of pace, holding it for 15 seconds, before decelerating again. Perform these both up and downhill.

2) Uphill-Downhill
As mentioned earlier when you run uphill in sessions you tend to jog back down to recover before repeating. As an alternative, run up the hill at a challenging effort, but not as demanding as your normal hill session. When you reach the summit, and if the hill allows, run down the other side at a quick pace, but still maintaining control and focusing on staying light on your feet, keeping your head up and increasing your turnover.

If you can’t run down the other side of the hill, not to worry, simply turn and head back the way you came. In this session seek out a hill with an incline of 5-8 percent and run for 1 to 2 minutes up it. Perform 8 and 12 repeats and take 20 seconds easy jogging or walking between each.

The post Running Downhill: Benefits and Training Sessions appeared first on Fast Running.