Cromwell Hill (Maldon) – Hills session

13 November 2019 - By James Crisp

This week’s speed development session is on Cromwell Hill in Maldon. Hills are beneficial to your training as they help develop strength and endurance and are great for XC… Go Whippets!

 

Location

Cromwell is a shorter, sharper relation to Market Hill. It’s a good location because the bottom of the hill is blocked off with bollards making it quiet for traffic. We should have use of the full road width, with maybe the odd vehicle.

 

Meet

Session briefing and guidance will be at 7.30pm in Tesco car park near the click & collect. We will jog to the bottom of Market Hill which is about 0.5 miles and use a side road for dynamic stretches.

 

Session details

The session will be a continuous 30 mins. The uphill will be a hard effort at something around your Tuesday night pace. (The hill is approx 120m.) You will then recover back downhill at a very gentle jog to bring your heart rate back down ready for the next effort. If you are new to efforts and need longer to recover you can take some time at the bottom before going again. Following the session we will jog back to Tesco and have cool down stretches.

 

Technical points

This is a great session to focus on our technical point of the night which is arm movements. Effective arm movement in running helps to drive your legs forward especially up hills. We will get you to focus on your arms being at right angles, driving backwards and being close to your torso. When you are powering up hills your stride should be shorter to quicken your leg turn over and push off the front foot.

 

Other stuff

The weather is looking dry at about 4 degrees so please wear hi viz and layer up. We will have a car at the bottom of the hill if you want to leave your things securely. If you’re racing at the weekend, like the Chelmsford 10k, enjoy an easier session and good luck for the weekend.

 

Karen and I look forward to seeing you on Thursday 🙂