Tri Training NZ

Friday Fartlek: Dave Scott’s Hill Reps

This session is a great way to enhance your technique as well as improve your efficiency and ability to tolerate lactic acid.

Happy New Year.  Here is a session to kick off 2016 with a great workout.

Each week I will be posting the Friday Fartlek Run Sessions that you can do to enhance your running. Fartlek is a Swedish term that runners often use and it means speed-play. See a previous post about training intensity (levels) to know how hard to work.

Tri Training NZ

I’ve been reading some old magazines lately.  This session was inspired by a workout by Dave Scott in the June 1996 issue of Inside Triathlon. I’ve modified and simplified it to make it suitable for this series of workouts. For those unfamiliar with Dave Scott, he won the Hawaii Ironman six times in the eighties. Since then no one has managed to win more Hawaii titles than he did. His nickname was ‘The Man’!!! In 1989 he raced in what became known as IronWar, where he went head to head with Mark Allen in what many consider the greatest Ironman race of all time. Dave finished second beating his own course record in the process.

Dave Scott’s Hill Reps

  • 10min WU Level II;
  • 15x 2min Up Hill, 90sec RI;
    • 1st, 6th & 11th at Level II,
    • 2nd, 3rd, 7th 8th, 12th & 13th at Level III,
    • 4th, 9th & 14th at Level IV,
    • 5th, 10th & 15th at Level V,
  • 10min CD Level I-II;
  • 10min Stretching

The Warm Up (WU) should be done at an intensity that is steady but not overconsuming at Level II for ten minutes. This session can be done either on the road, trail, or track.

The main set involves conducting a series of hill reps at variable intensities. Start off with a low-intensity repetition at the same effort as your warm-up (i.e. Level II), heading up the hill for two minutes, then jog back down taking about 90 seconds. The second and third reps are done at Level III also for two minutes uphill, then jog back down (once again taking about 90 seconds to do so). The fourth rep is done at Level IV once again for two minutes, before jogging down. The fifth rep is done at a higher intensity again at Level V, max effort, then jog back down. Repeat these five reps again building through the intensity range three times for a total of fifteen reps.

The Cool Down (CD) is at a low intensity, jogging for a minimum of 10 minutes.

Finish with 10 minutes of stretching to assist with the recovery.


If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.

I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi – Endurance Sports Consultant.

I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729. Make sure you sign up for my informative newsletter.

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