Ultra Runners

1

Hill training (Read 381 times)

    After my last training run for Ice Age 50, I realized I am really not as well trained for the hills as I thought.  Up until then I have been doing at least 2 2 hour+ runs per week on moderately hilly trails (the best I can find locally).  I'm also doing speedwork once a week (usually tempo runs or intervals at 10K pace).  The question is, anyone have suggestions for hill training and when to do it?  e.g. which day of the week?  My schedule right now is pretty aggressive for me, and I don't want to cut back on miles to get hill work in.   I'm thinking of a few options:

     

    1) During midweek long run (18 miles) -2-4 miles of repeats on sledding hill.  (This is also the day after speedwork)

    2) Fridays - day before long run (30+ miles).

    3) During 30+ mile long run - This just seems crazy.

     

    Here is my current schedule (generalizing as I do buildup/cutback weeks, etc.):

    M- Easy 8

    T - Speed 10

    W - Trail 18

    T - Easy 8

    F - Easy 13

    Sat - Long 30+

    Sun - Easy 8


    Kalsarikännit

      Why not throw them in on Thursdays?

      I want to do it because I want to do it.  -Amelia Earhart

       

        My legs are usually pretty tired on Thursdays following speedwork on Tuesday and long run on Wednesdays.  Plus, I usually only get 5 hours of sleep Wednesday night due to work/family schedule), so I usually don't feel recovered going into the Thursday run.  I'd be worried that 3 days in a row of relatively hard workouts would wind up with me injured.

        DoppleBock


          Not sure - When I was trying to really work on hills - I went to the biggest hill I could find and ran up and down it for 2-4 hours straight.  Ran up easy and down moderate to hard.  The hilly trail run was the fun run - Grinding out 3 hours of just going up and down a big hill was the work day.

          Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

           

           

            DB, you are a machine!  I was thinking 30 minutes of running up/down the sled hill (which is about the steepest/longest in the immediate area) would be brutal.

             

            PS, I found a really steep hill at gander mountain ~150 ft gain over 1/4 mile but it is so steep it is not runnable.  Maybe good for practicing the power hiking up/down hills.

             

            MTA- I looked at this again and realized it wasn't all that impressive.  The really steep section of this hill is around 100 ft gain over .05 mile (and single track), even that seems low when you are going up the hill.

            DoppleBock


              My goal was always to work the down - So if it is that steep - I would walk up the hill and run down it to allow much longer hill outing.

               

               

               

              DB, you are a machine!  I was thinking 30 minutes of running up/down the sled hill (which is about the steepest/longest in the immediate area) would be brutal.

               

              PS, I found a really steep hill at gander mountain ~150 ft gain over 1/4 mile but it is so steep it is not runnable.  Maybe good for practicing the power hiking up/down hills.

               

              MTA- I looked at this again and realized it wasn't all that impressive.  The really steep section of this hill is around 100 ft gain over .05 mile (and single track), even that seems low when you are going up the hill.

              Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

               

               

                Sorry for the confusion, I'm not actually planning on doing hill training on an incline that steep (gander mountain).  I want to run up and down the hills and am going to target the sledding hill near me (it's still about a 5% incline maybe 400 yards).  I am curious why you focused mostly on downhill running and not uphill too.  I was thinking I need to improve my strength in both to do well in Ice Age...


                Imminent Catastrophe

                  In my somewhat limited experience it's the downhills that really,really hurt late in an ultra. Plus, you can practice the climbs on a treadmill, but downhills are not so easy to train for.

                  "Able to function despite imminent catastrophe"

                   "To obtain the air that angels breathe you must come to Tahoe"--Mark Twain

                  "The most common question from potential entrants is 'I do not know if I can do this' to which I usually answer, 'that's the whole point'.--Paul Charteris, Tarawera Ultramarathon RD.

                   

                  √ Javelina Jundred Jalloween 2015

                  Cruel Jewel 50 mile May 2016

                  Western States 100 June 2016

                  DoppleBock


                    My course is 200 vertical feet. 

                     

                    One way up is 1/2 mile long = 7.6% incline average - But has some 10% and some 5% 

                    The other way up is 1/4 mile long = 15% incline average - some 10% - Some 20%

                     

                    When I was training this hill I would shoot for 10-15 hills each way.  Run up and down the long way = 1 mile round trip.  The short way - I have managed 5 run ups in 1 night - power walked the rest of the ups.  I always do an equal number of repeats of short and long.

                     

                    So in a night that I would do 15 each way = 15 miles of long and 7.5 miles of short = 22.5 mile with 6000 feet of gain and loss.  When running up - I try and be as efficient as possible - not attacking the hill.  When I walk up the short way - I try and walk as fast as possible.  All the down running is done moderately with a few fast reps.  My goal is volume (Not speed) of hill work and vertical - This is not speed work it is strength work.

                     

                    My point was more that I would rather get 15 each way than run up the short way only and be done after 8. 

                     

                    So I am getting a great workout both ways.  But as pointed out earlier I can get additional hill work on the up on my TM - But I can only work the down on a real hill.

                     

                    Plus - Power walking the steep ups is what I do at the actual race - So it is good to practice that too!

                     

                    Sorry for the confusion, I'm not actually planning on doing hill training on an incline that steep (gander mountain).  I want to run up and down the hills and am going to target the sledding hill near me (it's still about a 5% incline maybe 400 yards).  I am curious why you focused mostly on downhill running and not uphill too.  I was thinking I need to improve my strength in both to do well in Ice Age...

                    Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

                     

                     

                      Perfesser, I hear you, but on IAT there are constant rolling hills, over and over and over.  Not especially big, but will take their toll.  I hear this is different than a lot of higher elevation courses.  I want to run 90% of those hills and stay strong the whole way.  I like DB's approach of focusing on enduring over hours rather than focusing just on incline/distance. 

                       

                      DB, I think I'm going to slightly modify your plan as the sledding hill is probably only 3-5% grade anyway.  I'll go for 20-30 minutes of hill running tomorrow gradually working up to an hour plus 3 weeks out from the race.  The focus will be running the whole time.  If I have to, I'll take a break on flats and then head back to the hill. 

                      HoosierDaddy


                      GreyBeard

                        Treadmill workout will get you some speed work and hill work.  This is one of my favorites and it hurts good.

                         

                        Warmup mile or two easy

                        -----

                        Begin normal "Eesy" flat pace for .25 miles

                        Every .25 miles, increase incline 1%

                        Continue until you cannot any longer

                        Drop back to Flat and repeat

                        -------

                        Cool down

                         

                        This works well for me and I usually top out at about 6-7% or so and find that I may not be able to go back up that high next cycle.

                         

                        Agree, too - walking on treadmill at incline is great.  

                        Also, running a 2-3 minute downhill and walking back up is great for quads 

                        2020

                        • Black Canyon 100k
                        • RRR
                        • Zane Grey 100k
                        • High Lonesome 100
                        • Wyoming Range 100 (?)
                        • The Bear 100
                        • Javelina Jundred (?)
                        jjameson


                          Agree that the thing to work on is the downhills, that is what beats you up.  Easy-moderate on the uphills, run the downhills pretty hard.