Gym work for trails and mountains...

Have been running a few years, first on roads before moving into the mountains in the past year. My training is a bit undisciplined, lots of running and hiking around where I live so would be reasonably fit. In recent weeks I'm getting in a 20-30km lsr along a trail at weekends and then maybe a gym session midweek where I usually pound out about an hour on treadmill speeding it up and slowing down, or mix it up with some cycling or rowing.   

Joined the gym for 3 months last night so would like to maximise the facilities with a view to improving times on the mountains early next year. Anyone got any good gym programme, maybe some handy YouTube clip with suggestions, or maybe a link to some article? This might sound all very basic, but don't want to waste time on something that is of no use. Thinking of concentrating on core work, so looking at simple stuff like Russian Twists, the Plank etc. Are they directly beneficial for running? Or would I get more benefit from maybe upping time on the machines, the bicycles and rowing etc.?

PaulieC

was reading this last night.


TL;DR if you want to get good at hill-running you need to train in the hills

T runner

Deleted User wrote: »

Have been running a few years, first on roads before moving into the mountains in the past year. My training is a bit undisciplined, lots of running and hiking around where I live so would be reasonably fit. In recent weeks I'm getting in a 20-30km lsr along a trail at weekends and then maybe a gym session midweek where I usually pound out about an hour on treadmill speeding it up and slowing down, or mix it up with some cycling or rowing.   

Joined the gym for 3 months last night so would like to maximise the facilities with a view to improving times on the mountains early next year. Anyone got any good gym programme, maybe some handy YouTube clip with suggestions, or maybe a link to some article? This might sound all very basic, but don't want to waste time on something that is of no use. Thinking of concentrating on core work, so looking at simple stuff like Russian Twists, the Plank etc. Are they directly beneficial for running? Or would I get more benefit from maybe upping time on the machines, the bicycles and rowing etc.?

The treadmill can be a huge hill running aid:

Advantages for hill runners are:

Cadence is kept high so you're speed doesn't suffer.

The reps are all the same speed. The advantage of this comes later in climbs when you'll notice people in your group tiring and dropping back, but youll be trained to metronomically keep the same speed and turnover.

You can mimic any hill (up to 15%).

Efficiency is improved as with the effort reps youre body will adapt, in time, an efficient climbing gait.

Example sessions: A hill running specific session might be 10 x 2mins up with 1 mins rest @ 15% incline (max).

To reach that: once you're happy enough with your general conditioning you can start by doing say 10 x 30s with 1 min recovery and work from there.

You can also do longer climbs. Say 30min easy @ 1% then 30min @ 15% working up to an hour climbing at the same speed or faster.

That can be evolved to make the easy section steady or with tempo intervals to mimic racing, adding a few climbs with fast running after each to mimic the transition to fast leg turnover from up to down.

Tempos can be done on the treadmill: eg 20 min @ 6%

Progression runs likewise: either progressing speed over a continuous run, with a constant gradient, or progressing gradient in the run with no change in speed.

You can do a lactate tolerance and buffering sessions (closer to racing season)

15 mins with 1min @ slightly faster than race pace and 1 min @ slightly slower---the recovery min teaches the legs to re-use the lactic. This will help you run up the hill with more lactic in your legs (faster) and will also help you get over the top and into your descent quicker.

Another e.g of good race specific one is 8 mins @15% (race effort) then 5 x 2 @15% (faster) then 8 @ 15% (race effort).
The hard 2 min reps tire the legs meaning climbing endurance will be developed in the last 8 mins. 8 mins of torture but well worth it.

You can go straight to racing from that or you'd probably be able to get a few similar sessions on terrain before racing time.

If you have the gym membership, the inclined treadmill is worth it alone.

opus

I made good use of the treadmill in training for a hilly ultra (Comrades) at the start of the year. Very simple approach, I ran an easy 21k most weeks on the random hill program, starting at level 1 & upping it each week. Think I got to level 12 before I finished.

Using it again this year & have started a bit earlier so will probably reach a few levels higher, remember the big step came at level 7 or 8 when it stopped ever being level and instead you just had varying degrees of incline.

Plenty of short steep hills around Cork but nowhere where I'd be able to get a 21k all uphill run though.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'm kinda reading from this that maybe the best training for running hills is simply running hills, or the gym equivalent on a treadmill, and core exercise isn't as directly beneficial. Do a lot of hillwalking in the Reeks and find that getting a lot of metres ascending and descending into the legs, even at walking pace, is very useful alright.

T runner

As per my post, I think there is huge benefit to treadmill hill training, or a combination of treadmill and outdoor hill training. Core strength is very important too as hill running is an all over exercise.
May I ask what races? or race types you are targeting?

nerraw1111

I'd say core is very important. Particularly on the descents where the body takes a huge pounding. A weak trunk, will slow you down.

RW article about it here:

http://www.runnersworld.com/trail-running-training/tips-excelling-declines

T runner

T runner wrote: »

May I ask what races? or race types you are targeting?

IMRA races. Did 6 or 7 of them this year, Carrauntoohil, Lug, the Galtys etc. So that would be the main target, the 90 mins - 2 hour challenge types. Would also like to step up the longer distance trail running, did a couple of road marathons last year but just prefer the whole off road feel and atmosphere, the terrain, the challenges etc. and living on the Kerry way means plenty of trails for a few hours running. But that would only be part of training really towards IMRA races.

T runner

Gotcha. Lucky Sod!
Generally, you can do long weekly or bi-weekly easy runs on the hills of 2hrs plus.
In the Spring you can make these more race specific by running harder on the uphills and recovering on the downs, making the run about 2 hrs. Practice race walking during this run too.
The treadmill sessions will help in the winter but are more beneficial for the shorter league races of 40 mins or so. (not counting Lug: 15 mins @ 15% 5 x 2 hard @ 10% 15 mins @ 15% would be good uphill prep for Lug)

Only two difficult (long or session) runs on hills per week.
Another race specific session is 40 mins + continuous up and down (climb = 10 mins) . You don't run easy on the down but try and recover while moving quickly. Teaches climbing endurance and descending fast while recovering so that you can recover while descending fast in races.

The treadmill will compliment and prepare you for the terrain training early in the year , but for those gnarly champs races, terrain training is key.
If you can train on the Carrauntoohil route once or twice it will be a huge advantage.

I guess in the winter you could do the long run on hills and the hill session on the treadmill.

Thanks so much for all the input and pointers. Had a tiny little niggle in calf last week but did a 25km trail run Saturday and stood up to that so gonna go through all the posts here and devise some gym strategy for the winter, and mix it with lsr's out on the trails once every or every other weekend.

grahamor

Find the steepest hill you know and run up fast for about 30-40 seconds and recover/hydrate walking back down, repeat 10 times. If you get tired towards the end just power walk up.

I'm not a big gym person but got advised to do the following and it really paid off especially with harsh descents in the alps.

Kettle bell lunges
Dumbbell step ups (double step height and 18kg in each hand)
Dead lifts & bar squats