Most of us will spend some time in an ultra hiking; the terrain and distances involved mean even the very best cant run every step.
The question is how much training time should we devote to improving our hiking speed and endurance ? The goal for most of us is to run as much of the race as possible so there is a trade off between improving our running endurance and developing ones hiking fitness.
We discussed in the vert video of the balance between getting enough vert in the legs to condition them for the ups and downs in a race vs too much vert and not getting enough running kilometres in the legs.
Compare a 4 hour run of 25km with 1800 vert which might be something like 15km of running and 10km hiking with a 4 hour run of 38km and 800 vert which might be more like 36km running 2km hiking . For the same duration the latter has a lot more running but of course doesnt train the legs ability to handle the hills as effectively. So it’s always a balance between getting enough running kms in the legs and getting enough vert in the legs and more vert usually means more hiking.
There are three ways we can work on our hiking fitness
1. Long run
2. Hill repeats mixing running and hiking
3. Specific hiking sessions
The Long Run
As far as hiking goes, the first place we start to develop our hiking fitness is in long runs – as the vert increases, we end up hiking more and more.
The intensity of a long run should normally be at conversation pace or 70-80% of threshold but on some hills the gradient makes that impractical . You are either going so slowly or frequently pausing to keep the intensity down or going above conversation pace to continue moving consistently up the hill.
Instead of focusing on keeping intensity at conversation pace make sure the effort is sustainable for the whole climb without pushing any harder than necessary in order to keep moving at a consistent pace.
On some climbs it might be possible to run part of the climb at a conversational pace, but not all of it. However if we frequently switch between hiking and running one can control the intensity and end up running more of the climb overall than if we just ran till we got tired and then hiked the rest.
Learning when to switch between the two is a key skill for racing on hilly terrain.
There are two reason to switch from a run to a hike .
The first is when your effort level rises above conversation pace ( if in a long run ) or above race intensity if in a race. When this happens you switch a hike to get intensity back to where it should be.
The second is when your running pace is slow enough that your hiking pace is roughly the same and is less effort. If its roughly the same pace for less effort you may as well save your energy and hike instead of run.
There are also two reasons to switch back to running
When hiking pace starts to feel easier than conversation or race pace
When hiking pace is significantly slower than running pace but a similar effort.
On long climbs in training, practice switching between the two aiming to keep intensity consistent throughout the climb.
Running Hill Repeats
The next place we can develop our hiking fitness is mixed in with running hill repeats. Alternating running and hiking intervals on steep climbs is a very effective training session . The hill needs to be steep enough that one can push hard hiking without needing to break into a run but not too steep that running is not possible.
An example session might be
3 x 12 minutes uphill
Alternating 2 minutes hard run 2 minutes hard hike
easy back down recovery
The amount of work depends on the phase of training one is in. It could range anywhere from 20 minutes to 80 minutes of work.
The shorter the duration of work in the session the steeper the hill will need to be or the hiking becomes more a recovery period. This is because we are limited in how fast we can hike before breaking into a run and the less steep the hill the earlier we will want to transition into a run.
Eg if you did the 3 x 12 minutes uphill on a 10% gradient many would find that to push hard enough hiking to keep the effort consistent you would end up breaking into a run , whereas on a 25% climb many would struggle to run the 2 minutes intervals and end up hiking . So there is a sweet spot gradient wise where both hiking and running are good options. This will differ depending on the athlete – the fitter they are the steeper the hill needs to be.
Obviously, many athletes have limited hills to train on so we have to adjust the variables we can control to make up for the ones we cant control .
For example if we want to give our athlete some alternating run hiking sessions but the steepest hill they have is say 10% what our our options ?
10% may not be steep enough for the athlete to reach the desired intensity of the session without breaking into a run.
Lets take the 3 x 12 minutes session we discussed earlier – alternating hike run.
The goal of the session is to spend 36 minutes at threshold intensity with a mix of hiking and running to develop the athletes hiking and running uphill fitness.
But the gradient may not be steep enough for the athlete to hike at an intensity high enough to hit the threshold target.
So instead of a session being 3 x 12 minutes threshold it becomes 3 x 12 minutes alternating 2 minutes threshold 2 minutes partial recovery – obviously thats an easier session than planned .
So what can we do to increase hiking intensity ?
There are 4 main options
1. Increase the run duration – eg 3 minutes run 1 minutes hike
2. Increase the run intensity and keep it at 2 minutes run 2 minutes hike
3. Add a weighted pack
4. Do a set of running hill reps first
1. Increase run duration
A longer hiking interval combined with a not very steep hiking gradient means more time for the intensity to drop. By reducing the hiking interval and increasing the run interval the overall session will feel harder. The negative to this approach is obviously less time is spent hiking but the positives are the hiking interval will feel harder.
2. Increase run intensity
We can also increase the intensity of the run duration so it becomes an under over threshold type session – eg 2 minutes running just above threshold , then 2 minutes hard hiking which due to the 10% gradient is below threshold intensity. This is a tough session due to the run intervals being above threshold so not suitable for all athletes but for well conditioned athletes is a great alternative if they dont have access to steeper gradients .
3. Add a weighted pack.
Wearing a pack with enough weight will increase the intensity of the hiking but too much weight may mean running is no longer possible so it’s a fine line. In general race weight pack plus 1-2 kg is the heaviest you want to go to enable the athlete to still run during the run intervals .
You can also mix things up by doing some reps initially with a weighted pack but then empty out the pack for the later reps. This can work well when you focus more on hiking with the reps with weighted pack and then more on running with reps with no pack
Eg 4 x 8 minutes hills
Reps 1 and 2 with weighted pack
3 minutes hard hike
1 minutes hard run
X 2
easy back down recovery
Reps 3 and 4 – no weighted pack
3 minutes hard run
1 minutes hard hike
X 2
4. Pre fatigue with run hill reps
In this case we use fatigue from running intervals to make hiking intervals feel harder. For example instead of 3 x 12 minutes alternating 2/2 run hike
We do 2 x 6 minutes running hill reps first
Then 2 x 12 alternating 2 minutes run 2 minutes hike
The fatigue from the 2 x 6 minutes running reps may be enough to make the hiking reps feel harder even on a not so steep gradient.
Specific Hiking reps
Hiking reps can be a seperate workout from running hill reps but we need to consider the intensity required and the incline of the hill. If you want very high intensity you need a very steep hill – if not the athlete will switch to a run to drive the intensity up so it then becomes a mix of hiking and running in the session.
The same principles that we use to create hill and speed sessions apply to hiking reps. Assuming one can find a hill steep enough you can create sessions anywhere from Vo2 max sessions to tempo sessions.
I’ve done 6 x 3 minutes up a steep hill that had me gasping for breath and 2 hour tempo sessions on a treadmill and everything in between.
The decision to make here is how important is it to developing your athletes’ hiking fitness.
For most athletes there is no need to be doing VO2 max hiking reps if they are training for 50k+ events but if they had a vertical k coming up then there may be a place for a super high intensity hiking block ( assuming they had a steep enough hill to push hard enough )
Threshold and tempo intensity is where I believe the majority of an athletes hiking training should be performed – ie work duration of 30-90 minutes
eg anywhere from 3 x 10 minutes to 3 x 30 minutes
Hiking reps are best done wearing race weight pack and using poles (if the athlete plans to use them in a race ) to more closely mimic race demands.
The downhills need to be considered separately in the context of the training plan – eg it might be easy downhill or might be fast downhill depending on the rest of the training week.
Balancing Hiking Training with Running Training
Hiking training is best performed in the peak phase of training as we do not need a long training block to develop hiking fitness. We are taking our running fitness and training the muscles to work a little differently . Hiking is low impact activity and a much less complex movement than running so doesnt need to be trained all year round to maximise hiking speed/ fitness.
In the athlete’s Peak training phase we now have to balance , speed sessions , running hill sessions and possibly hiking specific sessions. How you do this depends on the race demands and the athlete.
For example an elite training for CCC should focus more on alternating running hiking hill reps but a mid to back of pack athlete would benefit from some specific hiking sessions, as the elite will be running 85+% of the course and the mid back packer more like 50-60%.
Elites may do one speed session and one alternating run/ hike session and the mid packer might mix up speed , running hills and hiking hills over a 3 week period ( doing 2 of each )
Keep in mind as hiking is a low intensity activity we can increase the load far quicker than we can with running. So for example if we start specific hiking sessions in the peak training phase you can confidently start with 30-40 minutes or more of hard hiking with very minimal risk of injury. The intensity does have to be considered though – heart and lungs are still working as they would if running hence for most athletes 2 hard sessions per week is enough even if one of them is a hiking session.
Some practical examples
If one is training for a race with a ton of hiking specific hiking sessions are recommended even for elites .
If the race has very long climbs – eg like UTMB then assuming the athlete does not have long climbs to train on some treadmill sessions are very beneficial .
Its great to do 5 x 8 minutes hard hiking up a steep hill with the runs back down adding extra conditioning but come race day when you are climbing for 2+ hours non stop it can seem daunting. This is where some tempo treadmill sessions can be very valuable; eg 90-120 minutes non stop steady uphill hiking on 15%+ gradient . You only need to do 2-3 of these type sessions in the Peak training phase to reap the benefits on race day.
The rest of the athletes hiking sessions should ideally be outside so they get the benefit of the downhill conditioning that doesnt happen on treadmills.
So in a 8 week peak phase of training your athletes hiking sessions may look like this ( assuming hiking training is needed for the race they are training for )
Week 1 – 3 x 10 minutes hard uphill hike – easy back down recovery
Week 2 – 4 x 8 minutes hard uphill hike with weighted pack – easy back down recovery
Week 3 3 x 12 minutes hard uphill hike with weighted pack – easy back down recovery
Week 4 – Treadmill hike 90 minutes 15% gradient
Week 5 – 4 x 10 minutes hard uphill hike with weighted pack – easy back down recovery
Week 6 – 4 x 10 minutes hard uphill hike with weighted pack – back down start easy but increase pace as you descend and then 2 minutes recovery at the bottom
Week 7 2 x 10 minutes hard hiking up , fast back down – 2 reps no recovery
Then 3 minutes recovery – repeat one more
Week 8 – 2 hour treadmill 15% gradient