You may have heard the expression – “ it’s all about the vert “ and whilst there is some truth to that it’s a little more complex than it may at first seem.
In this video we will be discussing how much vert is ideal throughout the week and in the long run and what to do if you dont have access to much vert at all.
If you recall in the long run video we mentioned as a rough guide you start with less vert per 10km that the race you are training for has and then progress so that long runs match race vert in peak training phase.
Whilst this is a good starting point, the type of race and an athlete’s strengths and weaknesses add some nuances to this recommendation.
The long run
There are two main considerations to make
1) is the vert in the target race a series of smaller climbs and descents or are the climbs and descents long?
2) if targeting the same vert per 10km as the race how much hiking vs running is the athlete doing in their long run?
If a race has lots of short climbs then there will be frequent switching between hiking up hill and running downhill. For most athletes finding shorter hills in long training runs is not a problem so they can replicate race conditions effectively.
BUT if they are doing a race like UTMB with climbs that go on for hours and descents lasting 20km or more it’s very hard to match that in a race.
If they target same vert per 10km in a race on short hills then although they might be getting race vert per 10km the frequent switching between hiking and running means they don’t ever run non stop for longer distances.
For example if a long training run of 30km has 1800m made up of 6 smaller hills it means the longest non stop running duration might be around 2.5km long ( eg 6 hills of 2.5km up 2.5km down = 30km)
This picture represents the 30km run with 6 hills , the green represents uphill hiking the blue downhill running. Even if there was some running on the uphill you can see that the longest non stop running period is not that long
Then one has to ask do we think that doing a long run in which you never run more than 2.5km non stop before hiking and in which you only cover 15km of actual running in a 30km run good preparation for a 100km or 100 mile race ?
Maybe the athlete runs a bit of the uphills so you get 20km of running and 10km of hiking is that enough ? If the aim is to run all the downhills and all the flats then even in race like UTMB that might mean 90-100km of running . Does a 30km long run in which you are only running 15-20km and never running more than 3km non stop before hiking again seem like the optimal long run for training ?
When thinking about the athletes long run if they are training for a mountain race like UTMB ask yourself – are the athletes long runs ( and training in general ) preparing them to be able to run a long downhill ( like the 25km descent off Grand Col Feret ) in the second half of the race when legs are fatigued .
If their long run is only 25-30km and half of that is hiking how do you think they will cope with a 25km runnable downhill after they have already covered 110km ?
Hopefully you are thinking probably not !
Whats the alternative then ?
Well in an ideal world you would use a 10-20km climb and do 1 or two reps to get a solid 30-40km long run in but as very few of us have a 10+km climb to train on we have to improvise.
Here is the dilemma
– do you stick to same vert per 10km as race but go into the race with less running in your legs but more hiking ?
– or make long runs less hilly so you end up running more of it but with less vert per 10km than the race ?
–
The good news is you dont have to pick one you can alternate between the two .
Clearly a balance is needed – a balance between the vert in long run and weekly training in general and making sure to run enough km to prepare for the demands of the race.
For example if your athlete is doing 4 hour long runs as standard and training for a race like UTMB then one week they could do a 4 hour run targeting 600m vert per 10km which might have then covering 26km and 1600 vert with a 16 km running 10km hiking split, then the next week then do a 4 hour run covering 34km with 300 vert per 10km and running 30km hiking 4km.
First week they get a ton of vert and good hiking and downhill conditioning, the second week they run a lot more kms .
VERT during the rest of the week
For many athletes the long run is the only time they can get to hilly trails that have any significant vert. For those athletes that can access hills during the week how do we prescribe how much vert those runs should have ?
We talked in the easy run video that these easy runs should be mostly runnable. Too much vert in easy runs means less running distance due to more time hiking up the hills and more muscular stress due to the eccentric loading on the downhills. The goal of easy runs is increased running volume that builds aerobic fitness without compromising the harder and longer sessions in the week.
However for more well conditioned runners there is no reason they cant increase the vert in long runs if the majority of the uphills are running not hiking and their legs are well conditioned for the downhills .
For the rest of us the majority of your training vert will come from the long run and a hill repeat session. I dont subscribe to the idea you need to aim for a certain amount of vert per week to be ready for a race.
Thinking it in terms of vert alone can mean you end up with a lot of vert but not much running which may not prepare you optimally for the race.
You can make up for doing less vert by increasing the intensity on downhills ( see the downhill running video ) but you cant make up for doing less actual running .
How do you train for vert If you dont have any ?
For some less fortunate of us trails and hills are limited yet they still sign up for mountainous trail races . How can we prepare an athlete for races with a ton of vert when they dont have any ?
1. Work with what they have
Hills may be small but most of us have some kind of hills. Use what is available and do a ton of reps to get the vert in . When I trained for UTMB my longest trail hill was about 90 seconds , so in a 4 hour long run I would do over 100 reps of that hill to get the vert in my legs. It’s not what many would think of as fun but it got the job done.
2. Stairs
Next best to hills is stair repeats – hiking up and running back down gives a similar stimulus to hills the main difference is on hills the foot lands on an incline and on stairs it lands flat but if you dont have hills stairs are a good option – see the stairs video for more details
3. Treadmill
Most of us can get access to a treadmill and this is a great substitute for real hills. You can set any gradient you want ( up to the limit of the machine ) and go for as long as you want. The problem is of course that there are no downhills. So you dont train the legs for that eccentric loading that comes with running downhills.
4. Strength work
Developing the leg strength required for hills in the gym is another good alternative. You can perform step ups to develop climbing strength and eccentric landing exercises to condition for downhill loading. See the strength video for more information.