The Flatlander’s Guide to Elevation Gains: How to Train for Hills You Don’t Have

What if training for a mountainous ultra race while living in a flat city isn't just possible, but actually an opportunity to get creative and resilient? Join me, Richard Gleave, as I share my personal journey of preparing for a 15,000-foot vert race from the pancake-flat landscapes of Houston, TX. I promise you'll learn how to transform your treadmill into a powerful 'tread hill' and utilize it as your vertical training master, complete with practical tips for making those long, monotonous sessions not only bearable but effective. Dive into stories and strategies that prove mountains can be conquered right from your living room, or by creatively using local terrains.. We’ll explore creative solutions for strength training, mental preparedness, and making the most of your surroundings to elevate your climbing capabilities.

• Exploring the importance of elevating training for mountain races 
• Utilizing the treadmill for incline and power hiking practice 
• Creative approaches to training on available local terrains 
• Focused strength training for climbing and descending muscles 
• Building mental resilience for the mental grind of climbs 
• Key training takeaways for flatland runners 
• Engaging with the community for shared strategies and experiences

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello again and welcome back, if this happens to
be your first time listening.
Thank you so much for stoppingby.
You are listening to Choose toEndure, a show dedicated to the
back of the pack runners, wherewe share stories, interviews,
gear and sometimes training tipsspecific to the tail end heroes

(00:22):
of the Ultra universe.
My name is Richard Gleave.
I've been running Ultras nowsince 2017.
I have taken on and finishednumerous distances, all the way
up through 220 miles, and I ammost definitely a member of the
back of the pack, just like alot of you out there might be

(00:43):
back, just like a lot of you outthere might be.
So today's topic is aninteresting one for me, and it's
a challenge that many of usFlatlanders face, and one I'm
certainly going to be facinghere shortly as I ramp up my
training for Cocodona in May,and that is figuring out how to

(01:05):
train for a mountain race or arace with a lot of vert when you
live somewhere that isabsolutely pancake flat, like I
do, whether you're eyeing ahundred miler with some massive
elevation or you're just tryingto improve your climbing game.
Generally speaking, you don'tnecessarily need mountains to

(01:26):
train for mountain races.
Trust me, I've been there.
I've prepped for races withthousands of feet of vert, while
actually running loops aroundmy local park, which might have
maybe a 10-foot incline on agood day.
But here's the thing with somecreativity, some consistency and

(01:50):
a little bit of grit, you canget mountain ready, no matter
where you live.
So in this episode, I'm goingto break down my favorite tips
and strategies to help you buildstrength, improve endurance and
tackle those climbs withconfidence.
So grab your running shoes,settle in, let's get started.
Discover raw, inspiring storiesfrom runners who've been right

(02:16):
where you are.
This is the Choose to EndureUltra Running Podcast, with your
host he's English, notAustralian Richard Gleave.
All right.
Suggestion one here is going tobe the most obvious one right,

(02:36):
embrace the treadmill as yourelevator simulator.
So I'm going to call thesetread hills.
I guess we should definitelythink of the treadmill as a
vertical training master.
Most of the treadmills thatyou're going to find in any kind
of gym can incline anywhere upto 15% really, and that is

(03:01):
really gold for us.
You don't need to run on thetreadmill at that incline.
You're going to do power hikingbecause, well, let's face it,
that's what you're going to domost likely on race day.
So for me, what I would suggest?
Set the incline up to the 15%.
You can start lower with 5%,10% if you're just getting going

(03:24):
, but work your way up to a 15%incline.
Slow the pace down to two and ahalf three miles per hour.
You can build that up too asyou get better, and then go hike
for like 20 to 30 minutes at atime.
It's pretty boring, yeah, butit does replicate the grind of a
long climb.
Boring, yeah, but it doesreplicate the grind of a long

(03:58):
climb.
And doing this on a consistentbasis can have a huge aerobic
upside and it really doesn'thave to do much of it up front.
But as you get closer to thatrace, you want to be more
specific, and so you can startsliding in these tread hills.
If you want to really take itup a notch, put on your race
pack so that you can mimic theweight and the movement of the

(04:21):
pack that you're going to carryon race day.
I once did a race I think it wasabout 15,000 feet of vert and
for those that don't know, Ilive here in Houston.
It is really flat here.
There are not many hills.
I spent a long time practicinghiking on my treadmill at home.
Actually, back when I had oneat home, I'd throw on a movie,

(04:44):
chuck on an ultra runningpodcast, whatever I needed to do
to pass the time.
And when I actually did thatrace I felt pretty ready,
actually, given where I live, totackle those long and
especially the steep ascents.
My legs didn't feel quite astrashed as I had expected and I

(05:04):
was pretty pleased with that.
So it is possible, okay.
So if you don't have atreadmill, maybe you don't have
mountains.
Suggestion number two is goingto be to get creative with the
local terrain that you do have.
You've got to work with whatyou've got.
So look out for parking garages, bridges, even big staircases,

(05:28):
or your own staircase at yourhouse, if you have one.
Again, here in Houston, I am alongtime friend with a variety
of overpasses and pedestrianbridges.
Pedestrian bridges they'reshort, but they can be quite
steep, and I'll try to runrepeats on them until I've

(05:49):
climbed the equivalent of asmall hill, which, granted, is
not particularly glamorous, butit definitely can work.
Another tip that I have for youis to look for any kind of
trail that you can find nearyour house that has uneven
terrain.
We have a park pretty close towhere I live and it has a bunch

(06:11):
of jeep trails with uneven rock.
Those trails are great becauseeven without vert, trails like
that that are really unevenforce your stabilizer muscles to
work harder, and that is goingto help prepare you for the
uneven footing of mountaintrails.
When you get there I'll tellyou too.

(06:32):
There's a pedestrian overpassnear my house that I once ran
for two hours straight.
So when you can't replicate theterrain, you can focus on
strengthening the muscles thatyou'll use on climbing, and
don't forget descending too.
Oftentimes the descendingpeople miss, and you'll know

(06:56):
about that one really quicklywhen your quads start yelling at
you coming downhills, and thatcan oftentimes be more
challenging than going uphill.
So for climbs, focus on yourglutes, hamstrings and your
calves.
I might suggest exercises likestep-ups, definitely lunges,

(07:16):
weighted lunges, calf raises.
Those kind of exercises aregoing to be your best friends.
And then, for those descentsthat I was just talking about,
make sure you work onstrengthening those quads with
eccentric exercises like stepdowns or slow squats or even

(07:36):
those jump burpees.
I've also found that weightedstair workouts are really cool
for mimicking the strain of aparticularly steep climb as well
.
Grab a weighted vest.
If you've got one, grab a racepack.
I've even grabbed two-gallonjugs of milk and held one in

(07:58):
each hand.
Find a staircase, maybe in aparking garage, even in your
house.
Climb up and down thatstaircase for 20 to 30 minutes.
I tell you it can make a lot ofdifference.
With not many sessions of doingthat.
It's really helpful, especiallyif you don't have much else
going on that you can actuallyget to.

(08:19):
I did a lot of step-downexercises leading up to a race
with some pretty gnarlytechnical descents over in the
Lake District in England.
This is the same race that had,according to my watch,
approximately nine and a halfthousand feet of vert in the
first 33 miles, which is prettyinsane.

(08:43):
And while my quads weredefinitely still screaming at me
during the race, they didn'tcompletely give out, although
admittedly, I did slip on wetrocks on one descent, I fell and
fractured my humerus, which isdefinitely not funny.
Nonetheless, the prep for goingup and coming down, that was
definitely a game changer.

(09:03):
For going up and coming down,that was definitely a game
changer.
And the last thing I will sayhere is something you might not
hear too much about, but whenyou're doing those long climbs
and I've done a few of them.
You really need to look at yourmental game as well for that
one.
Training for mountain races alot of vert in a flat area.
It's not just a physicalchallenge, it's definitely a

(09:26):
mental one too.
On race day you're going toface those long climbs and they
are going to seem really endless, especially because you're
going slower and you can bepretty out of breath.
You've got to make sure thatyou prepare for that grind
mentally as well.
So one thing I do duringtraining if I know I'm going to

(09:47):
have a lot of these big climbs,I know I'm going to have them at
Cocodona is intentionallysimulate really long, really
boring efforts.
For instance, if I can find atreadmill, I'll go hike on it
for an hour straight, zero music, zero distractions, looking
straightforward.
I'll try to make it as boringas I can.

(10:08):
It's not fun I mean it reallyisn't fun but it definitely
trains your mind to stay present, focus, look internally and
find ways to push through themonotony of those climbs.
I also practice visualization.
So before a race I try topicture myself tackling those

(10:32):
really steep climbs and remindmyself that I've trained for
this and I've done these kindsof climbs before I know what's
going to happen.
I know what it's going to feellike and I know what the terrain
is going to be like for themost part.
So when you've mentallyrehearsed those tough moments, I
feel like you're betterequipped to handle them.

(10:53):
In the race, I had a three-mileclimb one time.
That seemed absolutelynever-ending.
Almost straight up I had tokeep reminding myself.
You know, you've done harderthings than this.
One step at a time, keep movingand eventually you get to the
top of those things.
All right, so to wrap us backup, here are the key takeaways.

(11:16):
Number one use your treadmill,if you can get to one, as a tool
for incline training.
Power hiking is most definitelya secret weapon, and that goes
for flat running as well.
I'm all for adding some powerhiking on an incline into your
general maintenance routine.

(11:36):
And number two get creativewith local terrain that you do
have.
Get out there.
Find some bridges, find someparking garages, find some
uneven trails, find whatever youcan.
We've even gone up and downembankments on the side of
drainage ditches.
Just keep going up and downthose.

(11:57):
Wherever you can find a hill,get out there.
Do multiple up and downs of it.
It's going to train your muscles.
It can also help with themental side of things too.
Number three focus on strengthtraining, specifically If you
know you're going to be climbingand descending, strong muscles

(12:18):
are going to carry you through,but don't sleep on the defense.
Make sure you get some quadexercises in there as well.
And then, number four, makesure you train your mind for the
grind.
Mental toughness is just asimportant as physical fitness,
and if you can't get any uphillhiking, physical fitness is a

(12:43):
pill that will cover a multitudeof illnesses.
The better physically trainedyou are, the more capable you
are of withstanding that uphillbattle.
So, when all else fails, focuson fitness.
Fitness will take you a longway by itself, even if you have
minimal training actually goingup the hills.

(13:03):
So if these strategies resonatewith you and you are ready to
take your next uphill step,let's keep the conversation
going.
Do you have a favorite strategywhen training for races with a
lot of vert that maybe wehaven't touched on here and you
think others might benefit from?
If so, definitely feel free tojoin the conversation, share

(13:27):
those in the comments or make anote on the social media pages.
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(13:49):
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(14:12):
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Until next time, make sure yourun long, run strong, do some

(14:33):
uphill power hiking and keepchoosing to endure.
We'll see you next time.