Apr 2013 Diablo Trails Challenge: Training to Be Your Best By Hitting the Hills!

Let’s continue looking at the differences between tarmac running and trail running, and some important ideas for you to consider. Last time we looked at surfaces, and at sounds and sights.

Here we will continue with slopes, and next time, we'll look at Safety:

Slopes training tips: First, a caveat. Don’t jump straight into running hills, without building up a flat ground base and using common sense. :-) The Diablo Trails Challenge 50k has over 7500 feet of elevation gain and then drop – it feels like all but 2 miles are either up or down. The half-marathon has some beautiful hill work in it, as do all the distances. So, how to train for the hills on trails?

Of course, hills are hills - whether paved or not. But trail hills are often steeper, the ground is less firm, all of which means that training for trail hills is even more important.

Naturally, running up and down actuals hill is the absolute best way to train for running hills. Going up, maintain good posture, take shorter steps to keep your pace similar, and on those tougher hills, I like to zig and zag up the firetrail to “flatten out” the trail. An alternative for the longer distances is to power walk up the hill, at a brisk pace, then run everything flat and downhill. Going down, don’t be afraid, keep an eye on footing, and, counterintuitively, on a steeper down you want to lean forward a bit so your center of gravity is above your feet, not “behind” it.

It’s best to run on a variety of inclines/declines. Uphills strengthen the calves in particular; downhills benefit the quads especially. Going up, watch for cramping in calves; coming down, keep a sense of how your quads are doing.

Especially here in the east bay hills, every backwoods trail is likely to include a wide variety of slopes and inclines. And better still, the hills are usually pretty runnable, between 50 and 1500 feet long, and usually not too steep. If you want very rugged terrain, we have that too.

From Shell Ridge to Briones to Las Trampas, there are plenty of inclines for you to pick from. And if you want extra benefit, pick a short and steep section, up to 150 feet, and run “hill repeats”. That means sprint up, jog back down, sprint up, jog back down. Three to five times is good. I have several spots in Shell Ridge that I like for repeats.

Second best, running on a treadmill with the elevation varying, for example between 1.5% and 5%. I like to run it at 1.5% for, say, 3 minutes, then 5% for 3 minutes, then 1% @ 1 minute, then 7% @ 1 minute, in an alternating pattern. Bear in mind that you should run with the treadmill at 1% anyways to replace the missing wind resistance from running in place vs. being out in nature.

Third best, and a good option if you are travelling in a flat area, is to run the stairs in the hotel. Here, I “like” to do, say, a cycle from the ground floor up the stairs to the 10th floor five times. So, that would be going up at a moderate run – 1 or 2 stairs at a time, not using the railing to pull yourself up.  When you start getting tired, surprise surprise! downshift to a faster-than-a-walk but not a full run.  Once at the top, tap the door, do a “Rocky” power double fist raise, then head back down at a trot to cool down and prepare for the next assault.

Next time, we’ll look at the 4th “S”, safety. Keep on running!