HOW TO TRAIN FOR LONG CLIMBS WITH ELEVATION
Long climbs with a lot of elevation gain require a particular technical approach and a more uniform distribution of your effort. You will need to reduce your heart rate, adopt a slower pace, improve foot support and boost your thrust efficiency.
By training well and progressively, giving the body the time it needs to strengthen the muscle fibers and get used to the effort to be sustained, you can have a greater guarantee of success on ultra mountain trails. A good training base will also avoid some unpleasant inconveniences, common to many trail runners, which would risk jeopardizing the success of the race:
- muscle cramps in the calves
- pain in the quadriceps
- lower back pain, due to the weight of the backpack or trail running belt
- shoulder and arm pain, if you use trail running poles.
“The body cannot go from 0 to 100 just wanting it to happen” – Kilian Jornet
Here’s how to organize your workouts for long climbs in 7 steps:
- wear your backpack and carry folded your trail running poles with you
- warm-up phase, slow running 20′-30′
- start with a continuous climb of 30′. You will increase the duration of the session time by time up to 2h30 at the end of the preparation. Schedule this type of training every 2 weeks, increasing the duration by 10′
- the climb should, ideally, have a gradient that develops progressively, from 8% to 20-25%. This will allow you to perform a first part running and a second part by walking fast using also trail running poles
- at the end of the climb, fold up your poles and run down taking care of your feet supports
- end the workout with a 10′-15′ cool-down and stretching
- take mineral salts dissolved in a glass of water to effectively recover the session.
DO YOU WANT to try to follow a structured training plan with a Certified Coach? See our offer of personalized programs HERE
DO YOU WANT to participate in one of our TRAIL Camps? See our TRAIL Camps Mont Blanc 2023 HERE
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEAK TO ONE OF OUR COACHES? Book your appointment: info@trailrunningmovement.com
Digital Strategic Marketing Director – certified Innovation Manager – in multinational companies, she is still today the only Italian female athlete to have ran 900 km and 55,000m D+ in the mountains in a single stage race (Transpyrenea 2016, 3rd women overall). She counts numerous Podiums and international Victories on races over 100k. She holds a SNaQ CONI certification as a Trail Running Coach, Athletic Trainer and in Nutrition and Sports Supplementation. Since 2014 she is President and sports executive of innovative technology startups and companies, including Trail Running Movement and Digital Sport 360. She trains elite trail running athletes and she teaches in trail running coach certification courses. She is an author of sports articles on training, nutrition and supplementation in trail running and running, both in Italian and in English and Spanish. She manages relationships and collaborations with Federations and Race Organizers.
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