Trail Running: How to Improve Your Uphill Running
It’s often said that mountain races are won on the climbs but lost on the descents. To be a well-rounded trail runner, it’s just as important to climb well as it is to descend well. In this article, we’ll analyze how to improve your uphill running in trail running.
Preparing for a road race can be monotonous, but there are always aspects to improve in mountain races. In trail running, you need to be good on flat terrain, descending on tracks, descending technical trails, climbing while walking, climbing while running…
A trail runner must train all these abilities throughout the season. But in this article, we’re going to focus on climbing. You’ll learn that improving your uphill running isn’t just about doing hill repeats.
The Importance of Hill Training in Trail Running
Hill training is essential in trail running because mountain races involve running on terrain with both ascents and descents. Hills can be physically demanding as they require runners to work against gravity and engage different muscle groups to maintain balance and momentum.
When running on flat terrain, much of the propulsion in each stride comes from the «bounce» off the ground. During foot impact, our muscles absorb elastic energy, which is quickly utilized to generate force and rebound off the ground.
A significant portion of the force we use to run on flat terrain comes from this rebound, not just from the strength generated by our muscles.
However, when running uphill, a much higher percentage of the force needed to move upward comes from the strength exerted by our muscles rather than the «bounce.»
And it’s not just that—in uphill sections where we walk (the majority of climbs we do in the mountains), there is no rebound; only our muscle strength works to climb.
Hill training can improve cardiovascular and muscular endurance, strength, and technique on mountainous terrain.
For these reasons, flat terrain training won’t be efficient for improving uphill running in the mountains. Greater cardio-respiratory capacity from flat training will lead to some improvement in uphill running, but specific hill training will result in better adaptations to improve uphill performance in trail running.
Training Methods to Improve Uphill Running in Trail Running
A common belief among mountain runners is that to improve uphill running, you need to gain elevation. They think there’s no other way to improve climbs.
But that’s not the case. As we’ve seen, uphill performance depends on both cardio-respiratory capacity and the muscle’s ability to generate force.
The stronger your legs are, the less effort it will take to lift your body weight uphill, and the faster you’ll be able to move.
Therefore, hill training is just as important as strength training in the gym to improve uphill running in the mountains.
Strength Training to Improve Uphill Running in Trail Running
As we’ve analyzed in previous blogs on strength training for runners, a common mistake is believing that a mountain runner needs to gain «endurance strength.»
For this reason, the best strength training method was thought to be doing many repetitions with little weight. It was believed that this would improve muscle endurance for enduring more kilometers of climbing and descending.
But this has been proven wrong. It doesn’t improve strength or performance.
Your muscles don’t need more endurance; you already achieve that by gaining elevation and doing long training sessions in the mountains. What your muscles need is to gain maximum strength.
The stronger your muscles are, the more kilometers they will endure, the more elevation they will handle, the less energy it will take to propel your body, and the faster you will run and climb.
But… how can you improve maximum strength to improve uphill running in trail running?
The first thing to know is that you don’t need to go to a gym. With minimal equipment like minibands and dumbbells at home, you can do a lot. A gym will offer more variety of equipment and exercises, but you can perfectly train strength at home.
To improve maximum strength, you need to use medium to heavy loads. You need to use a load that’s heavy enough to cause adaptations in the muscle. Using a weight that allows you to do squats non-stop for 1 minute won’t improve strength or cause adaptations.
Just as you need to add intensity to your running to gain endurance, you need to add intensity with load in strength exercises to gain strength.
The next thing you need to consider in strength training for a mountain runner is that we’re not bodybuilders. In strength training, we need to gain strength without getting fatigued. We should get tired while running, not in the gym.
If you train strength and then have sore or heavy legs for three days, it means you didn’t train strength correctly.
But… can you improve strength without getting tired? Without soreness? Without heavy legs?
Yes. There’s a study that shows that if you do half the repetitions you can with a certain weight, but perform those repetitions as fast as possible on the way up, you’ll gain the same strength as if you did all the repetitions.
And since you did half the repetitions, you only get half as tired, and fatigue is minimal.
Example: Imagine you can do 16 reps of a squat with 40kg. You’ll do just 8 reps with that 40kg, but for each rep, you’ll lift as fast as possible.
Specific Strength Exercises to Improve Uphill Running in the Mountains
The most important muscles for improving uphill running are the quadriceps, gluteus maximus, and calves. All exercises that involve using these muscles will improve your uphill performance in the mountains.
Quadriceps Exercises: Squats, lunges, Bulgarian split squats, box step-ups…
Calf Exercises: Heel raises.
Gluteus Maximus Exercises: Hip thrusts, single-leg glute bridges…
However, within these important exercises, some are more specific than others. If we analyze the motion of uphill running, it involves lifting the foot, placing it on a higher surface, and pushing off from there to lift the body upward.
Variations of box step-up exercises are more specific for improving uphill running in the mountains. Here are some examples of specific strength exercises to improve uphill running:
Interval Training to Improve Uphill Running in Trail Running
Before we start analyzing which intervals you need to improve uphill running, you need to consider how you need to improve uphill running.
Yes, not all training will improve all types of climbs.
Do you want to improve walking up hills? Do you want to improve running up hills?
Depending on what you want to improve, you’ll need to train differently.
A common mistake among mountain runners is forcing themselves to run every climb they can during training. This will improve your running on climbs, but… is this the reality?
The reality in trail running is that most runners walk almost all the climbs.
The motion of walking and running uphill is different; the mechanics are different. If you train running uphill but walk all the climbs in races, you’re not training what you need to improve.
If you walk 80% of the climbs in races, you need to train to improve your uphill walking. And for that, you need to do intervals walking uphill.
Once you’ve understood this and know exactly how you want to improve uphill running, let’s analyze which interval training methods you can use to improve your uphill performance.
To improve uphill running in the mountains, there are mainly three types of intervals:
Short Strength Intervals to Improve Uphill Running
These are intervals of 20 seconds to a maximum of 1 minute, where the intensity is maximal. They are performed on a hill with a steep incline (>20%), and the intensity is walking as fast as possible.
Pace or heart rate is not the focus; the goal is to walk as fast as possible for those 30 seconds (for example).
Example: 2x(10 reps of 30» all out / resting 30» standing still)
This type of training improves the ability to walk fast, builds strength in a specific way (though the adaptations differ from strength training), and enhances cardio-respiratory fitness a bit.
For advanced trail runners, this workout can also be done running. Run as fast as possible for 30» uphill on a steep incline.
Short Intervals to Improve Uphill Running
These are intervals of 30 seconds to 3 minutes at a high intensity, but not all-out. They’re similar to VO2max intervals but uphill.
The improvements will be less neuromuscular and more cardio-respiratory. These intervals will improve VO2max but come with significant muscle fatigue.
Example: 6×2′ hard uphill / resting 1-2′ jogging back down
Depending on what you want to improve, these can be done walking or running and on a hill with a higher or lower incline percentage.
It’s useful to work on both walking on steep inclines and walking on lower inclines to improve the ability to walk fast.
Long Intervals to Improve Uphill Running
These are intervals longer than 5 minutes, where the primary goal is to improve the Anaerobic Threshold uphill. A mountain runner should work at anaerobic threshold heart rates both uphill and on flat terrain to improve performance.
Example: 3×10′ uphill at anaerobic threshold heart rate / resting 5′ jogging back down
Although most runners focus on short intervals, the most important thing for a mountain runner is to improve their Aerobic Threshold and Anaerobic Threshold. Therefore, using this type of long interval training uphill is very beneficial for improving performance.
Elevation Gain Training to Improve Uphill Running in Trail Running
Although strength training and intense interval training are important for improving uphill running in the mountains, long runs with elevation gain are also crucial.
If the race you’re preparing for requires it, it’s important to do training runs of 10-15km with as much elevation gain as possible within that distance or time. Example: 10km with +1000m elevation gain.
These three types of training are essential for a mountain runner to improve uphill running. The secret is to combine all of them to gain the benefits of each training type.
Doing elevation gain training without strength training won’t be effective in the long term. And doing strength training without elevation gain training in the mountains won’t work either.
Each training method is just as important as the other.
Tips for Uphill Running:
- Analyze the type of climbs you’ll encounter in the race you’re preparing for and how you’ll tackle them (walking or running). Based on this, decide which type of training to use to improve uphill running.
- Running isn’t always the best option. Most runners go faster walking than running on inclines steeper than 15%.
- Don’t push yourself to run until you can’t anymore. Sometimes it’s better to walk, lose 20 seconds on a climb, but reach the top with much less leg fatigue.
- In races with inclines steeper than 20%, using poles will improve performance.
- If you plan to use poles in a race, train with poles in most of your mountain workouts.
- Gradually progress in your uphill training, both in time and incline percentage.
- Avoid training based on distance; instead, train based on time. A 200-meter interval on a 10% incline is not the same as on a 20% incline. But 1 minute is the same on both inclines.
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it helps you improve your training.
Best regards, and happy running!
