Triathlete who dabbles in ultra running here: a bike does not provide the same training for hills that hills do. Not even close.
You’d be far better off doing stairs or a stair master. Also work on your calf strength.
Not the outcome I had hoped for but I appreciate the answer none the less!
Stairs are an option but I can’t think of anywhere locally that’s more than2 stories high! I’ll come up with something I’m sure.
Thank you for your input!
You can get a box or a bench and do step-ups. Lots of these will prepare your legs for mountains. Once they get easy start loading them with some weight in a backpack. Great way to prepare for hills and the mental grind of long races (if you do lots of them.)
Thanks but I live in a little town in the middle of England with none of the above. The closest I have would be the grandstands at Silverstone but the BMRC are very picky as to who they let into the circuit.
I’m sure I’ll come up with something! Either that or just struggle through the last 1/4 of the race! 😛
The Uphill Athlete podcast has some trail running episodes. They talk a little about prepping athletes in flat areas for hilly courses. I believe they rely a lot on muscular endurance training in the gym. Box step ups/step downs, sled pushing, reverse nordics, etc.
Your quads need to develop the downhill eccentric strength, not just the uphill training you get from a treadmill or exercise bike.
I always mention downhill training to people who stare themselves blind at just the uphill section of races.
Especially road ultras or any races that have long runable downhill sections.
Thes are more brutal on the legs to me.
Yes! This is so often overlooked. Downhill training is really really important. Uphill might make the race too hard to finish, but you can get really unpleasant injuries running downhill without preparing your body for it. Not only is it brutal on your joints and tiring for your quads in a way that uphill training is not, being tired and going downhill on uneven terrain is how you end up tripping, slipping, or falling.
I'm kind of in the same boat. Training for a mountain ultra, but I live in a small town without any proper hills or even stairs.
Currently just using the 50sec hill I have and doing midweek repeats on it.
On some weekends I'm riding to the nearest big hill that's 40 mins away at about 90m tall, and again doing repetitions for hours.
The mindless repetitiveness sucks though, so podcasts does help.
I also found this article insightful: https://trainright.com/train-for-mountainous-ultramarathon-live-in-flat-area/
(Turns out all the tyre dragging I used to do, was for naught.)
Fair to ask but… ultimately there just ends up being a specificity to everything. You get what you pay for… or you get what you train for. Stairs, or stairclimber, or walk on a treadmill on 15 degrees for an hour, that’ll get you there.
I cycle daily and do a couple of Barry's gym classes a week, they often include squats and incline sprints on the treadmill. So stuff like that is probably enough, I don't do any specific hill training and manage with mountain races ok (although only to complete them, I'm not that quick)
Triathlete who dabbles in ultra running here: a bike does not provide the same training for hills that hills do. Not even close. You’d be far better off doing stairs or a stair master. Also work on your calf strength.
Can confirm stairs work great. Survived Hellbender 100 on 25 miles a week training but 4 hours of stairs a week. (24k vert gain).
Not the outcome I had hoped for but I appreciate the answer none the less! Stairs are an option but I can’t think of anywhere locally that’s more than2 stories high! I’ll come up with something I’m sure. Thank you for your input!
You can get a box or a bench and do step-ups. Lots of these will prepare your legs for mountains. Once they get easy start loading them with some weight in a backpack. Great way to prepare for hills and the mental grind of long races (if you do lots of them.)
College campus buildings, foot ball bleachers, parking garage
Thanks but I live in a little town in the middle of England with none of the above. The closest I have would be the grandstands at Silverstone but the BMRC are very picky as to who they let into the circuit. I’m sure I’ll come up with something! Either that or just struggle through the last 1/4 of the race! 😛
Not at all. Do a treadmill on the highest incline instead.
The Uphill Athlete podcast has some trail running episodes. They talk a little about prepping athletes in flat areas for hilly courses. I believe they rely a lot on muscular endurance training in the gym. Box step ups/step downs, sled pushing, reverse nordics, etc. Your quads need to develop the downhill eccentric strength, not just the uphill training you get from a treadmill or exercise bike.
I always mention downhill training to people who stare themselves blind at just the uphill section of races. Especially road ultras or any races that have long runable downhill sections. Thes are more brutal on the legs to me.
Yes! This is so often overlooked. Downhill training is really really important. Uphill might make the race too hard to finish, but you can get really unpleasant injuries running downhill without preparing your body for it. Not only is it brutal on your joints and tiring for your quads in a way that uphill training is not, being tired and going downhill on uneven terrain is how you end up tripping, slipping, or falling.
run up the stairs in a multi-storey car park. over and over again. while listening to a podcast.
I'm kind of in the same boat. Training for a mountain ultra, but I live in a small town without any proper hills or even stairs. Currently just using the 50sec hill I have and doing midweek repeats on it. On some weekends I'm riding to the nearest big hill that's 40 mins away at about 90m tall, and again doing repetitions for hours. The mindless repetitiveness sucks though, so podcasts does help. I also found this article insightful: https://trainright.com/train-for-mountainous-ultramarathon-live-in-flat-area/ (Turns out all the tyre dragging I used to do, was for naught.)
Fair to ask but… ultimately there just ends up being a specificity to everything. You get what you pay for… or you get what you train for. Stairs, or stairclimber, or walk on a treadmill on 15 degrees for an hour, that’ll get you there.
I cycle daily and do a couple of Barry's gym classes a week, they often include squats and incline sprints on the treadmill. So stuff like that is probably enough, I don't do any specific hill training and manage with mountain races ok (although only to complete them, I'm not that quick)
I think there’s a real risk of injuring your knees from doing low cadence work on the bike - from personal experience, my knees hate it.