Are you one of the many runners who finds their inspiration from the mountains, or are targeting a big mountain race this year? Prominent races like Speedgoat 50k, Hardrock 100 Mile, and Georgia Death Race define themselves with serious vertical climbs that are appropriately contrasted by sustained quad-crushing descents. While you might not be going for one of these stacked-field events, flat neighborhood laps are unlikely to get you across the finish line on race day. How much vert is enough? How should you incorporate hills? We’ll cover this and more throughout this post.

How Much Vertical Gain Is Enough In Training?

One school of thought is to try to match the race’s overall gain in your peak week of training, with about half to two-thirds of the gain being across the weekend peak days. While this is not always feasible (i.e. Hardrock 100 is 33,000ft), situationally, it can be a good rule of thumb. Here is a peak week, held 3 to 4 weeks out from race day, as an example:

A runner is targeting a 50 mile with 10,000ft of gain.



Monday: Flat easy aerobic day

Tuesday: Hill repeats, for about 800ft-1000ft of gain

Wednesday: Slightly rolling natural effort mid-distance run, about 300-500ft gain

Thursday: Mountain/hilly sustained effort, for about 2,000ft gain

Friday: Rest day, or short and flat recovery day

Saturday: Hilly peak-day long run, about 4,000ft gain

Sunday: Rolling recovery run, mid distance, about 2,500ft

A good hill training block is usually about 4-6 weeks long and incorporates a variety of climbing exercises and total feet gain per workout. Throughout those weeks (which may not necessarily be the peak week going into the race), it may be common for a runner to see between 50-80% of the total race day elevation gain spread throughout the week as this body system is built.

For those races with extreme vertical gain, becoming comfortable with the training block above can ensure readiness for race day. You will be able to feel your body become faster and more agile on hills as you train on them. Another way of measuring hill fitness is to gauge your feel after climbing an equivalent of the race’s crux. For example, Wasatch 100 Mile has a couple of climbs that are roughly 4,000ft bottom to top. If you climb and descend 4,000ft on legs that have been going for a couple of hours before that, how are you feeling? It wont be a walk in the park, but, if you were mentally and physically able to pull off a long climb and long day on your feet during peak week, it is probably a good sign.