VK on the Stairmaster Stepmill

Tuesday January 17, 2017

After doing long hill repeat workouts two days in a row, I decided to mix it up with non-running. That pretty much leaves the Stairmaster Stepmill. An hour VK on the stepmill requires that I go at 85 steps per minute for an hour.

From my calculator HERE

Time: 60:00
Steps/Minute: 85
Vertical Feet: 3400.00
Miles: 0.72
Average MPH: 0.724
Average Pace: 82:49
Vertical/Hour: 3400.00'
Vertical/Minute: 56.67'
VAM: 1036.3

Anything over 1000 VAM is better than an hour VK (by definition, meaning that 1000 meters is a kilometer, and an hour is 60 minutes - DOH!)

Oh, don't forget I was wearing a 12 lb vest too

Just let me tell you. It's dang tough. I don't recommend this to anyone of reasonably normal sanity. That being said, and hour VK is a totally admirable goal. [ Heart rate on STRAVA ]

Shots of the console readout after the workout

BTW: I was wearing a 12 lb weighted vest. Just sayin'

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Training Goals for Pikes Peak Ascent

I've been wanting to do the Pikes Peak Ascent now for quite some time. I'm in the process of qualifying with a half marathon time of 2:25 or better. I'm shooting for the St. George City Half Marathon January 16, 2016.

As soon as that's done I need to start training for the Pikes Peak Ascent. I managed to get hold of the results from the past five years and compiled them into a spreadsheet of goal times.

Key	Age	Top 10 Finish	Top 10 Pace	Top 3 Finish	Top 3 Pace	Top 10 VAM
Averages	56.58	3:28:44	0:15:40	3:12:57	0:14:29	688.02

The above row is from my spreadsheet, and represents averages from the previous five years, 2010 - 2015 as found on the Pikes Peak Marathon WEBSITE. Now I realize fully that I am not in a position to train as much as necessary for a top three finish, let alone a top ten finish, but it makes for some admirable goal setting for training.

As you can see below, hitting a half marathon distance on an incline treadmill set at 12% requires about a 13:38 pace, slightly better than the average top three finish pace. It's been a long time since I've run at 12% so I can't say right off how doable it is.

On the other hand, if you look at the Stepmill calculator results, hanging out at 65 steps per minute for three hours is quite doable. I've done it several times while training for Elbrus Race. The problem of course is adding in the extra effort of moving forward, since the Stepmill comes in about 12 miles short of a half marathon.

Stepmill Training Goals: Calculator HERE
Time: 180:00
Steps/Minute: 65
Vertical Feet: 7800.00
Miles: 1.66
Average MPH: 0.554
Average Pace: 108:18
Vertical/Hour: 2600.00'
Vertical/Minute: 43.33'
VAM: 792.5

Incline Treadmill: Calculator HERE
Time: 180:00
Distance: 13.2
Incline: 12%
Elevation Gain: 8363.52'
Average MPH: 4.4
Average Pace: 13:38
Vertical/Hour: 2788'
Vertical/Minute: 46.46'
VAM: 849.7

Stairmaster Stepmill VAM Training Goals

The Stairmaster Stepmill doesn't have as many adjustments as any incline treadmill, so the VAM Chart, below, is quite a bit simpler. The angle of the tread is fixed, so just measuring the height and depth of each step is enough to feed into the calculation for creating the chart.

Stairmaster Stepmill VAM Goal Chart

VAM	200	400	600	800	1000	1200
Steps/Minute	16	33	49	66	82	98
Top 10 Classic/Extreme
Record Qualifier/Extreme
Finish Qualifier/Extreme
Finish Classic
Record Classic
Top 10 Qualifier
Women's Record Classic
Women's Record Qualifier = 900
Women's Record Extreme = 650
< 4000 M Overcompensation Training

For purposes of using the Stepmill in the Elbrus Race Training Program, keep in mind that there is no direct way to correlate mileage on the Stepmill with the plan. Since the depth and height of a step are within an inch of each other, you would have to go approximately 5,280' of vertical gain in order to get 1 mile of horizontal gain. If your weekly goal includes 10 miles of horizontal distance you'd have to get in about 53,000 feet of vertical gain to achieve it. You'll have to do some running, either on a treadmill or outdoors, in order to get in your weekly mileage goals.

Riding the Stepmill

Testing the Qualifier

One of my favorite things to do on a Stepmill is to test an Elbrus Race achievement. The Qualifier is especially easy to test. Once a week get on a Stepmill set to 50 Steps Per Minute and ride it for 2 hours. Here's the stats from that workout:

Time: 120:00

Steps/Minute: 50

Vertical Feet: 4000.00

Miles: 0.85

Average MPH: 0.426

Average Pace: 140:48

Vertical/Hour: 2000.00'

Vertical/Minute: 33.33'

VAM: 609.6

That's a Qualifier well within the cutoff. If you want slightly better specificity then carry a couple of small dumbbells to simulate hauling trekking poles with you, and wear a 10 pound running pack to simulate having extra mittens, jackets, water and food. Monitor your Heart Rate and either work to lower your Heart Rate over the course of a training cycle, or bring up your speed while maintaining the same Heart Rate. Either will do wonders for your performance in the upcoming Elbrus Race.

I feel this is quite easy to recover from, and could be done twice a week as part of the Phase 2 training program, leaving you free to do 2 x 5 mile "runs" at a really low incline to get in your miles.

Testing the Classic

This is a little bit more intense and requires a bigger commitment and expenditure of time and energy so I don't recommend doing this every week. While a measly 33 steps per minute will get your Classic finished under the cutoff, that would be 5 hours on the Stepmill. Set it to 66 steps per minute and you'll be done in 2:30, a much more realistic time for training while maintaining work and family commitments. At that pace you're also training for a Record Classic, which because of the altitude difference will end up being merely Overcompensation Training and possibly a Top Ten Finish.

Time: 150:00
Steps/Minute: 66
Vertical Feet: 6600.00
Miles: 1.41
Average MPH: 0.563
Average Pace: 106:40
Vertical/Hour: 2640.00'
Vertical/Minute: 44.00'
VAM: 804.7

This is realistic, and with a little bit of work you could pull this off once a week. In fact, for the best specificity to the event, do a Qualifier Test on Wednesday, and a Classic Test on Friday. Do nothing on Thursday.

Here's how to get in something like a Phase 3 Training Week:

• Monday: 5 mile low incline run.
• Tuesday: High Rep/Low Weight Strength Training.
• Wednesday: Stepmill Qualifier Test
• Thursday: Rest
• Friday: Stepmill Classic Test
• Saturday: 12 mile low incline run
• Sunday: Rest

Manitou Incline - 2000' vertical in .8 miles - like an outdoor Stepmill

That's a hint of things to come. I'll write more later on Phase 3 protocols with variations for Treadmill and Stepmill Training.