Treadmill Training for Vertical

Right now I'm healing from a knee injury. I set a PR on a 1.3 mile downhill run, about 1,300' of downhill vertical. It's a -19% average, according to Strava. At one point I was doing an 8:00 pace. I normally don't go downhill that fast, but was in a group of 18-20 year olds, and this old man wanted to keep up with the kids. Alas...

I took a few weeks off and then started running outside, but since the trails here tend to go up out, and down back, it was really beating up my knees and they weren't going to heal. So now it's the treadmill for me.

Trail running along a cliff face in Summit County Colorado

Since I have some running specific goals regarding mileage, I had to up the speed considerably from my usual incline treadmill training, which is more specific to vertical goals

Enough about me, here's how it works.

When you up the inclination of your treadmill it changes your speed quite a bit, depending on how far up you go. Running at 2% or 4% or 6% are quite a bit different from one another. When you're walking that isn't a very broad range, but for running it makes a big difference in speed.

In "Summit Success: Training for Hiking, Mountaineering, and Peak Bagging" CLICK HERE there are charts for training at up to 15% for a standard treadmill and even more for a special incline treadmill. They're meant for averaging around 2.0 MPH at 15% to as low as 1.0 MPH at 24%. If you're wanting to go at 4.0 MPH or 5.0 MPH or more, you'll need to drop the incline quite a bit when you first start.

Here's an example of the training goal charts adjusted for 4.0%:

Week	Target Weekly Vertical Ft	Weekly Miles at 4%	Incline Miles Per Session (x4)	Incline Minutes/Session @ 5.0 MPH
5	1,130	5.349	1.337	16
6	1,255	5.943	1.486	18
7	1,395	6.604	1.651	20
8	1,550	7.338	1.834	22
9	1,722	8.153	2.038	24
10	1,913	9.059	2.265	27
11	2,126	10.065	2.516	30
12	2,362	11.184	2.796	34
13	2,624	12.426	3.107	37
14	2,916	13.807	3.452	41
15	3,240	15.341	3.835	46
16	3,600	17.045	4.261	51

Notice that over the course of the 12 weeks represented here you work your way up to 3,600' of vertical per week. That's pretty good for being inside.

The first four weeks are missing in this spreadsheet because it was adapted from the book, and the first four weeks are meant to get you off the couch and up to that first 5 mile week.

If you'd like to see spreadsheets, register (upper right) for the newsletter and I'll send some your way for other common running inclinations, and vertical per week goals.

Finding Time to Train

Training at this level is a major commitment in time and money.

When I was training for Elbrus Race 2010 I was training 4-6 hours 6 days a week and still maintaining my work and family obligations. Now I want to share my secrets with you and help you overcome the things holding you back and preventing your success. I figured it all out for you without getting fired or getting a divorce.

That's from my latest training guide, Finding Time to Train. I did a webinar on the topic in early September and it was one of my best attended webinars. The feedback I received was invaluable and was put to use in creating this enhanced edition. The original webinar was about 40 minutes and the new one is about 90. Over twice as long.

I took the slides and notes and elaborated on them to create this 104 page paperback book, available on Amazon, and the Kindle version. The Kindle version is only $.99 or Free with Prime or Kindle Unlimited. You have to order it from your Kindle and for Prime, select the "Borrow for Free" button below the orange/yellow "Buy ..." button.

Order Now:

Finding Time to Train

When I did Elbrus Race 2013 the training took me only 2 hours a day most days, primarily because of the tips and suggestions that make up this essential book. If  you can use these tips to cut your training time in half while achieving even better results, it would be well worth the price.

No Elbrus Race 2014

If you've been following my Facebook Pages and other blogs, you'd know by now that none of us here were able to go to Elbrus Race 2014. For myself I had a slew of injuries and illnesses that prevented me from training, so I was going to go as a spectator and go for my summit as part of my Seven Summits Quest.

My visa application ended up being a total mess, and I wasn't able to solve it until 5 days before I had to fly to Russia, and then I wasn't able to get the string of flights that would get me from here to there on time to be picked up in the van with everyone else.

Long Story Short: I didn't go.

I had a friend from Colorado Springs running a trip that I was supposed to hook up with, and they posted regularly on Facebook. Then on the day of the race, the weather, as seems to be typical, closed in and they had to bail like in 2012 and 2013.

Post by ElbrusRace.

There's the video shot about 500' from the summit. As it is right now, had I gone as a climber coincidentally there during the race I would have probably gone for the summit the day before, which was beautiful. There is always 2015. I was considering going the end of June and just getting the summit in my own style and on my own terms, now that I have it better figured out.

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.

Updated Incline Treadmill VAM Training Targets

When I updated all of the statistics for the current course records as of Elbrus Race 2013 it revealed a need to update the incline treadmill training targets.

% Incline/VAM	200	400	600	800	1000	1200
3	4.14	8.28	12.43	16.57	20.71	24.85
6	2.07	4.14	6.21	8.28	10.36	12.43
9	1.38	2.76	4.14	5.52	6.90	8.28
12	1.04	2.07	3.11	4.14	5.18	6.21
15	0.83	1.66	2.49	3.31	4.14	4.97
18	0.69	1.38	2.07	2.76	3.45	4.14
21	0.59	1.18	1.78	2.37	2.96	3.55
24	0.52	1.04	1.55	2.07	2.59	3.11
27	0.46	0.92	1.38	1.84	2.30	2.76
30	0.41	0.83	1.24	1.66	2.07	2.49
33	0.38	0.75	1.13	1.51	1.88	2.26
36	0.35	0.69	1.04	1.38	1.73	2.07
39	0.32	0.64	0.96	1.27	1.59	1.91
40	0.31	0.62	0.93	1.24	1.55	1.86
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

As you can see, I've included color coded columns for easier reading. I added in a 1200 VAM overcompensation training column. I added in more specific targets for the following categories:

• Cutoff (finish)
• Top 10
• Course Record
• Women's

I've been considering this spreadsheet before every one of my treadmill workouts so I have some motivation to attempt to stay inside one of these categories for training sessions where possible. No, at 1% I will not be going 30+MPH.

Training Considerations:

We'll skip the Extreme in this section. If you're training for the Extreme I'll trust that you can figure out from this next section how to adjust these numbers for your own training. To squeeze it into the Phase 2 training from a previous article, at least once a week you should, at minimum:

• Finish a Qualifier
• Finish a Classic
• Simulate the Downhill Sections

Finish a Qualifier:

Incline Treadmill: Set your treadmill to 24-36% and cruise at 600 VAM for 3 miles.

Standard Treadmill: Set your treadmill to 15% (or max) and cruise at 600 VAM for 3 miles.

In general, a VAM is a VAM and going 1.3 MPH at one angle and 2.6 MPH at another should have some carry-over benefit, though it's not as sport-specific. You should be able to plug your data into the Incline Treadmill Calculator and get more than 2.8 miles and more than 3500' of vertical. These are your targets for a Qualifier simulation.

Downhill: set your treadmill to 1% and cruise at 4-6 MPH for 3 miles. If you want you can do this on the same day or another day, though on the same day it would simulate the same type of load as on the event day. Vertical is irrelevant. If by some chance you have access to a decline treadmill then set it to -6% and cruise at 4-ish MPH (I think that's the max speed at -6%) - adjust accordingly for your own treadmill capacity, but don't set it to -1% and 8.0 MPH or something else tempting and enticing.

Duration: On the incline treadmill this will be about 2 hours for the uphill section. On a standard treadmill this will be about 80 minutes. The downhill section should take 30-45 minutes. If you do this all together in one day it will take up to 3 hours for the whole workout. If you are also doing running training, like for a half or full marathon, this will take the place of one 5-8 mile, or 3 hour day.

Finish a Classic:

Incline Treadmill: Set your treadmill to 24-36% and cruise at 400 VAM for 5 miles.

Standard Treadmill: Set your treadmill to 15% (or max) and cruise at 400 VAM for 5 miles.

In general, a VAM is a VAM and going 1.3 MPH at one angle and 2.6 MPH at another should have some carry-over benefit, though it's not as sport-specific. You'll want to see Incline Treadmill Calculator stats of more than 4.8 miles and more than 6500' of vertical. Adjust your speeds and inclines to make it work for you.

Downhill: Set your treadmill to 1% and cruise at 4-6 MPH for 5 miles. If you want you can do this on the same day or another day, though on the same day it would simulate the same type of load as on the event day. Again, if you have a decline treadmill available set it to -4% and 4-ish MPH and cruise gently for your 5 miles. Don't worry about vertical when you do this. 

Duration: On the incline treadmill this will take about 5 hours uphill. On a standard treadmill it will take about 3 hours. For the downhill it will take 50-80 minutes. If you do it all on the same day it will be a total of anywhere from 4 to 6.5 hours. If you're also doing running training, this should replace your long run day, just for the time investment, if nothing else. You should have about the same physical/cardio load as running at your endurance or long pace.

Warnings:

Be warned that training downhill running can be tough on your joints and soft tissues of your feet. Go slow, use whatever cushioning you need, and if you have to, work your way into it at about .5% decline at a time until you're comfortable.

When going uphill that steeply and that quickly  you'll be tempted to grab onto the treadmill and hang on for the ride. When you are first training like this it's better to just get in the vertical and miles and slowly work your way into Hands-Free Mode. Ultimately you want to not be hanging on. Otherwise you'll be surprised at how weak and slow you feel when you're suddenly out on the mountain without a handrail. Trekking poles will take up some of the load, but there will be intermittent times between placing them when you have no support. Don't get used to hanging on.

Updated Race Targets

I added in the new records from my previous post and redid the spreadsheet with the VAM numbers so that we could see more precisely what our training goals need to be in order to:

1. Finish
2. Place
3. Come in First
4. Break a Record

Check out the requirements below to begin your own training program adaptations:

Race	Vert Ft	Miles	Avg grade	Top 10	Minutes	vert/min	MPH	VAM
Qualifier	3570	2.5	27.05%	1:19:22	79.4	45.0	1.9	822.6
Classic	6334	4.6	26.08%	3:45:15	225.3	28.1	1.2	514.3
Extreme	10660	7.6	26.56%	5:29:34	329.6	32.3	1.4	591.5
				Top 1	Minutes	vert/min	MPH
Qualifier				1:04:47	64.8	55.1	2.3	1,007.8
Classic				2:28:02	148.0	41	1.8	782.5
Extreme				3:23:37	203.6	52.4	2.2	957.4
				Top Female	Minutes	vert/min	MPH
Qualifier				1:13:10	73.2	48.8	2.1	892.3
Classic				3:21:29	201.5	31.4	1.4	574.9
Extreme				5:04:41	304.7	35.0	1.5	639.8
Qualify Cutoff:	3570	2.5	27.05%	1:59:00	119.0	30.0	1.3	548.6
Classic Cutoff:	6334	4.6	26.08%	4:59:00	299.0	21.2	.9	387.4
Extreme Cutoff:	10660	7.6	26.56%	5:59:00	359.0	29.7	1.3	543.0

Phase Two Training Protocols for Elbrus Race 2014

If you're curious, go back to see Phase One HERE

Elbrus Race 2013 was great fun, and I learned a lot about my own training, and the training support I did for Todd, coaching him to his 3rd place finish. I think you'll enjoy the book HERE - go check it out and read it for a great step by step account of our trip to Russia and the events of the race and qualifier, both held during stormy weather on Elbrus. I also learned a lot in discussions with and observations of Kilian Jornet, who bunked with us.

Todd Gilles and 3rd Place Trophy in the Elbrus Race 2013 Classic Race category

To repeat the stats from the Elbrus Race, during that week of the race, not counting any acclimatization hikes or runs, you will need to:

• Ascend 11,000'
• Descend 11,000'
• Speed Uphill 7 miles
• Downhill 7 miles at a decent pace
• Total 14 miles of fast hiking/walking/running

That's considering it as a weekly accumulated working volume. If you break it up into the two primary events you get:

• Ascend 3500'
• Descend 3500'
• Speed Uphill 2.5 miles
• Downhill 2.5 miles at a decent pace
• Total Single Event "Qualifier" 5 miles
• One or Two Rest Days
• Ascend 6600'
• Descend 6600'
• Speed Uphill 4.6 miles
• Downhill 4.6 miles at a decent pace
• Total Single Event "Classic" 9.2 miles

Winter Trail Running is a great way to maintain general fitness levels with some specificity

In Phase One I required that the athlete only get in the following rather simplistic base preparation work (GPP):

• 4500' of weekly vertical ascent
• 2 Strength Training days per week of high volume/low weights
• 2 "Mountain Climber" calisthenics sessions per week

For Phase Two I suggest the following:

• 8,000' of weekly vertical ascent (mix of inside/outside)
• 1 Session of Anaerobic/Lactate Threshold cardio training per week
• Total Weekly Mileage of 10 miles (divided between all workouts)
• 2 Strength Training days per week of high volume/low weights

We're going to plan for the first four weeks of this training cycle. For a slightly more lengthy explanation of the Anaerobic Threshold Training protocol check out the article HERE. In a nutshell, unless you know your exact current Lactate Threshold based on a recent test, start with the overly simplified formula here:

(220 - AGE) x .85 is your lower limit Heart Rate Target
(220 - AGE) x .90 is your upper limit Heart Rate Target

There are more complicated formulas available if you cruise the internet but for most practical purposes, by the time you do the math, you'll end up within 1-2 BPM for your Heart Rate Target Zone. For the first 4 weeks of Phase Two, I'd like the athlete to use a basic simple regular treadmill to do their Anaerobic Threshold training on.

• Set it to 1% inclination/grade.
• Spend 15:00 warming up to your Heart Rate Target Zone
• Stay in that zone by adjusting your speed up and down as needed
• Week One: 20:00 in Target Zone
• Week Two: 40:00 in Target Zone
• Week Three: 60:00 in Target Zone
• Week Four: 80:00 in Target Zone

Suunto Ambit 2S on the arm of my treadmill for easy access

I set my Heart Rate Monitor Watch on the handle of the treadmill right in front of my face so I can always see it. If your watch has alarm zones you can set it, but it doesn't work well for me. Glancing at the watch display every twenty seconds or so does. Learn your own body and stay in that zone. As you get more experience at it you should be able to pretty much set it and forget it up to the last few minutes or so when you might have to drop it drastically to stay in that zone.

Do not worry about speed and elevation targets during your Anaerobic Threshold Training. Just stay in that zone at 1%. That might be anywhere from 3.0 - 8.0 MPH depending on your own zone limits and age and weight and aerobic base, etc.

Movescount Heart Rate Graph

Our goal in this is to develop the ability to know our upper endurance limits intimately so we can stay in that zone and conserve energy that will translate into speed during the event. The graph above is from the Suunto Movescount site, and shows my 85 minutes in my Heart Rate Target Zone (minus a bathroom break). Notice that near the end it was slightly more difficult to maintain the same general smoothness of the Heart Rate level as in the earlier portion of the workout.

The photo above is from my Incline Treadmill Calculator HERE showing my average stats from this workout. A vertical of 432' and VAM of 79 is not very impressive, from an Elbrus Race point of view, but this workout is separate from my vertical workouts and is to pound my Anaerobic Threshold, not to train for running or for racing.

For now, I recommend that the athlete stick to the recommendations for strength training:

• Deadlift: 4 x 25 
• Squat: 4 x 25 
• Bench Press: 4 x 25  
• Lat Pulldown: 4 x 25 
• Hanging Leg Lift or Knee Raise: 6 x 15 
• Roman Chair Ab Curl: 4 x 25 
• Back Hyper Extensions: 4 x 25 

I would love to add in a few other things, but I think when we're training primarily for an endurance event we only want to work the strength training exercises that will directly affect the outcome of the event. This isn't a great time for Olympic Lifts, Bodybuilding, or Power Lifting Protocols. Randomness might be a detriment at this point. While in the previous Phase One training cycle I didn't care much what the weights were that you used, in this Phase Two I'd like to see if you can maintain about 5% progress from session to session. This might be very difficult.

Let me know if you need any assistance in trying this training cycle here or on Facebook - I'm happy to offer tips and suggestions. In four weeks stay tuned for Phase Three training when we rock the vertical.