Vertical K (Kilometer) Training Goals

The Vertical K or Vertical Kilometer, is a standard Skyrunning event. Basically you ascend about one kilometer, or 3,281' on as steep and rugged a route as the race organizers can come up with. Most that I've seen listed, at ski resorts, cover a distance of about 5k, or 3.1 miles. In essence, the Qualifier for Elbrus Race is a Vertical K, ascending 3,570' in approximately 2.5 miles. In fact, as I've been told, the Fox Elbrus Race, typically held in May, uses the route of the Qualifier as their sanctioned Vertical K.

Kilian Jornet, one of the best in the world at the Vertical K

Since the Vertical K so closely emulates the Qualifier, it's an excellent training goal. In the Big Sky, MT Run The Rut race of 2014, results ranged from Kilian's win at 46:12.79, to the last place finisher at 2:55:07.56 for the men, and 1:02:13.51 to 2:27:18.57 for the women. I created a training goals spreadsheet for the Incline Treadmill, shooting for completing a Vertical K (3,281') in 40:00, 60:00 80:00 and 120:00 minutes. All but the first and last columns show target Speeds for the Inclination in the far left column. The far right column then is the total miles to achieve the Vertical K. Since most runs are in the range of a 5k, or 3.1 miles, an Average Inclination around 20-24% would be a good target training range.

Update: Did a test run at 24% on the Incline Treadmill ARTICLE HERE

Vertical K Incline Treadmill Training Goals

	60 minutes	40 minutes	80 minutes	120 minutes	Total Distance
Incline %	3,281	3,281	3,281	3,281	3,281
9	6.90	9.21	5.18	3.45	6.90
9.5	6.54	8.72	4.91	3.27	6.54
10	6.21	8.28	4.66	3.11	6.21
10.5	5.92	7.89	4.44	2.96	5.92
11	5.65	7.53	4.24	2.82	5.65
11.5	5.40	7.20	4.05	2.70	5.40
12	5.18	6.90	3.88	2.59	5.18
12.5	4.97	6.63	3.73	2.49	4.97
13	4.78	6.37	3.58	2.39	4.78
13.5	4.60	6.14	3.45	2.30	4.60
14	4.44	5.92	3.33	2.22	4.44
14.5	4.29	5.71	3.21	2.14	4.29
15	4.14	5.52	3.11	2.07	4.14
15.5	4.01	5.34	3.01	2.00	4.01
16	3.88	5.18	2.91	1.94	3.88
16.5	3.77	5.02	2.82	1.88	3.77
17	3.66	4.87	2.74	1.83	3.66
17.5	3.55	4.73	2.66	1.78	3.55
18	3.45	4.60	2.59	1.73	3.45
18.5	3.36	4.48	2.52	1.68	3.36
19	3.27	4.36	2.45	1.64	3.27
19.5	3.19	4.25	2.39	1.59	3.19
20	3.11	4.14	2.33	1.55	3.11
20.5	3.03	4.04	2.27	1.52	3.03
21	2.96	3.95	2.22	1.48	2.96
21.5	2.89	3.85	2.17	1.45	2.89
22	2.82	3.77	2.12	1.41	2.82
22.5	2.76	3.68	2.07	1.38	2.76
23	2.70	3.60	2.03	1.35	2.70
23.5	2.64	3.53	1.98	1.32	2.64
24	2.59	3.45	1.94	1.29	2.59
24.5	2.54	3.38	1.90	1.27	2.54
25	2.49	3.31	1.86	1.24	2.49
25.5	2.44	3.25	1.83	1.22	2.44
26	2.39	3.19	1.79	1.19	2.39
26.5	2.34	3.13	1.76	1.17	2.34
27	2.30	3.07	1.73	1.15	2.30
27.5	2.26	3.01	1.69	1.13	2.26
28	2.22	2.96	1.66	1.11	2.22
28.5	2.18	2.91	1.64	1.09	2.18
29	2.14	2.86	1.61	1.07	2.14
29.5	2.11	2.81	1.58	1.05	2.11
30	2.07	2.76	1.55	1.04	2.07
30.5	2.04	2.72	1.53	1.02	2.04
31	2.00	2.67	1.50	1.00	2.00
31.5	1.97	2.63	1.48	0.99	1.97
32	1.94	2.59	1.46	0.97	1.94
32.5	1.91	2.55	1.43	0.96	1.91
33	1.88	2.51	1.41	0.94	1.88
33.5	1.85	2.47	1.39	0.93	1.85
34	1.83	2.44	1.37	0.91	1.83
34.5	1.80	2.40	1.35	0.90	1.80
35	1.78	2.37	1.33	0.89	1.78
35.5	1.75	2.33	1.31	0.88	1.75
36	1.73	2.30	1.29	0.86	1.73
36.5	1.70	2.27	1.28	0.85	1.70
37	1.68	2.24	1.26	0.84	1.68
37.5	1.66	2.21	1.24	0.83	1.66
38	1.64	2.18	1.23	0.82	1.64
38.5	1.61	2.15	1.21	0.81	1.61
39	1.59	2.12	1.19	0.80	1.59
39.5	1.57	2.10	1.18	0.79	1.57
40	1.55	2.07	1.17	0.78	1.55

Multiple PR's on Quandary, Colorado Fourteener

I've been blowing away all my previous best efforts (PR and PB) on Quandary in the past couple of weeks. That's on the Winter Route, which is somewhat different from the Summer Route.

Here are some screenshots from Strava:

Quandary Ascents on Winter Route

Quandary Descents on Winter Route

That puts me just about 2:00 out from 2nd place overall out of 13 for the ascent. That's really encouraging as I make up my mind toward Elbrus Race 2015. Am I going or not?

It's pretty tough to get that many PR's in such a short time. Going all-out once or twice a week for a few weeks on end can really be draining and have difficult recovery issues. I'll post more about the recovery aspects in an upcoming article, but first, here are some of my photos from the past few weeks on Quandary:

My Books from Elbrus Race

My list of books that evolved from my own experiences training and eating for Elbrus Race 2010, 2013, and is it true I might do 2015? Stay tuned for more exciting details...

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Author Page on Amazon for Charles Miske

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Riding the Treadmill with a 12 lb. vest

Too Much Treadmill!

As you probably remember, I've been healing from an injury so I'm working on the treadmill to help my knees get back in shape for my outside running and mountaineering goals.

I have been outside a few times.

Trail Running in foot deep powder snow at -1F - STORY HERE
Quandary in a Snow Storm - STORY HERE
Ice Climbing Solo - STORY HERE

But I have been on the treadmill a lot. I wear my SUUNTO Ambit 2S and keep track of my stats, and use my Incline Treadmill Calculator (HERE) and record my training logs. Here's a sample for you:

Monday 10th
ITM:
Time: 15:54
Distance: 1.001
Incline: 1.5%
Elevation Gain: 79.28'
Average MPH: 3.777
Average Pace: 15:53
Vertical/Hour: 299'
Vertical/Minute: 4.99'
VAM: 91.2

ITM:
Time: 32:18
Distance: 2.202
Incline: 3%
Elevation Gain: 348.80'
Average MPH: 4.09
Average Pace: 14:40
Vertical/Hour: 648'
Vertical/Minute: 10.8'
VAM: 197.5

Tuesday 11th
Ice Climbing:
3.0 mi Distance
24:14 Moving Time
589 ft
(going too slow to register in Strava)

Wednesday 12th
Outside:
Gulch
5.1mi
1:19:58 Moving Time
15:35/mi Pace
114 Tough Suffer Score
Elevation 619 ft
Calories 863
Elapsed Time 1:27:13

Thursday 13th
ITM:
Time: 63:09
Distance: 5.017
Incline: 1%
Elevation Gain: 264.90'
Average MPH: 4.767
Average Pace: 12:35
Vertical/Hour: 252'
Vertical/Minute: 4.19'
VAM: 76.7

That's a good mix I think for a normal winter. So far this week.

Here is a gallery of my treadmill shots. When my brain is fuzzy from riding it at 90% HR for an hour or half hour or fifteen minutes or whatever, it's a whole lot easier to just take a quick pic of the display. BTW: The vertical feet estimator gets less accurate as you raise the incline. In case you compare the stats in the pics with the above. Also some of these include multiple sessions in a day at different speeds and incline.

Now, mostly I'm showing you all of this so you can form an opinion one way or another. Can you do 25 miles a week primarily inside? Can you do it 50/50? What works for you? Here we have a ton of snow and weather and cold to deal with. Sometimes it's just too dangerous to run outside. Also I find that it messes with my ankles and hips and knees to be on invisible unstable terrain when I'm in soft snow. Even firm snow is tough on the stabilizer muscles now and then. I also tend to slow down over the winter and forcing myself to go faster on the treadmill is a great way to maintain fitness through the year.

That being said I should mention that the treadmill stats include anywhere from about 5 to 15 minutes of slower walking as I warm up, and sometimes a few minutes of cooling down. In 60 minutes of training, going 2.0-3.0 mph for 10 minutes is a major impact on the average speed. Do the math and you'll see.

I'm kidding in the title. You do get tired of the treadmill (dreadmill) and then go outside. Plan it for your own needs and don't stick to one thing only unless you know why.

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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.