Mountain Dreams, Flat Roads.

Q: "I've managed to secure an entry into a mountainous ultramarathon, but my local training grounds are almost exclusively flat. How do I get creative with training?" There are two main areas of focus when we look at training and racing in mountainous terrain. 1. Eccentric loading is the most important as it pertains to muscular damage from downhill running. We know that a run involving a high degree of eccentric muscle contractions often results in delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) for those athletes with little to no previous exposure to the demand of the activity. For Sydney and surrounds locals, routes like Kedumba Pass are notorious for dishing out DOMS to unsuspecting runners at the start of a training block. For an athlete training on the flat without access to mountainous or hilly terrain, this is often the biggest problem to address. Downhill running = increased eccentric load 2. Concentric loading is often less of a factor when we think about how athletes take damage. While uphill running does increase the concentric load of glutes, calves, hamstrings and hip flexors, the increased metabolic demand from uphill running is often solved by just getting fitter. For someone training on the flat, this is an easier fix and can be solved through improving fitness and utilising tools like the treadmill or stair master. Uphill running = increased metabolic load

Unrelated image of Rocky (Rocky IV) to break up the white space.

If you're living on the flat, how do you solve the problem of eccentric loading? Enter the 'Repeated Bout Effect'. What is the Repeated Bout Effect (RBE)? The RBE is a process in which skeletal muscle activates protective mechanisms to resist damage from subsequent eccentric exercise. These mechanisms are complex and, in some cases, not entirely understood. A 2020 review found "performing two bouts of downhill running separated by several days or weeks is well-known to reduce or attenuate markers of muscle damage after the second bout." The RBE has been shown to be effective for several weeks to several months, which is a good thing for athletes who don't have consistent exposure to mountainous terrain. How can you use this in practice though? Perhaps the best method is to plan a weekend (or two) away to somewhere you can access this terrain. This may look like two to three days in the mountains, spending a good amount of time on the terrain that most closely replicates the terrain you plan on racing on. An athlete could aim to land this weekend around a month to 6 weeks out from race day, keeping in mind the change of stimulus needs to be factored into recovery after.

3 Day Training camp

If you can't make the weekend trip, the local hill might be the next best thing for you. A few times a week head to the longest / steepest hill you have access to and run easy repeats uphill and downhill. It doesn't need to be complicated. Simply changing the gradient is enough to drive positive adaptations that will leave you better prepared than if you didn't do the session. Mixing hiking and running uphill with periods of faster running downhill is a great way to execute this session.

Local hill

One of the easier fixes to solve the downhill running problem is strength training. We've written previously about the benefits of strength training here. Exercises that focus on eccentric muscle strength are the goal. Eccentric = lengthening phase of muscle action, where muscles are stretched under tension. This is exactly the position you find yourself when running downhill. What exercises work best? Depth jumps (off a box or bench), single leg box squats / split squats, lateral bounds. If you have no previous exposure to strength training you should tread carefully here, as you won't need much of the novel stimulus. More experienced strength trainers can afford to increase the amount of this work they do in the gym.

Eccentric loading taken to the nth degree. Do not try this at home.

The most important thing to consider when addressing training outcomes is identifying what actually needs addressing. Blowing up late on a downhill in an ultra is often less about the capacity to run well on downhills and more about how tolerant an athlete is to everything that came before that section of the course. The terrain merely highlights another problem, often related to fuelling, pacing, or training volume. Perhaps the best part of all of this is that there is no exact science, athletes respond differently, and you can operate your own training experiment to reach a desired outcome on race day.