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Runners are constantly climbing. It’s in our nature to always have a goal we’re working towards, always wanting to push ourselves to do better. Whether it be chasing new PR’s, challenging yourself to expand your race distance range, or even after we’re past our ‘PR-PR’ years, redefining the times and bests (weekly, yearly, masters, etc.) bests.

Diversity. Fitting as it is now cross country season that we talk about diversifying your running and climbs. Cross country thrives on both. I’ve done posts on just how awesome hills are at improving your strength and power, which translates to speed. What I haven’t talked too much on are prolonged hill climbs.

The long climb, yup. We’re talking taking your tempo runs to the trail, or inclined treadmill if you don’t have a stretch long enough outside. I’ve previously featured the man-beast that is Michael Wardian and he’s no stranger to treadmill running.

While he’s one of the World’s best ultra and trail runners, a major chunk of his miles are done on the treadmill so he can fit his runs in around his family’s (namely his kids’!) schedules. Wardian loves a good, long climb.

He makes sure to do hill work a few times a week and, “for me that means hours of running up vertical inclines, sometimes fast, sometimes just a long grind, but always pushing to get better.” Wardian is an ultra runner after all.

Another big fan of prolonged uphill runs is Sage Canaday, a staple workout for him is an uphill tempo run. Canaday is another World leading ultra runner [check out my feature on him HERE], residing in Boulder, CO he has no shortage of trails to mountain goat up.

Yo, that’s my rockstar dad running 50 miles! :)

Try It:

Take your next scheduled tempo run to a hill, keep the distance the same and adjust based on effort. [Captain Obvious: Your times aren't going to mean much, so go off of effort.] I’d suggest going 4-5 miles.

No hill? No problem…take it to the treadmill. For a moderate climb set the grade to 4% for your tempo run and again, go off of effort. Do your warm-up and cool-down at 1.5%, as that’s the equivalent to running outside on the flats…after you jack that incline up and finish your tempo run, upon lowering you’ll see just how much ‘easier’ the same pace will feel at 1.5%!

If you’re looking for a steeper incline, Captain Obvious tells us you can just elevate the treadmill.

Another twist courtesy of Coach Hudson would be to make your hill climb tempo progressive, begin the workout at a 2% grade and have it up to 6% by the time you finish.

Life’s a climb after all. For runners, we take that both figuratively and literally.

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More workout posts HERE

Need some motivation to get ‘er done…look HERE

Sweat hard, recover hard… #SweatsintheCity style, Baby!
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1) Are you running cross country season?
2) How do you incorporate hill work into your training?
3) Have you done incline tempo/threshold work?

We’ll call it crossing past the comfort zone on the treadmill and into the fear zone. This is my face when the intervals on the treadmill are just TOO SHORT and FAST for my liking!!!

Hang on, Dear Runners. When doing speedwork on the treadmill, there’s always the extra incentive to keep up or risk turning into a treadmill causality.

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Tips and training for all things treadmill running HERE!!
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1) What mph or lenght of intervals on the treadmill is your comfort zone to fear zone barrier??
2) Have you ever been hurled off the back of the treadmill?
I decline answering.
3)What’s going on for you this weekend??

Some things are so scary they can only be real…true tales of running nightmares!!

This story comes by way of a runner in Minnesota. You know, one of those states that actually gets REAL winter weather. No, the scary part isn’t the snow, wind, or temperature reading. That’s just freaking wrong.

With all the advancements we’ve made in the world, running and otherwise, one would think we’d have solved this whole ‘power outage’ issue. I mean, c’mon, we’ve landed on Mars. But I digress.

Minnesota. Dead of winter. Night. Running outside is clearly not an option, unless you want to wind up with frost bite on your nose and unconscious from slipping on black ice. Treadmill it is.

WHAT?!?!? Power issues, FIVE BLOWN FUSES?!?! What is a runner to do? Enter the Running Nightmare Zone. This quick-thinking runner, in what can only be described as a true Running MacGyver moment, rigged up the treadmill off of a remaining circuit and…

…got the treadmill working. No lights, no problem, that’s what a flashlight is for.

The runner was quoted, “You can take a lot of things away from me, but my sanity won’t be one of them.” AMEN!!!

Scary.As.All.He##. Stay safe, stay sane, stay running, My Friends!!

**Names have been omitted to protect the traumatized

1) What’s one of the craziest situations you’ve been in to get your run on?
I’m actually embarrassed to say…it’s crazy.
2) What’s a true running nightmare tale you’ve lived through?
3) What’s the last scary thing to happen to you on a run?
Just this shady looking dude I passed, it was dark, I definitely ran wide and picked up the pace.

So you remember how just a few days ago I was saying how running during winter can really suck?? Weeeeeell…that’s not always the case…

I honestly DO feel bad for all you running out there in states that actually DO have winter weather. Snow? Sleet? Hail? Crazy-@$$ wind?? It’s not fun stuff…but it does certainly make you tougher. I mean within reason, no use running outside just FOR the torture, sometimes running on a treadmill is the smarter choice. If it allows you to avoid a potential injury and if you’re needing to run faster than outdoor conditions may allow. So treadmills ARE training tools that have their place.

That said…I’m not going to lie. I’ve run in snow, I’ve run in sleet, hail, and into crazy winds that blew me to the side. But *please karma don’t come back and bite me on this for writing the next line* not this year. So I’m going to REALLY enjoy wearing my running shorts.

The other *perk* of being a runner?? #stronglegs #awesomelegs

1) Treadmill running? How often have you been hitting the treadmill the winter?
2) What are some of your favorite treadmill workouts?
Longer repeats or tempo runs on the treadmill…doing 400′s or 200′s sorta freak me out because when the belt gets going I’m afraid I’ll get spit right off!
3) I wear running shorts in public….
anywhere I can.