Hill Intervals For Hikers
Hill intervals for hikers are one of the best ways to boost endurance for uphill hiking. Today, I’ll walk you through the specifics of hill intervals, how to progress them, and modifications you can make to do them even when there’s no hill nearby.
The goal of hill intervals is to gain 20 to 25 minutes of total climbing time, just the ascending part, not the descending. So, if you plan to do five minutes of climbing, you must do four rounds to hit 20 minutes. To start, climb for four or five minutes at a pace you can maintain nose-breathing throughout.
The goal is to climb at a pace that might get challenging, but that’s okay. We want to drive physiological changes in the body for hill climbing. On the way down, take the time to rest and recover, and if you’re not feeling rested and recovered at the bottom, take a few minutes and then head back up again.
Regarding pacing, push that nose-breathing intensity pace to maintain your output for the duration of that ascent. We don’t want a long continuous ascent; we want to break this up and push that intensity a little through nose-breathing. To progress, add more interval climbing time. If the goal for week one is 20 minutes of climbing, you’re doing those five-minute rounds, which will be four. For week two, add another round, so 25 minutes of climbing.
Progressing Hill Intervals
Alternatively, you can add a pack, but I’d suggest doing this after you’ve done the ascents for at least three weeks. At that point, add a pack that’s roughly 10-15% of your body weight and add an extra 1-2 pounds each week you perform this workout.
If you don’t have any hills nearby, you can substitute a treadmill for this workout. To do this, increase the incline on the treadmill, walk for four or five minutes, and then lower the treadmill back down for the recovery. Spend between 2 and 3 minutes recovering, then crank it back up once you feel rested and recovered.
To make things more fun, dial that intensity on the last interval you do for the workout. We need to work at the intensity that will benefit the most as hikers; that’s zone one and two, conversational-paced output. This last one is to push the intensity, pace, and be mouth breathing. You’re still not running or jogging; you’re just cranking up the intensity for that last five-minute interval. This will move us into zone three training, which is also essential for hikers. We need to spend less time there, 10 to 15% overall in our training.
In conclusion, hill intervals are a great addition to your hiking routine. They’ll help boost your uphill hiking performance and prepare you for your next adventure. Happy trails!
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