Walking is running, too.
If we’ve ever trail run togther, you’ve probably heard me say “walking is running, too”. In addition to a lifelong love of hiking - I identify as a mediocre runner who happens to be an excellent walker.
Fun fact: while training for my first 100k (World’s End in Pennsylvania), I went to a course preview run. Despite being consistent with my mileage and training runs up to that point - I left the course preview with SERIOUS doubts that I’d finish the race. Why? Because I’d been doing training runs - and large sections of the course (12,000’ vertical gain over extremely technical rocky terrain) - were not all that runnable. Especially when you factor in darkness, wet weather and fatigue. I overhauled my training strategy - instead spending every weekend I could doing a mix of mostly-hiking, sometimes-jogging, on the absolute worst terrain I could find. And it worked - I finished the race (just under the final midnight cut-off) with an average pace of 18:00+ min/miles. If this sounds like a fast walking pace, rather than a run….it was. But in a race with a high rate of drops and missed cut-offs - this is a win for me.
So, why should you walk or hike as part of your training?
Especially for folks transitioning from road to trail running, it can feel counterintuitive to spend precious training time walking. After all, aren’t we training for a RUN?!
The reality of ultras (and shorter mountain races) is they’ll likely involve lots of walking.
As the distance gets long enough, terrain gets rough enough (rocks, roots, mud, slick surfaces, total darkness), and the vert (AKA vertical elevation gain) gets verty enough - most folks will likely be power-walking or hiking a good portion of this race. And power-hiking, like just about anything in life is SKILL - meaning it can be improved with practice. In fact, power-hiking (as us trail runners like to call "walking with purpose in the woods") can be a valuable tool to:
☑️ Mimic race conditions (if you're doing an ultra, or a shorter but mountainous race ...you'll probably do some walking)
☑️ Improve efficiency and speed for power-hiking - loads of potential gains here. In a race with lots of hiking, shaving a few minutes off hiking miles adds up big time.
☑️ Gain strength endurance
☑️ Improve your body's coordination and neuromuscular system - so that your "autopilot" for lifting feet up, picking a steady for to step on, reacting to slick or loose terrain - works better when fatigued.
☑️ Improve your headspace and work on mindset tools
☑️ Also, it's fun and scenic. (How do you think I get all those great photos for @longtrailrunning? I'm sure as *heck* not running when I take them! 😂)
Don’t leave gains on the table.
If you have followed my account for a minute, you may have noticed that I am about BANG FOR YOUR BUCK. While it might take months of serious speedwork to trim 30s or even 15s per mile off my road racing pace…with proper training, I can likely trim up to 5-10 MINUTES per mile off a challenging climb. Over the course of a mountainous race, that can make a HUGE (like…hours) difference. Plus (personal preference alert!) I would much rather be training by slogging up a mountain or through a lovely forest than around a track.
Let’s get to work.
In this post, I’ll outline 7 training tools and games to play with on your hikes. These are specific strategies (efficiency, strength endurance, footing) that you can work on - and ways to add interest mentally to your training hikes. Important: you don't need to do them all at once (or at all). Pick and choose what suits your needs on a given day or on a segment of your hike.
More to come on how to integrate hiking into your training plans. Happy trails 🤘.
Embrace the sloth.
Goal: Efficiency
In an ultra, you’re trying to optimize pace per minimum energy expended. That last bit’s important. You are going to blow through every ounce of glycogen (aka snacks for your muscles + brain) that your body has stored - along with everything you fuel with it along the way. No wasting energy.
At the same time, you can’t move at 0.1 mph because it will take an eternity to finish.
So - tune into your body to see how efficiently you can move at a decent clip.
How: Body Awareness + Biofeedback
Really tune into how you are feeling throughout the hike. Use biofeedback (heart rate, breathing, muscle fatigue) to determine if you’re really in that “all-day” pace zone, or are you finding you need to recover and catch your breath? How does it feel when you take larger steps up a rock scramble vs. multiple smaller ones? Which feels more fatiguing to your muscles?
2. Pick your path
Goal: Skill-building for steady, efficient steps
Anticipating where to put your next footstep, picking a stable, safe surface to put it on, and then actually landing your foot there - are all skills. Your neuromuscular (AKA nervous system/brain + muscles) system will get better at this with practice.
This is especially valuable for strengthening your brain’s “autopilot” mode when it is fatigued late in the race. By practicing this, it’ll be less stressful and more automatic for your brain + body.
How: Constantly scan ahead 2-3 steps
One of my favorite hiking + trail running games! This reminds me of skiing moguls - my eyes always scanned ahead for the next few turns, and sometimes I’d have a bail-point or “B line” if it didn’t go as planned. Constantly scan ahead 2-3 steps and then reflect on….
How good is your brain at picking steady foot targets?
How accurate is your body at stepping on the target?
How does your mental stamina feel? Does holing focus on this feel exhausting.
Check back in every couple weeks and see how you’re improving!
3. Moderate your effort.
Goal: Dialing in that steady, moderate, play-all-day effort level regardless of terrain.
This type of endurance run/hike most closely replicates what your body will experience in an ultra (well…when things are going as planned!). You want your body to get really, really good operating at the “slow burn, fully aerobic, moderate zone”.
This training hike helps you practice:
Staying in that zone for a LOOOONG time - one of the best things about this zone is that your body can do this for HOURS - as long as you’ve ramped up to it, and as long as you keep taking in food/carbs (aka, logs for your fire).
Dial in awareness of what MODERATE feels like. It’s really easy to get caught up in race excitement, go out too fast, let intensity creep up on the hills - and then burn out early. So practice LISTENING to your body - heart, lungs, brain, muscles.
How: Long, moderate hikes keeping intensity consistent over varying terrain.
The goal is not to worry about pace at all - rather, focus on a constant level of effort - keeping your rate of perceived exertion (RPE) at around 5 out of 10. At this level, you may be sweating and breathing a bit more heavily than when casually walking around - but you can still hold a short conversation (think: ~ 3 sentences without feeling out of breath). You probably can’t sing comfortably (feel free to belt out a few lines of T’Swift on the trail if you’re unsure). Generally this means:
UPHILL: Fight that “drift” in intensity by slowing down as soon as you begin to climb. If you feel out of breath (can only speak 1-2 sentences, or a few words) - SLOW DOWN. If you notice that you need to recover at the top of a hill to catch your breath, SLOW DOWN on the next one. Pushing too hard on hills burns extra energy and creates extra muscular stress that you want to preserve as long as possible.
FLATS + DOWNS: If you’re managing uphill intensity properly, you shouldn’t feel the need to use these are “rests” quite as much. Keep a purposeful pace - imagine you’re running late for work, but you don’t want to sweat thru your business casual. To move quickly, focus on cadence rather than big strides. Smaller, quicker steps help keep feet under your center of gravity (key for traction on wet, slick, or muddy terrain) + help you move efficently.
If staying in the ~ RPE 5 zone means you break into a light jog on the flats and downs, that’s fine! The second part of my post should be called “Running is hiking, too!”.
4. Dial in your posture
Goal: Practice good upper body and trunk posture to help you move efficiently + conserve energy.
In the running world, we are obsessed with gait - pronation, supination, neutral strides, heel strikes, forefoot, midfoot, Big Foot. But - it’s just as important to consider your upper body and trunk position.
Good posture won’t just impress your grandma. It helps you move effiently, saves energy by releasing excess muscle tension, can help deal with jitters or anxiety, and even helps your lungs breathe easier!
How: Regularly check-in with yourself (every mile, every 15 min, every big climb…)
Choose a strategy that works for you - a cue (when my watch beeps for a mile…when I take a sip of water…etc) can be helpful. Think:
Relax your shoulders - this allows the lungs to expand more freely, releases excess muscle tension (you don’t need the muscle cells in your upper back and neck in “grip it and rip it” mode during a hike/run! they’re burning extra calories contracting). Relaxing the shoulders and upper back can also reduce feelings of anxiety (race jitters? stressed about a cut-off?). If you’re struggling to do this:
Chest open (“show off your t-shirt”)
Bring your shoulders up towards your ears
Roll them back behind you
Pull them down (give those ears some breathing room)
Take a deep breath with shoulders in that position - on the exhale, see if you can relax just a tad more, feel the shoulder blades slide down your back.
Lean in to the hill. Keeping a tall spine, lean your body into the hill (ideally - you want to roughly match the grade of the hill with the slope of your body). This helps you get more drive out of your legs - think about the path your body is traveling in - you’re going up a slope, so ideally you want to push yourself along that slope (“diagonally up”). When you are standing fully upright - you are pushing more vertically - less efficient for moving along that “diagonal” path of travel.
Engage the core - Core engagement helps you transfer power before your upper and lower body. While running is largely lower body, arm swing does help propel you forward. And without some core engagement, you’re like those inflatable dancing tube men at used car dealerships.
You don’t need to fully contract these muscles or bear down (please don’t!…follow up post on GI issues during trail runs LOL)!
Think: 20% contracted - or poke your belly and feel the slight natural contraction that happens (like someone is about to tickle or poke a finger) - that’s plenty.
5. Workshop it.
Goal: Train your weaknesses (or the challenges you will face during a race).
Practice makes permanent. Or at least, practice makes more automatic. Practice allows our brain and body to run successfully in “autopilot” mode for longer. This is really, really useful when both brain + body are tired late in a race. So, get some reps in workshopping techniques.
The possibilities are ENDLESS: Loose rocks, wet/slippery terrain, rooty techy trains, full-body scrambles, safely navigating steep downhills, staying in a good headspace, eating snacks, taking efficient breaks (ala aid station…you just happen to be carrying your aid station with you).
How: Treat sections of your hike as a workshop training specific skills.
There are three components to a successful workshop session:
Try a technique.
Assess how well (or not) it went.
Adapt (if needed) + repeat. Get the reps in.
I encourage you to actually tell your brain (out loud or in your head “we are working on…rockhopping, wet terrain, eating while walking, positive mindset…whatever it is). This is a landmark for your brain to come back to when it encounters that scenario later.
I also encourage you to be as present/mindful as possible during this - again, this is BRAIN + BODY work.
6. Strength Endurance
Goal: Train your muscles to do work repeatedly for a long time.
What is an ultra if not lifting/moving something (your body), over and over, thousands and thousands of times? This requires strength endurance - that capacity to do challenging muscular work repeatedly. A challenging hike can serve double-duty as part of your run/cardio training, and strength endurance work.
How: Be a pack mule, a mountain goat, or both at the same time.
Pack Mule: Carry a heavier back than you need on your hike. Bring a couple extra liters of water. Throw in some textbooks. Whatever. Getting your muscles used to carrying MORE weight than they’ll need to on race day, will make that feel easier.
Bonus: for those of you hiking with your young child on your back…you’re already nailing this!
Mountain Goat: Head to steep rocky terrain (readily available in Vermont…either during the last ~ mile of a summit push, or for the whole dang hike). I lovingly call this the Land of 1000 Step-Ups - literally, you are doing bodyweight (well…plus your pack) step-ups on repeat. Focus on form and efficiency.
7. Be mindful.
Goal: Actually appreciate what probably got you into the outdoors to begin with - slower paces let you appreciate beautiful places.
This is a worthy pursuit on its own, especially in our ever-more-distracted world. But in athletic pursuits, it is a valuable tool to help you focus your attention, curb anxiety or jitters, make you more aware of what your body is feeling or asking for, and improve headspace.
How: Turn off (electronics) + tune in.
As much as I love a good podcast or killer playlist, turning it off helps you tune in to the world around you. Same goes for our beloved GPS watches and gadgets.
If you’re a devotee, put the watch (or phone) in a zipped pocket deep in your pack. You can still track your mileage or have your phone in case of emergencies…but making it harder to peek at will make it easier to fight the temptation.
Tune in: the sights, sounds, smells of the forest. The changing of the seasons. The differences in plants or flowers or bird songs or soils on a trail you do often as the seasons change.
Breathe.
