Subject: RE: What is considered a good climb?Pikes Peak/Barr Trail is a tough climb. Vertical rise of close to 8000 feet in 13 miles. Manitou Incline near the base of Barr Trail (but a separate trail) is even tougher, going up 2000 feet in a mile. OK, those are kinda extreme. Many (most) races around here are hilly. The Garden of the Gods 10 miler goes up and down a few hundred feet several times - almost nothing flat on the course. My standard daily route includes a hill of about 250 feet, but the grade isn't too bad. The grade of a climb may be more of a toughness factor than the elevation gain. Short steep hills can be much tougher than longer inclines. Do you have an elevation profile of the course you're racing? Try to find hills similar to that. Put a hill at the end of a longer run to make you work hard when you're tired. Don't forget that running lots of downhill can be taxing so train on that as well. |