[Josh Gray]

Though I live in Colorado I still live 30-40 minutes from the mountains and can’t always get to them during the week. I’d also rather not have a gym membership since I have my own home gym albeit with no treadmill.

So I’m wondering how well I could simulate mountain running by combining continuous stepups -like in TFTNA- and split/squat jumps into the same session a couple days a week. Then fill in the other week days with some shallow rolling hills and a long run on mountainous terrain on the weekend.

Any tips would be great on how to train for a mountain race on the plains would be great! Thanks!

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 18, 2020 at 12:40 pm #38376

It can definitely work. It comes down to how many step-ups you can tolerate (mentally).

I train someone with limited access to hills and a busy work schedule, so he’s become a step-up machine. And he’s raised his AeT HR by 12% due to his diligence. He uses a metronome and tempo-organized music (via an app) to control his pace.

He’s an ex-marine with an incredible work ethic, so I think that helps him get it done.

The one caveat with your idea is that the squat jumps could become a muscular endurance exercise which needs to be done carefully. Search the site for our articles on our gym-based ME program.

[Josh Gray]

Josh Gray on February 18, 2020 at 1:19 pm #38390

Thanks for the response Scott! That’s good to know! My thought with the integrating the jumping exercises would mimic downhill eccentric loading and maybe take them to the point where it’s not a full blown ME workout but just enough to simulate a decent downhill so I could be recovered enough to repeat it 72 hours later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 22, 2020 at 1:20 pm #38634

Most importantly, make sure you are maintaining the same easy aerobic volume as when you started. If you’re too fatigued to maintain your base, then it’s too much ME (and will eventually have a negative effect on your fitness).

[Josh Gray]

Josh Gray on February 24, 2020 at 11:00 am #38697

I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks again, Scott!