I am Sergey Baranov – a sprinter from an Olympic Reserve school at Russian junior championship level. I gave many years of my life to running: not to the marathons that are fashionable now, but to the hard, hard 400 metres. Twenty years have passed and I am still breaking trail through above-knee snow at 7500 metres and carrying 30+ kilos at 7000 metres without trouble. There is one reason for it – track and field, long ago; nothing I have trained since comes anywhere near it, for a number of reasons. And I used to run 300 (!) flights of stairs with 8 kg on my belt and 1.5 kg on each ankle when I was preparing for K2. And I work as a guide, still running often in the mountains at 4000-5000 metres. And at 6000 I overtake runners with world rankings. And I see how badly distance runners do in the mountains, and how often they do not reach the summit at all. My view is that marathons have a very indirect bearing on how you feel in the mountains, that you need never run a marathon at all (I never have) and can still go to mountains of 5+ thousand metres, and that is what this article is about.
The basic principles of any running session.
1. The aim is not to rack up kilometres but to do every session as well as you possibly can. That is, if out of 8 hundred-metre repetitions you can only run 5 properly, there is no point in running more than six.
2. If you still have something left for a bit of speed at the end of a long cross-country run, you are doing it right. The one exception might be the day you set a personal record, and even then.
3. Never arrive at a session already tired. If fatigue is building up, cut the load or rest for a few days, whatever mountains you may be dreaming about at the time.
4. Never train while ill, or with any raised temperature.
5. Never train with an injury, or inflamed joints, or anything else that does not feel right.
6. Never work at a pulse above 180 (any heart-rate monitor with a limit alarm does the job here).
7. Never drive yourself into the ground; an hour after a session you should feel satisfied, aching muscles aside.
8. Never let yourself overheat while running.
9. Never allow serious dehydration. Sweating heavily over long distances is bad; choose your clothing accordingly.
10. Never eat fatty food in the last three hours before a session, avoid fizzy drinks, and do not turn up completely hungry either – all of these have a strong effect on the result.
11. Take care with sprint sessions outdoors in cold weather.
12. Look after your knees and ankles, choose your shoes, and stay off asphalt and other hard surfaces.
13. Always run to the clock. To the second. So that the numbers can be compared. On a running track, for example, a good GPS is out by 500-600 m over 10 km. That is at least two minutes of error in the end. And two minutes can take half a year to shed. I have met and run with people who thought they were running 10 km and were running 17 (round a park). At a distance we spent a long time discussing why a well-prepared person’s times could be so poor. So try to “calibrate” yourself on a running track or an accurately measured course, and go back there from time to time to compare the result.
Points specific to running for high-altitude mountaineering.
1. Interval running works much less well on a treadmill than on a track: the accelerations are far less dynamic, and you have to go by the speed on the belt rather than by how you feel.
2. Even long distances are harder and less natural on a treadmill, because over 10 km an “even pace” means an even pulse, not an even speed. You adjust the speed to what feels comfortable; on an electric treadmill it works the other way round. Do not be shy about resetting the speed several times.
3. Remember running technique; it differs between sprints and cross-country runs. We will not go into that here, as the subject is large and disputed.
4. Do not underestimate the sprint; on average you tire three times as fast. The “hills” are labelled by total distance so that you have something to go by.
How to start training for Elbrus and other non-technical high-altitude ascents.
Start by working out your own level of preparation. The sessions below assume a considerable level of general endurance, so if you cannot run 5 km inside 30 minutes (35 for women) you can close this article now, with no ifs or buts. The middle ground is harder to advise on, but here is roughly how it works out:
- if you run 5 km in up to 30 min – take the beginner programme.
- 10 km in up to 50 min – the intermediate one,
- 10 km in up to 45 min – the advanced one.
Chosen? Now take the programme one level easier and start with that after all. In two months you will move up to your own level.
Leg strength work is deliberately not written into this system; you will add it on whichever days suit you – some people after long distances, some after short ones. The strength work comes down to one or two exercises: fast squats, keeping the muscles under tension, down to thighs parallel with the floor and no deeper, 2-3 sets of 100. Or the same thing with a jump at the top. Neither is better than the other, and they are worth alternating. I would lean more on the squats.
And for a proper sprint you will have to train the calf muscles. Any kerb or step 7-10 cm high is enough for that.
Stairs and hills with weights on the legs and/or the belt can be added as you like, replacing any one session once a week.
An example of a beginner training programme for Elbrus.
week 1:
Mon or Tue – cross-country 5-10 km
Wed or Thu – 2000 m jogging + warm-up, “hill” 100-200-300-400 (70-80%, 2000 m in total), warm-down 2 km jogging.
Fri or Sat – cross-country 5-10 km
Week 2:
Mon or Tue – 2000 m jogging + warm-up, 4*100 with 100 between.
Wed or Thu – cross-country 5-10 km, timed strictly.
Fri or Sat – warm-up – 2000 m jogging, “hill” 100-200-300-400 (70-80%, 2000 m in total)
An example of an intermediate training programme for high-altitude ascents.
week 1:
Mon – 2000 m jogging + warm-up, “hill” 100-200-300-400-400-300-200-100 (70-80%, 4000 m in total)
Tue or Wed – cross-country 10 km, timed strictly.
Thu or Fri – 2000 m jogging + warm-up, “hill” 100-200-300-400-400-300-200-100 (70-80%, 4000 m in total)
At the weekend you can add a cross-country run if you feel the urge and really want to.
Week 2:
Mon – 2000 m jogging + warm-up, 8*100 with 100 between (1600 m in total).
Tue or Wed – cross-country 10 km, timed strictly.
Thu or Fri – 2000 m jogging + warm-up, “hill” 100-200-300-400-400-300-200-100 (70-80%, 4000 m in total)
At the weekend you can add a cross-country run if you feel the urge and really want to.
An example of an advanced training programme for high-altitude ascents.
week 1:
Mon – 2000 m jogging + warm-up, “hill” 100-200-300-400-500-600-600-500-400-300-200-100 (70-80%, 8400 m in total)
Tue or Wed – cross-country 10 km, timed strictly.
Thu or Fri – 2000 m jogging + warm-up, sprint 8*100 with 100 between (100%, 1600 m in total)
Sat – cross-country 20 km
Week 2:
Mon – 2000 m jogging + warm-up, sprint 6*400 (70-80%, 4800 m in total).
Tue or Wed – cross-country 10 km, timed strictly.
Thu or Fri – 2000 m jogging + warm-up, “hill” 100-200-300-400-500-600-600-500-500-400-300-200-100 (70-80%, 8400 m in total)
Sat – cross-country 20 km
Notes:
- You can alternate the weeks one for one, or separate them with an easy week (a couple of undemanding cross-country runs)
- a “hill” is done with no stops at all and without dropping to a walk. 100-200-300-200-100 means that you run 100 metres fast, 100 slowly (2 km/h if need be – almost on the spot, but running. The point of the slow running is to recover as fully as possible before the next acceleration), 200 fast, 200 slowly, 300 fast, 300 slowly, 200 fast, 200 slowly, 100 fast, 100 slowly.
- the percentages in brackets are a subjective measure; 100% is self-explanatory, and at 70-80 you are running with something in reserve, with the top of the “hill” already quite hard to reach, pulse up to 160.
- 4*100 with 100 between is done with no stops at all and without dropping to a walk; it means 4 hundred-metre repetitions at maximum speed with the slowest possible running over 100 metres between the sprints.
- For an ascent of Elbrus (Kazbek, Ararat, Damavand, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi and so on) the beginner training programme above is enough for an average person. For an ascent of Aconcagua or Lenin Peak – the intermediate training programme.
Sergey Baranov.