Developing Speed For Mountaineers

Speed is rarely a limiting factor for mountaineers and would usually not be considered a priority for their training. However, there are a few situations where developing specific speed can be important for mountaineers and should be considered in their training. 

In this episode, we explore this subject and some insights into how mountaineers can improve this aspect of fitness.

​Episode Transcript:

[0:00]Alright, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we are talking about developing speed for mountaineers, which from the outset
[0:12] Developing Speed for Mountaineers

[0:09]may sound like a bit of a funny topic to be talking about. Because in reality, mountaineering is typically the furthest thing you would consider from a speed-based sport. You know, mountaineering is not a race. Typically, mountaineering involves going for very, very slow for extended periods of time. You know, we're pretty much always walking as opposed to running or really doing anything crazy when we're mountaineering. And speed generally isn't the limiting factor when it comes down to mountaineering performance. However, there are a few particular situations where it very may well be worthwhile considering this aspect of fitness and putting a bit of attention into this in your training. So today I want to dive into this topic a little bit and explain these situations where it may be worthwhile considering. Talk through a few common mistakes I often see from mountaineers when they're looking at this type of training, and also give you some ideas around how I like to approach this type of training, how I recommend my mountaineers go about this. So if you were in this situation, you know, hopefully you have some good direction. So with that being said, let's get into it. And let's start off with these different situations where I think it may be worthwhile considering.
[1:22]
Situations to Consider Speed Training

[1:23]Now, number one, There is some mountaineers may find themselves in a situation where they're booked on a particular expedition, a particular climb. And they're booked on, they get all the information. And as part of that information, there is a speed requirement where they say the tour provider or the climbing provider says, look, you need to be in a position where you can climb a certain amount of elevation in a certain amount of time, which will equal a particular speed. You know, a lot of climbs and a lot of expeditions will have this. Now, for some mountaineers, they'll look at those speed requirements. They'll be like, oh, you know what? That's not a problem at all. That isn't the farthest thing from my mind. I do not worry about that. And that's all good.

[2:03]Alternately, there's some people may look at this and be like, oh, you know what? That's actually a bit of a stretch for me. I'm a little bit worried about that or a little bit concerned about that. So if you do have a speed requirement on a trip you want to do or an expedition you want to do, and you're not 100% confident that it's within your reach or it's going to be within your comfortable reach, well, that's the first situation where you may want to consider speed in your training. The second situation is for a mountaineer who's just a naturally slower mover. Now, a lot of people will sort of not even consider this. If you naturally move pretty quickly or, you know, you can always keep up with people, you never really have to worry about this, you may never consider this. But there is definitely a subsection of mountaineers out there who are just naturally slower movers. When they're going out hiking and they're not even doing anything crazy climbing, they're aware that, look, people tend to go a bit quicker than them. And it just doesn't feel 100% natural to keep up with them all the time.

[2:58]On top of that, when we're in the elevation environment or we're going up and down your mountains or whatever it may be, they're aware that they always just feel like they're a little bit behind. They're struggling to keep up. They're at the back of the pack or whatever it may be. And the tricky thing in this situation is not only can this be obviously not much fun, always feeling like you're trailing behind people, if you are a naturally slower mover, and you're constantly trying to push out of your normal, comfortable pace to keep up with people, this can be a factor which can very much put you at risk of early fatigue because when we're pushing out of speeds we are not naturally comfortable with when we're pushing out of speeds which we're not um it doesn't feel normal for us we will be burning a considerable more energy than if we were just going what we feel natural so if you're a naturally slower mover and you're aware that this is a pretty regular thing on your mountaineering well this definitely may be worthwhile while considering with your training. And then the third situation where speed is pretty important is if you are mountaineering and if you're going in a part of the world where there may be a bit of an unpredictable environment.

[4:04]Meaning, if you're going in a part of the world and you're like, you know what, there are sometimes been pretty changeable weather systems or changeable weather. And you're like, you know, sometimes we can't predict it, but a storm will roll in or the end of the day will come or rain will roll in. And we're aware that we need to hustle to get to safety, to get off the mountain and make sure we're not in a dodgy position. You know, that is a very legitimate situation where getting out of your normal speeds and be able to sustain quicker speeds and hustle and push and get to safety or at least get to comfort, you know, is a pretty big consideration.

[4:39]So if you are in a part of the world where you're aware that, hey, or you're going to a part of the world where you're aware that, you know what, it is a little bit unpredictable or things can change on a dime, then looking at your speed is probably worthwhile. Now, there probably are other situations out there which, you know, speed can be worthwhile thinking about, but they're probably the big three ones that I've come across over the years.
[5:00]
Common Training Mistakes

[5:01]Now, next up, I want to talk about a few common mistakes I see from mountaineers when they're looking at training speed. And these are legitimate mistakes that I've seen from mountaineers that either that I've worked with or at least have a conversation with over the years. And they're definitely something I would definitely recommend, you know, keeping in mind so you don't fall into this trap. Mistake number one when it comes down to developing speed for mountaineering is relying on running as your speed training. Now, running for training for mountaineering can be a great option. It can be great to sort of, you know, build out your longer cardio. It can be great for interval training. A lot of mountaineers use it and it's absolutely fantastic. But one thing you need to be aware of is there is a difference between running quickly and walking quickly under load. And if you are in any of those situations where you want to improve your speed and you're like, you know what, I'm just going to do lots of running and I'm feeling confident and I'm feeling like I can move pretty quickly running. Well, just be aware that may not entirely line up with what you need on the mountain.

[6:04]So if you are doing speed training as a mountaineer don't use it as running or don't 100% rely on running for it but we want to get a little bit more specific a little bit more honed in so we can be confident that for the mountaineering context we can hustle we can sustain speeds a bit better and be a bit more comfortable with that which we'll go into in a moment so that's mistake number one mistake number two is turning all training into speed training now what i mean by that is, you know, a large part of the information out there online around training for mountaineering is talking about actually pulling things back, pulling back speeds and making sure people aren't going too fast in their training. So they're always working at higher intensities and developing other energy systems and are missing out on their aerobic conditioning. And that's absolutely true. Now, when we're talking about speed training, we are kind of going the other direction. We're trying to say, look, we want to expose the body to quicker speeds so we can get more comfortable with these, so we can sustain these. It leads to less discomforts or whatever it may be. And that's typically what we're looking at with speed training. But one distinction we need to make here is we don't want to turn all our training into this because the main priority is we want to be developing that lower intensity movement, that ability to go and go and go for those long durations, develop aerobic fitness. We never want to forget that. And I do see some people go down this route where they've been doing all this long, slow steady stuff which is great.

[7:31]And then they're like, hey, I want to develop my speed, and they end up just putting all their training quicker, which ends up being a bit backwards. So if you are doing speed training, a little bit is good, but everything not so good. And again, I'll explain how we go about this in a bit. And then the final mistake I've seen a few times from people is judging their speed with gym machines. Now, what I mean by that is a lot of mountaineers will do their training on a treadmill, on a Stairmaster or a Step Machine or a Jacob's Ladder, which is absolutely fair enough. and that's not a problem if you're doing that. However, one thing that I've seen people fall into before is they'll look at the speed they're doing on the treadmill or they'll look at the speed they're doing on the stairmaster and what the display is telling them and in their head think that is the speed they would actually be going on the mountain. Now, unfortunately, this doesn't quite line up. If you're going, let's say, for example, six kilometers an hour on your treadmill, on the full incline and banging that out, and you can sustain that, don't expect that you can sustain six kilometers per hour going up a mountain.

[8:36]There's a difference. The body will move slightly different on these gym machines. It's not that big a deal that it'll impact your training, but it is a big deal if you're trying to directly correlate those speeds. It is a little bit different. So what I want you to keep in mind is if you aren't doing your training on these types of things, that's fine. But if you're trying to hit a particular number of speed or particular measure of speed, just be aware it doesn't always 100% line up. For some people, they might be like, hey, this is common sense, but I have seen people tripped up on this before, so be aware.
[9:06]
Effective Training Strategies

[9:07]So, with that being said, now that I've sort of laid out those common mistakes, you know, how would I recommend actually going about this? If you are a mountaineer who's wanting to develop speed to move on the mountains or through the mountains a little bit quicker, what would I recommend? Well, the way I like to lay this out is talk through a few different layers of training. And essentially, these layers are starting at the absolute basics of sort of where you should start and what most people should be looking at. Then it gets a little bit more advanced, a little bit more advanced, a little bit more advanced, or maybe advanced isn't the right word, a little bit more specific or whatever it may be. And essentially, the idea behind this with these layers is not everyone needs to do all of these. Start at the beginning. This will work for most people. If you need a little bit more, go to layer number two. If you need a little bit more, layer number three, and so forth and so forth. So it's like a pyramid almost.

[9:58]That's what we're going to be talking about, and I'll sort of talk you through. So layer number one on how I recommend mountaineers improve their speed is, first of all, focusing on reducing your slow periods. Now, if we're looking at average speed on the mountain, and if we averaged out an entire day of you climbing up a mountain or climbing through the mountains or whatever it may be, there are two ways you could increase your average speed. Number one, you could increase your periods of going quicker. So when you are going quicker or pushing the speed, you go a bit quicker and that will increase your average speed. On the flip side, you want to decrease or you can also decrease your periods of going slower. Those periods when you're fatigued, where you're tired, where you need to have a rest, where you need to slow down, where you need to take it really easy.

[10:45]Decreasing those periods of going slower will naturally increase your speed and that's the first place we want to start because if we can decrease these periods where we are getting tired we can decrease these periods where we're getting fatigued and increase our energy in general well we're naturally just going to averagely move faster pretty common sense now i won't go into too much in detail in this because realistically this is just good solid standard training for mountaineering. This is what your training programming should be doing. So you can be in a point where you can sustain speeds over and over and over through the day, minimize that fatigue, complement your energy. It's all just standard training. So in a real, real, real, real, real brief overview.

[11:25]Number one, make sure you're nailing your long cardio, slowly building up your capabilities, building up your ability to move for long periods with a pack, you know, through whatever elevation you need. Number two, making sure you're including some specific conditioning. So if you're preparing for a heavy pack, train that during your week. If you're preparing for elevation, train up the stairs or hills during the week. If you're preparing for sled pulling or pushing, train that during your week and improve that specific conditioning. Number three, get strong. Build up your strength to strength training. That will go a long way to reducing your fatigue on the mountain and also increasing your capabilities to move quicker as we move into future layers. And then number four is manage your fueling. Make sure you are doing the right things to fuel your energy during these long efforts. Make sure you're not just getting through the day and you're not eating anything, but you are complementing your energy, fueling properly, and making sure you're getting through the day as well as you can. Now, I'm not going to go too much more detail on all of this because this is the stuff we just talk about in the other episodes of the podcast, but that is layer number one, making sure you're nailing your basic training, making sure you're minimizing those down periods, and that will go a long way.
[12:32]
Specific Speed Conditioning

[12:33]Now, layer number two, if we're looking at increasing speed as a mountaineer, is specific speed conditioning. So what this is, is basically exposing the body and developing your ability to push for quicker speeds while in the mountaineering context. Because moving quickly while we're walking, under load, and potentially going through elevation, like up and down hills or mountains, that is a specific skill. If we can develop our body and expose our body to this, we can, number one, get more comfortable with this so fatigue is less, and also, number two, actually just expose the body to these quicker speeds so it is a little bit easier to sustain when we need. Now, this layout doesn't have to be too complicated. It's really just a natural progression of that specific conditioning, and I often call these specific mountaineering condition sessions, and this is just a natural progression of those. So the first step you could look at here and say, okay, I'm doing all my training. I'm nailing it, but I'm aware that I want to push my speed a little bit. Well, the first step I often get people doing is just doing some really simple tempo walking sessions where literally you'll just go outside and it can be around a local park. It can be like, you know, on a local trail or whatever may be. And we're essentially just doing intervals or periods of fast walking and slow walking. So you may walk at a normal pace for two or three minutes.

[13:56]Then you bump up the pace and intentionally push the pace for two to three minutes, then slow, then quick, then slow, then quick, and literally just start by exposing the body to those longer periods. And on top of that, exposing the body to sustain those periods for a few minutes at a time. So it's not just 15 or 20 or 30 seconds of quick, but it's two minutes or three minutes. You can even do four or five minutes or whatever it may be. You would start off with body weight and just see how that feels. And then week by week by week, add some pack weight. Very, very, very simple, but it's just exposing the body to to those speeds in that context.

[14:30]Do that for a few weeks. You can just incorporate that in your week. It's a pretty simple session. It can count as your aerobic conditioning as well. Next step, you can incorporate this into your elevation. So into your stair or hill sessions. So if you are doing an outdoor stair or hill session, one way that I quite like to do this is alternating between steady climbs and low intensity climbs and quicker climbs. So for example, if you had a hill, which took you, let's say two minutes or four minutes to climb or whatever it may be, you would do one climb at a nice, slow, steady pace. Stick into your zone two, stick into your nose breathing, however you're judging your progression. Go back down the bottom. Next one, you push the pace. Really, really, really ramp it up and push the pace and push the speed. Expose the body to those. Challenge yourself and get to the top. Then go back down the bottom. Do your steady pace on the next climb and then alternate. Quick, slow, quick, slow, quick, slow. This is a really nice way of, number one, practicing these quicker speeds, but also number two, making sure you are still controlling that steady stuff. Teaching the body to sustain that pace can be great for a bunch of other things. And I quite like this. Now, if you're doing this on a treadmill or a step machine, whatever it may be, you could do the same thing, but just alternate intervals. You may walk on the treadmill for like four to eight minutes at that steady pace with your pack or whatever it may be. And then you do four to eight minutes at the quicker pace and then alternate quick, slow, quick, slow, quick, slow.

[15:52]And over time, similar to the tempo walking, just add a bit of pack weight. Week one, body weight. with two a bit of pack weight, with three big pack weight and slowly build this up. It's very, very simple, but it can be pretty effective.

[16:05]Now, one thing you need to keep an eye on here is the temptation if you're doing this is to eventually turn, you know, the entire session into a full quick climbing session. So for example, if you're doing that stair hill climbing, let's say you were doing, I don't know, like hypothetically six rounds or six intervals and you did three slow, three quick. The temptation for a lot of people is as they get fitter, as they get, you know, more comfortable with this, they'll end up doing four quick, then five quick, then six quick, and the entire session ends up being quick climbing. But we typically don't want to fall into the trap of this because as we said before, that lower intensity conditioning usually is what we want to prioritize. This speed is just complementing that, but it's not what we want to prioritize and just end up in the whole sessions. So what I would typically recommend is make sure you still are getting plenty of that slow and steady conditioning. And if you did really want to sort of practice that constant quicker climbing and just sort of practice that for your own mindset to see how that goes. Maybe just save that to once every four sessions or so. So you may do three sessions of this where it's the alternating quicker, slow, quicker, slow. And then the fourth session, you can do an entire quick session and then go back to alternating. You know, that's one way of looking at it, but just don't fall into the trap where this just ends up being every single week for the entirety of the session is a speed session. So that's layer number two. It's pretty simple. Start with that tempo walking, ramp it up to the elevation stuff, that can really go a long way.
[17:31]
Practicing on the Trail

[17:32]Now, layer number three is basically just practicing this on the trail. So when we're actually out on our training hikes, out on the trail, out in that environment where we've got that undulating, unpredictable, uneven terrain, with the pack on the back, I'm practicing it in this environment. Typically, what I sort of say here is just, you know, as part of your training hikes, whatever you're doing, go out and do your normal session. Stick to your steady pacing, take it easy, just build that out. And then just in certain sections of the trail.

[18:02]We push the speed. You know, this may be a case of sort of saying anywhere from four minutes to maybe up to 20 minutes, where you're like, you know what, I'm going to ramp it up. I'm going to push this, I'm going to sustain this speed with the pack over the terrain, and I'm really going to push it. And then week by week by week, we may do an extra five minutes, a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more. Again, we don't have to turn the entirety of the hike here to this, but we just want to practice this on this type of terrain in small degrees. Get used to it when there's just uneven surface underfoot. Get used to it when you're going up a hill outdoors. Get used to it with that pack on the back. Get used to it when you already have that sort of accumulated fatigue after three or four hours of hiking, and now you're going to ramp up, that type of stuff. So when you are doing your training hikes, go about this. Now, if you're the type of person who are like, well, I'm doing all my longer cardio is running and cycling. I'm not really doing a huge amount of hiking. Then you got to sort of think, okay, what can I do here? Can I incorporate some longer hikes? If so, probably a good idea to practice that. If that's just inaccessible for you, then you may want to think about, okay, I may sort of need to do some longer walking sessions on the treadmill or whatever may be, and then just incorporate small bits of this here and there.

[19:15]So that's layer number three. And then layer number four, you know, this is for the people who like really, really like it's kind of like worrying
[19:23]
Time Trial Hikes for Speed

[19:22]them, it's stressing them out a little bit. They're like, look, I just really want to like, you know, make sure I'm nailing this is start doing some like time trial hikes. Like I would sort of say most people don't need to do this. But as I said, if it is stressing around a little bit, can be an option. Essentially, a time trial hike basically involves finding a local trail, a trail that you don't have to travel a huge amount for something that's relatively accessible. And here you're going to do the entire hike where you really push it and you're going to sort of say put a timer on at the start whack your pack on and you're going to push the speed for the entirety of the hike at the end of the hike get your time write it down and then essentially you make every four or five or six weeks or so do this hike again with the intention of each time you do it you get a bit quicker a bit quicker a bit quicker now obviously the difference between this and just practicing those sections on the trail is we get that experience we get that feeling of actually hustling for hours at a time. And yes, there may be periods where you still need to rest. Yes, there may be periods where you have those lower, lower paces, but we just want to sort of like be pushing and pushing and pushing. As I said, not everyone needs to do this, but it can be an option.

[20:31]And again, with this type of thing, you know, definitely, definitely, definitely do not fall into the trap of just doing this all the time because our hiking typically wants to be our lower intensity stuff. So I would sort of save this to every four to six weeks.

[20:46]That's typically enough, even once every eight weeks. Just every once in a while, get that exposure. But realistically, when it comes down to speed training for mountaineering, it doesn't have to be too much more than that. Number one, just make sure you are nailing the basics of your training. You're doing everything you can to give yourself that good foundation and minimising that fatigue. Number two, incorporate a bit of that specific speed conditioning.

[21:11]The tempo walking, the stair and heel climbing. You could do the same thing with like sled pulling, if you're aware of that. You could do the same thing of, you know, any other type of situation on the trail or on the mountain that you're aware you're coming up on. You could sort of incorporate a bit of that. Then, you know, start to practice little sections on the trail. And if you really, really feel like you need it, incorporate some of those time trial hikes, put that into it on top of, or layer that on top of your normal training. And it really can go a long way. It's not too complicated, but I've seen it work many times before.

[21:42]So if you're a mountaineer and you did find yourself in this situation where you're like, look, I am aware that I probably do need to think about my speed


[0:00]Alright, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we are talking about developing speed for mountaineers, which from the outset
[0:12]
Developing Speed for Mountaineers

[0:09]may sound like a bit of a funny topic to be talking about. Because in reality, mountaineering is typically the furthest thing you would consider from a speed-based sport. You know, mountaineering is not a race. Typically, mountaineering involves going for very, very slow for extended periods of time. You know, we're pretty much always walking as opposed to running or really doing anything crazy when we're mountaineering. And speed generally isn't the limiting factor when it comes down to mountaineering performance. However, there are a few particular situations where it very may well be worthwhile considering this aspect of fitness and putting a bit of attention into this in your training. So today I want to dive into this topic a little bit and explain these situations where it may be worthwhile considering. Talk through a few common mistakes I often see from mountaineers when they're looking at this type of training, and also give you some ideas around how I like to approach this type of training, how I recommend my mountaineers go about this. So if you were in this situation, you know, hopefully you have some good direction. So with that being said, let's get into it. And let's start off with these different situations where I think it may be worthwhile considering.
[1:22]
Situations to Consider Speed Training

[1:23]Now, number one, There is some mountaineers may find themselves in a situation where they're booked on a particular expedition, a particular climb. And they're booked on, they get all the information. And as part of that information, there is a speed requirement where they say the tour provider or the climbing provider says, look, you need to be in a position where you can climb a certain amount of elevation in a certain amount of time, which will equal a particular speed. You know, a lot of climbs and a lot of expeditions will have this. Now, for some mountaineers, they'll look at those speed requirements. They'll be like, oh, you know what? That's not a problem at all. That isn't the farthest thing from my mind. I do not worry about that. And that's all good.

[2:03]Alternately, there's some people may look at this and be like, oh, you know what? That's actually a bit of a stretch for me. I'm a little bit worried about that or a little bit concerned about that. So if you do have a speed requirement on a trip you want to do or an expedition you want to do, and you're not 100% confident that it's within your reach or it's going to be within your comfortable reach, well, that's the first situation where you may want to consider speed in your training. The second situation is for a mountaineer who's just a naturally slower mover. Now, a lot of people will sort of not even consider this. If you naturally move pretty quickly or, you know, you can always keep up with people, you never really have to worry about this, you may never consider this. But there is definitely a subsection of mountaineers out there who are just naturally slower movers. When they're going out hiking and they're not even doing anything crazy climbing, they're aware that, look, people tend to go a bit quicker than them. And it just doesn't feel 100% natural to keep up with them all the time.

[2:58]On top of that, when we're in the elevation environment or we're going up and down your mountains or whatever it may be, they're aware that they always just feel like they're a little bit behind. They're struggling to keep up. They're at the back of the pack or whatever it may be. And the tricky thing in this situation is not only can this be obviously not much fun, always feeling like you're trailing behind people, if you are a naturally slower mover, and you're constantly trying to push out of your normal, comfortable pace to keep up with people, this can be a factor which can very much put you at risk of early fatigue because when we're pushing out of speeds we are not naturally comfortable with when we're pushing out of speeds which we're not um it doesn't feel normal for us we will be burning a considerable more energy than if we were just going what we feel natural so if you're a naturally slower mover and you're aware that this is a pretty regular thing on your mountaineering well this definitely may be worthwhile while considering with your training. And then the third situation where speed is pretty important is if you are mountaineering and if you're going in a part of the world where there may be a bit of an unpredictable environment.

[4:04]Meaning, if you're going in a part of the world and you're like, you know what, there are sometimes been pretty changeable weather systems or changeable weather. And you're like, you know, sometimes we can't predict it, but a storm will roll in or the end of the day will come or rain will roll in. And we're aware that we need to hustle to get to safety, to get off the mountain and make sure we're not in a dodgy position. You know, that is a very legitimate situation where getting out of your normal speeds and be able to sustain quicker speeds and hustle and push and get to safety or at least get to comfort, you know, is a pretty big consideration.

[4:39]So if you are in a part of the world where you're aware that, hey, or you're going to a part of the world where you're aware that, you know what, it is a little bit unpredictable or things can change on a dime, then looking at your speed is probably worthwhile. Now, there probably are other situations out there which, you know, speed can be worthwhile thinking about, but they're probably the big three ones that I've come across over the years.
[5:00]
Common Training Mistakes

[5:01]Now, next up, I want to talk about a few common mistakes I see from mountaineers when they're looking at training speed. And these are legitimate mistakes that I've seen from mountaineers that either that I've worked with or at least have a conversation with over the years. And they're definitely something I would definitely recommend, you know, keeping in mind so you don't fall into this trap. Mistake number one when it comes down to developing speed for mountaineering is relying on running as your speed training. Now, running for training for mountaineering can be a great option. It can be great to sort of, you know, build out your longer cardio. It can be great for interval training. A lot of mountaineers use it and it's absolutely fantastic. But one thing you need to be aware of is there is a difference between running quickly and walking quickly under load. And if you are in any of those situations where you want to improve your speed and you're like, you know what, I'm just going to do lots of running and I'm feeling confident and I'm feeling like I can move pretty quickly running. Well, just be aware that may not entirely line up with what you need on the mountain.

[6:04]So if you are doing speed training as a mountaineer don't use it as running or don't 100% rely on running for it but we want to get a little bit more specific a little bit more honed in so we can be confident that for the mountaineering context we can hustle we can sustain speeds a bit better and be a bit more comfortable with that which we'll go into in a moment so that's mistake number one mistake number two is turning all training into speed training now what i mean by that is, you know, a large part of the information out there online around training for mountaineering is talking about actually pulling things back, pulling back speeds and making sure people aren't going too fast in their training. So they're always working at higher intensities and developing other energy systems and are missing out on their aerobic conditioning. And that's absolutely true. Now, when we're talking about speed training, we are kind of going the other direction. We're trying to say, look, we want to expose the body to quicker speeds so we can get more comfortable with these, so we can sustain these. It leads to less discomforts or whatever it may be. And that's typically what we're looking at with speed training. But one distinction we need to make here is we don't want to turn all our training into this because the main priority is we want to be developing that lower intensity movement, that ability to go and go and go for those long durations, develop aerobic fitness. We never want to forget that. And I do see some people go down this route where they've been doing all this long, slow steady stuff which is great.

[7:31]And then they're like, hey, I want to develop my speed, and they end up just putting all their training quicker, which ends up being a bit backwards. So if you are doing speed training, a little bit is good, but everything not so good. And again, I'll explain how we go about this in a bit. And then the final mistake I've seen a few times from people is judging their speed with gym machines. Now, what I mean by that is a lot of mountaineers will do their training on a treadmill, on a Stairmaster or a Step Machine or a Jacob's Ladder, which is absolutely fair enough. and that's not a problem if you're doing that. However, one thing that I've seen people fall into before is they'll look at the speed they're doing on the treadmill or they'll look at the speed they're doing on the stairmaster and what the display is telling them and in their head think that is the speed they would actually be going on the mountain. Now, unfortunately, this doesn't quite line up. If you're going, let's say, for example, six kilometers an hour on your treadmill, on the full incline and banging that out, and you can sustain that, don't expect that you can sustain six kilometers per hour going up a mountain.

[8:36]There's a difference. The body will move slightly different on these gym machines. It's not that big a deal that it'll impact your training, but it is a big deal if you're trying to directly correlate those speeds. It is a little bit different. So what I want you to keep in mind is if you aren't doing your training on these types of things, that's fine. But if you're trying to hit a particular number of speed or particular measure of speed, just be aware it doesn't always 100% line up. For some people, they might be like, hey, this is common sense, but I have seen people tripped up on this before, so be aware.
[9:06]
Effective Training Strategies

[9:07]So, with that being said, now that I've sort of laid out those common mistakes, you know, how would I recommend actually going about this? If you are a mountaineer who's wanting to develop speed to move on the mountains or through the mountains a little bit quicker, what would I recommend? Well, the way I like to lay this out is talk through a few different layers of training. And essentially, these layers are starting at the absolute basics of sort of where you should start and what most people should be looking at. Then it gets a little bit more advanced, a little bit more advanced, a little bit more advanced, or maybe advanced isn't the right word, a little bit more specific or whatever it may be. And essentially, the idea behind this with these layers is not everyone needs to do all of these. Start at the beginning. This will work for most people. If you need a little bit more, go to layer number two. If you need a little bit more, layer number three, and so forth and so forth. So it's like a pyramid almost.

[9:58]That's what we're going to be talking about, and I'll sort of talk you through. So layer number one on how I recommend mountaineers improve their speed is, first of all, focusing on reducing your slow periods. Now, if we're looking at average speed on the mountain, and if we averaged out an entire day of you climbing up a mountain or climbing through the mountains or whatever it may be, there are two ways you could increase your average speed. Number one, you could increase your periods of going quicker. So when you are going quicker or pushing the speed, you go a bit quicker and that will increase your average speed. On the flip side, you want to decrease or you can also decrease your periods of going slower. Those periods when you're fatigued, where you're tired, where you need to have a rest, where you need to slow down, where you need to take it really easy.

[10:45]Decreasing those periods of going slower will naturally increase your speed and that's the first place we want to start because if we can decrease these periods where we are getting tired we can decrease these periods where we're getting fatigued and increase our energy in general well we're naturally just going to averagely move faster pretty common sense now i won't go into too much in detail in this because realistically this is just good solid standard training for mountaineering. This is what your training programming should be doing. So you can be in a point where you can sustain speeds over and over and over through the day, minimize that fatigue, complement your energy. It's all just standard training. So in a real, real, real, real, real brief overview.

[11:25]Number one, make sure you're nailing your long cardio, slowly building up your capabilities, building up your ability to move for long periods with a pack, you know, through whatever elevation you need. Number two, making sure you're including some specific conditioning. So if you're preparing for a heavy pack, train that during your week. If you're preparing for elevation, train up the stairs or hills during the week. If you're preparing for sled pulling or pushing, train that during your week and improve that specific conditioning. Number three, get strong. Build up your strength to strength training. That will go a long way to reducing your fatigue on the mountain and also increasing your capabilities to move quicker as we move into future layers. And then number four is manage your fueling. Make sure you are doing the right things to fuel your energy during these long efforts. Make sure you're not just getting through the day and you're not eating anything, but you are complementing your energy, fueling properly, and making sure you're getting through the day as well as you can. Now, I'm not going to go too much more detail on all of this because this is the stuff we just talk about in the other episodes of the podcast, but that is layer number one, making sure you're nailing your basic training, making sure you're minimizing those down periods, and that will go a long way.
[12:32]
Specific Speed Conditioning

[12:33]Now, layer number two, if we're looking at increasing speed as a mountaineer, is specific speed conditioning. So what this is, is basically exposing the body and developing your ability to push for quicker speeds while in the mountaineering context. Because moving quickly while we're walking, under load, and potentially going through elevation, like up and down hills or mountains, that is a specific skill. If we can develop our body and expose our body to this, we can, number one, get more comfortable with this so fatigue is less, and also, number two, actually just expose the body to these quicker speeds so it is a little bit easier to sustain when we need. Now, this layout doesn't have to be too complicated. It's really just a natural progression of that specific conditioning, and I often call these specific mountaineering condition sessions, and this is just a natural progression of those. So the first step you could look at here and say, okay, I'm doing all my training. I'm nailing it, but I'm aware that I want to push my speed a little bit. Well, the first step I often get people doing is just doing some really simple tempo walking sessions where literally you'll just go outside and it can be around a local park. It can be like, you know, on a local trail or whatever may be. And we're essentially just doing intervals or periods of fast walking and slow walking. So you may walk at a normal pace for two or three minutes.

[13:56]Then you bump up the pace and intentionally push the pace for two to three minutes, then slow, then quick, then slow, then quick, and literally just start by exposing the body to those longer periods. And on top of that, exposing the body to sustain those periods for a few minutes at a time. So it's not just 15 or 20 or 30 seconds of quick, but it's two minutes or three minutes. You can even do four or five minutes or whatever it may be. You would start off with body weight and just see how that feels. And then week by week by week, add some pack weight. Very, very, very simple, but it's just exposing the body to to those speeds in that context.

[14:30]Do that for a few weeks. You can just incorporate that in your week. It's a pretty simple session. It can count as your aerobic conditioning as well. Next step, you can incorporate this into your elevation. So into your stair or hill sessions. So if you are doing an outdoor stair or hill session, one way that I quite like to do this is alternating between steady climbs and low intensity climbs and quicker climbs. So for example, if you had a hill, which took you, let's say two minutes or four minutes to climb or whatever it may be, you would do one climb at a nice, slow, steady pace. Stick into your zone two, stick into your nose breathing, however you're judging your progression. Go back down the bottom. Next one, you push the pace. Really, really, really ramp it up and push the pace and push the speed. Expose the body to those. Challenge yourself and get to the top. Then go back down the bottom. Do your steady pace on the next climb and then alternate. Quick, slow, quick, slow, quick, slow. This is a really nice way of, number one, practicing these quicker speeds, but also number two, making sure you are still controlling that steady stuff. Teaching the body to sustain that pace can be great for a bunch of other things. And I quite like this. Now, if you're doing this on a treadmill or a step machine, whatever it may be, you could do the same thing, but just alternate intervals. You may walk on the treadmill for like four to eight minutes at that steady pace with your pack or whatever it may be. And then you do four to eight minutes at the quicker pace and then alternate quick, slow, quick, slow, quick, slow.

[15:52]And over time, similar to the tempo walking, just add a bit of pack weight. Week one, body weight. with two a bit of pack weight, with three big pack weight and slowly build this up. It's very, very simple, but it can be pretty effective.

[16:05]Now, one thing you need to keep an eye on here is the temptation if you're doing this is to eventually turn, you know, the entire session into a full quick climbing session. So for example, if you're doing that stair hill climbing, let's say you were doing, I don't know, like hypothetically six rounds or six intervals and you did three slow, three quick. The temptation for a lot of people is as they get fitter, as they get, you know, more comfortable with this, they'll end up doing four quick, then five quick, then six quick, and the entire session ends up being quick climbing. But we typically don't want to fall into the trap of this because as we said before, that lower intensity conditioning usually is what we want to prioritize. This speed is just complementing that, but it's not what we want to prioritize and just end up in the whole sessions. So what I would typically recommend is make sure you still are getting plenty of that slow and steady conditioning. And if you did really want to sort of practice that constant quicker climbing and just sort of practice that for your own mindset to see how that goes. Maybe just save that to once every four sessions or so. So you may do three sessions of this where it's the alternating quicker, slow, quicker, slow. And then the fourth session, you can do an entire quick session and then go back to alternating. You know, that's one way of looking at it, but just don't fall into the trap where this just ends up being every single week for the entirety of the session is a speed session. So that's layer number two. It's pretty simple. Start with that tempo walking, ramp it up to the elevation stuff, that can really go a long way.
[17:31]
Practicing on the Trail

[17:32]Now, layer number three is basically just practicing this on the trail. So when we're actually out on our training hikes, out on the trail, out in that environment where we've got that undulating, unpredictable, uneven terrain, with the pack on the back, I'm practicing it in this environment. Typically, what I sort of say here is just, you know, as part of your training hikes, whatever you're doing, go out and do your normal session. Stick to your steady pacing, take it easy, just build that out. And then just in certain sections of the trail.

[18:02]We push the speed. You know, this may be a case of sort of saying anywhere from four minutes to maybe up to 20 minutes, where you're like, you know what, I'm going to ramp it up. I'm going to push this, I'm going to sustain this speed with the pack over the terrain, and I'm really going to push it. And then week by week by week, we may do an extra five minutes, a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more. Again, we don't have to turn the entirety of the hike here to this, but we just want to practice this on this type of terrain in small degrees. Get used to it when there's just uneven surface underfoot. Get used to it when you're going up a hill outdoors. Get used to it with that pack on the back. Get used to it when you already have that sort of accumulated fatigue after three or four hours of hiking, and now you're going to ramp up, that type of stuff. So when you are doing your training hikes, go about this. Now, if you're the type of person who are like, well, I'm doing all my longer cardio is running and cycling. I'm not really doing a huge amount of hiking. Then you got to sort of think, okay, what can I do here? Can I incorporate some longer hikes? If so, probably a good idea to practice that. If that's just inaccessible for you, then you may want to think about, okay, I may sort of need to do some longer walking sessions on the treadmill or whatever may be, and then just incorporate small bits of this here and there.

[19:15]So that's layer number three. And then layer number four, you know, this is for the people who like really, really like it's kind of like worrying
[19:23]
Time Trial Hikes for Speed

[19:22]them, it's stressing them out a little bit. They're like, look, I just really want to like, you know, make sure I'm nailing this is start doing some like time trial hikes. Like I would sort of say most people don't need to do this. But as I said, if it is stressing around a little bit, can be an option. Essentially, a time trial hike basically involves finding a local trail, a trail that you don't have to travel a huge amount for something that's relatively accessible. And here you're going to do the entire hike where you really push it and you're going to sort of say put a timer on at the start whack your pack on and you're going to push the speed for the entirety of the hike at the end of the hike get your time write it down and then essentially you make every four or five or six weeks or so do this hike again with the intention of each time you do it you get a bit quicker a bit quicker a bit quicker now obviously the difference between this and just practicing those sections on the trail is we get that experience we get that feeling of actually hustling for hours at a time. And yes, there may be periods where you still need to rest. Yes, there may be periods where you have those lower, lower paces, but we just want to sort of like be pushing and pushing and pushing. As I said, not everyone needs to do this, but it can be an option.

[20:31]And again, with this type of thing, you know, definitely, definitely, definitely do not fall into the trap of just doing this all the time because our hiking typically wants to be our lower intensity stuff. So I would sort of save this to every four to six weeks.

[20:46]That's typically enough, even once every eight weeks. Just every once in a while, get that exposure. But realistically, when it comes down to speed training for mountaineering, it doesn't have to be too much more than that. Number one, just make sure you are nailing the basics of your training. You're doing everything you can to give yourself that good foundation and minimising that fatigue. Number two, incorporate a bit of that specific speed conditioning.

[21:11]The tempo walking, the stair and heel climbing. You could do the same thing with like sled pulling, if you're aware of that. You could do the same thing of, you know, any other type of situation on the trail or on the mountain that you're aware you're coming up on. You could sort of incorporate a bit of that. Then, you know, start to practice little sections on the trail. And if you really, really feel like you need it, incorporate some of those time trial hikes, put that into it on top of, or layer that on top of your normal training. And it really can go a long way. It's not too complicated, but I've seen it work many times before.

[21:42]So if you're a mountaineer and you did find yourself in this situation where you're like, look, I am aware that I probably do need to think about my speed

​a little bit, probably do need to push it. Hopefully this just gives you a bit of direction and a bit of insight and help you find that balance between getting you where you need to be for your speed considerations, but also not having to completely overtake your training and get in the way of other things or whatever it may be. So hopefully this helps. Now, last thing I will say is I always say on these podcasts, you know, if you were listening to all this, you're like, okay, cool, Rowan, this sounds good. It makes sense. But in all honesty, I would like a little bit of help with this, finding that balance between getting all my normal training, my strength, my conditioning, my cardio, when to incorporate these sessions, how to taper it, all of that jazz. If you did want a bit of help with this, I would love to chat with you. If you want to find out a little bit more about our online personal training for mountaineers, you can go to summitstrength.com.au slash mountaineer. On that page, there's a big video which talks through our program in a bit of detail and if it sounds like something you'd want to explore a bit more there's a link on that page where you can book a call with our team we can have a bit of a chat and ultimately see if and how we may be able to help you your mountaineering and your training so if you want to check it out go to summitstrength.com.au slash mountaineer and we can take it from there so with that being said thank you so much for listening hope you've enjoyed it and we'll talk to you very very soon bye.

Want to get fit, strong and resilient for your mountaineering adventures?
Check out The Online Summit Program