Climbing Training Without Mountains

Recently someone from Florida posted a comment stating that she will be doing the 3 State 3 Mountain challenge and was concerned about doing well with the climbing when there are no substantial climbs in Florida for training. But the good news is that based on the metabolic or physiological adaptations chart and through proper training the same conditioning can be achieved on flat roads or training indoors. Sure it doesn’t hurt to have sustained climbs available, but it is not something that would or should keep a flat land cyclist away from a mountain event. I'm not sure who said it but there is a phrase, "a watt is a watt." If the same energy is used the same metabolic adaptations are gained. However, as a person fitness improves a hill provides a good training place because on flat ground more speed is produced, more distance traveled and therefore more uninterrupted roadway is required. Descending sections will make it very difficult keeping the intensity effort in the proper zone.

Based on a lot of research and application, which I will not get into now, it has been established that raising one’s ceiling of functional threshold is key to sustainable power output. It is expanding one’s aerobic capacity and improving endurance. Training with sustained blocks of intervals at 90% to 100% of one’s functional threshold is key to this type of progressive training. Again this type of training can be done on mountain climbs, but it can be done on flat roads or indoors on the trainer. Just about anywhere that sustained blocks of at least 20 minutes or more at 90% to 100% of functional threshold will do.

One thing about training on sustained climbs is that it typically requires a constant effort in order to accelerate the bike forward and keep the bike upright, whereas, on flat terrain one may slack off at times with coasting or go below the training intensity effort because less effort is required to accelerate the bike forward. So in other words to have the same metabolic adaptations training on flat terrain one will want to have constant torque on the pedals to keep power output at the proper level for a sustained period. I like training indoors because the trainer and the e-Motion rollers provides an environment where I can do sustained intense efforts for solid blocks of time without interruption of traffic and other environmental issues. One can train in Florida and get just as good of results by raising that threshold ceiling by finding a good road with little interruptions for periods of 20 minutes or greater. Also doing longer blocks of 60 minutes or more in the sweet spot which will yield good results.

One thing that training on flat ground will not do is prepare a person for the mental aspect of a sustained climb. I am not a good climber at this point. I am still working hard on doing exactly what I am writing here and that is raising my threshold, but I have learned some important things about climbing. Knowing what you are capable of doing or recognizing your fitness level. In my case I know what my functional threshold is and I can use my power meter to gauge my intensity level while climbing. I have learned to block out what others are doing. It seems like a reflexive action to increase effort when you see other riders past you, but stay focused and stay at a level that can be sustained for the duration of the climb by ignoring faster climbers. You will not last long on a sustained climb if your output effort is well above your threshold.

Another issue is weight management on the bike and the body. The bike is less important than the body because more can be removed from the body and by being leaner the watts/kg factor is greatly enhanced. Watts/kg is like saying “pound for pound the strongest guy” and in endurance sport it pays to be lighter even if the sustained wattage is slightly less than someone weighing more. It seems intuitive that dragging a 10 pound stone up a 5 mile hill will be easier than dragging a 30 pound stone up that same hill. So it is with removing excess body weight that will make climbing hills easier.

Lean people like the ectomorph type of body does well in endurance sport because of better heat control. The heat generated from a higher effort or output is controlled better from the dissipation of heat from the skin. A cooler core temperature results in better performance.


In summary:

• Improve functional threshold by training in sustained blocks of 90% of threshold
• Improve watts/kg (weight management) decrease body weight
• Ride within your own fitness level by ignoring faster climbers
• Be patient because climbing can be a slower more tedious process

Each year there are plenty of Floridians that come up to do either 3 State 3 Mountain or even the more challenging Six Gap ride in North Georgia and many of them do well in the event despite not having a single hill to train on.