This session is used for athletes looking to start building additional volume via two-a-day sessions. Hiking is great for building hip and glute strength and using a treadmill means the session can be 100% focused on vertical gain. Particularly for athletes with trail racing goals or who are looking at a hilly run course in their next event, incorporating steeper hill work will help build leg strength.
These frequency hikes are also beneficial for cyclists, so this should not just be seen as a workout for triathletes and runners. Getting off the bike and doing some weight-bearing endurance training is healthy for cyclists, especially in the off season.
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Use the warm-up to steadily increase the incline to at least 10%—it must be at a level that’s too steep to run, so 10 is the minimum for the main set. Some treadmills get quite steep. For the cooldown, ramp the incline down to 0% again.
Workout of the Week: Frequency Hike
Warm-up
5 min. @ 5km/hr., building to main set % incline
Main set
25 min. @ 5km/hr. with >10% incline
Cooldown
5 min. @ 5km/hr., ramping incline back down to 0%
