Training for the Uphill Athlete: A Manual for Mountain Runners and Ski Mountaineers - Softcover

We wrote this book to share three lifetimes of knowledge on the science and methodology of endurance training. But we need to start with a disclaimer: Collectively, the three of us have made all the training mistakes and a few of them more than once. We know from painful firsthand experience just as much about how not to train effectively as we have learned about how to train correctly. There are many more ways to train wrong than right. While learning from your own mistakes is the best teacher it is painful and perhaps more importantly, a terrible waste of time. By steering you around the pitfalls and danger areas we hope to save you the wasted days and weeks, to say nothing of the heartbreak of ineffective training. Over the accumulated decades that we have been training and coaching we have been able to refine our approach and want to share this with you in these pages.

The study of any subject is best managed within a framework. We hope to establish that intellectual framework within which to dissect what is a complex topic. Even though none of this material is overly complex there are a lot of topics covered and we don’t expect you to absorb all the information presented here in one reading. It is our hope that you will use this book as reference manual to guide your training over many seasons as you apply what we have spent decades learning. No single part of the book is meant to stand alone. Each section is supported by the preceding ones and as such supports the subsequent parts.

We start in Section 1 with a look at The Physiological Basis of Endurance Training. Despite the limitations of idealized scientific studies, they can still provide us with a better understanding of the whys even if they can’t help us so much with the whats or hows. These last two are where endurance training becomes more art than science. And like any art or craft it can only be learned by diligent practice.

In Section 2, which we call The Methodology of Endurance Training, we identify and explain numerous concepts that, if understood and applied correctly, will make you a better athlete or coach. These are the tools in your tool box. Knowing which tool is appropriate for each task is what makes the master artisan. The range of topics here is as broad as it is deep and this is the area of the book that we suppose will be the one you go back to over and over again to refresh your knowledge.

Section 3 is devoted to Strength Training for The Uphill Athlete. We demystify strength in terms most applicable to endurance athletes as opposed to weight lifters

By the time we get to Section 4 we will be focusing on How to Train. Here we talk about how to categorize, design, and structure workouts as well as how to mix them depending on what you want to achieve. All the previous information will be brought into play as we show you how to progress from very basic, but essential aerobic capacity building to the specific speed endurance required for your event.

Finally, in Section 5 we roll up our sleeves and dig into Planning Your Training and give several example plans you can use for guidance or apply directly to your own training.