i'd like to take an unscientific SP poll. sign here if you do not include running (any!) in your training regimen and have climbed one or more of the following: rainier, mckinley, mont blanc, the matterhorn (the real one), aconcagua, any of the 8000ers. also, tell us what most of your training regimen consists of (stuff you do on a daily or weekly basis). also tell us if you're a superhero and do not need training.

TIA

I don't run -- I worry about what it will do to my knees.

I mountain-bike and hike instead (full disclosure: I do sometimes jog a bit on sections of long boring downhill fire roads). At the climbing gym I put in 30 minutes on an elliptical or recumbent bike before pulling plastic.

I also do daily calf, hamstring, and quad stretches, plus pushups, yoga and core exercises.

I don't run at all. Have climbed Aconcagua and Rainier amongst many other things. I "train" by climbing high peaks in Colorado every weekend year round. That's it. And I've kicked butt on all of the bigger mountains I've attempted.

I don't run. Of the mtns on your list I've climbed Rainier.

I don't really train. I climb/hike/bike. No time for training. Well, maybe a little hangboarding at home, but that's it.

That's not to say I wouldn't be a better climber if I did train at home, but I gotta watch TV sometime.

I haven't run consistently in years (for full disclosure I run couple of miles once in a blue moon if I feel like it). I keep physically fit by snowboarding/ice climbing in winter and climbing/hiking in the summer. I did 3 killer (25+ mile) dayhikes this year (each cumulative 8000+ feet ascent) with not much problem and attempted Rainier twice this summer (came 600 ft short of the summit). Unless you do some serious distance running, I don't think running gives you that mental "push an extra mile" edge that you get from all day endurance activities like hiking, cycling or climbing.

I don't run whatsoever. I do a ton of cycling though, road/mtn. Probably about 15-20hrs a week (use to do about 25hrs week). In the winter I only lift my with me legs and core. Last year I did start doing a few pullups but that is it.
I fly on anything not technical and can go for about 22 hrs straight at a high intensity. The only thing that really effects me is a heavy pack. As a cyclist my upper body is weak compared to my lower body.

gobriango wrote:I don't run whatsoever. I do a ton of cycling though, road/mtn. Probably about 15-20hrs a week (use to do about 25hrs week). In the winter I only lift my with me legs and core. Last year I did start doing a few pullups but that is it.
I fly on anything not technical and can go for about 22 hrs straight at a high intensity. The only thing that really effects me is a heavy pack. As a cyclist my upper body is weak compared to my lower body.

This is very interesting to me. I'm about to buy a road bike. I already have a cheap trail bike. I'm also about to kick my running habit (it is truly a habit for me) and I was concerned that the biking would not make up for it. Your post is reassuring. Thanks.

SarahThompson wrote:I don't run at all. Have climbed Aconcagua and Rainier amongst many other things. I "train" by climbing high peaks in Colorado every weekend year round. That's it. And I've kicked butt on all of the bigger mountains I've attempted.

one of the lucky ones!

I don't run...it's too boring and my legs are too short.

Since I don't live by any mountains all of my training is done on a Stairmaster, that is, when I go to the gym! If not, I sit out back with a beer in one hand and a big cigar in the other while envisioning myself climbing the next mountain. Psychological preparation is just as important as physical preparation. Lately, however, I've been overdoing it on the psychological part. Hope this doesn't lead to some sort of mental opposition problems!

[Edited to clarify]. I think you should do whatever aerobic exercise you can do consistently. I made something of a mistake in that area recently. I climbed Rainier this June via Liberty Ridge, which is a fairly strenuous route as you have to carry a 3-4 day pack up and over the mountain, and two days of the route are on alpine ice sections that range from 40-90 degrees. Whereas I used to run 6 days a week I switched to stairmaster and/or elliptical trainer with a pack for 3 days + running the other 3, partly because I thought it might be more specific to climbing. In retrospect (compared with my experience on other mountains) it felt as if I was less fit than if I had just kept up my running mileage. I attribute this to the fact that when I run with a group, as I typically do, and especially if I do any racing (which I used to do), I am motivated to keep up a level of training intensity that I find very hard to maintain on an indoor machine. Your motivation and mileage may vary, of course.

My takeaway was that if you do something aerobic that you like to do and are good at you may get better aerobic training results than if you do something that someone else recommends as more sport-specific. The other thing I wish I had done was more really long workouts on weekends (3+ hr runs, or 8+ hr hikes with a big pack). It helps in marathons and it would have helped on Rainier.

I don't fit exactly your requirements but I think my experience is similar to what you're looking for.

I don't run, although I did buy some running shoes this year, lol. Maybe I'll do some this winter...

I have been a cyclist, though, for 30 years (off and on anyway). Riding up hills, a lot, would be great training. This is not load bearing though, so be aware of the potential to loose bone density. I mix this with hiking and climbing when I can. I've also been known to drag a 50 to 60 lb. pack up local trails or small mountains, but I'm seeing less need for this currently.

Get someone with experience to fit the bike to you properly. Learn to ride with some experienced people too, which can be done for free on local rides. Cycling is difficult and it might take you a couple of years to get fast. But you could use it for training right away.

Have fun, it's a great sport.

Well, I didn't *summit* Denali, but I trained for it. And I don't run. Ever.

I lifted weights 2-3 times per week: arms, legs, torso, the works. I hiked and skied when I could. And once a week for a total of about 5 times I did a steep local hike with 2k gain, wearing a 70# pack.

I used to ride a bike a lot, and consider it to be excellent training.

I hate running and it hurts my hips. I walk hills with a pack full of weights. Fred cariies rocks. It's more specific training for climbing in my book. Haven't done Denali but have done Mont Blanc, the real Matterhorn, Badile, etc.

I never run! I can find better ways to ruin my knees! I bike for cardio and mountain hike for, well, mountain training. Haven't summited any of those peaks you mention but I'm confident I could do Rainier with just that for training. If I need better shape, I just up the frequency of both.

So far I have climbed Rainier and Denali (which both felt pretty moderate to me, in terms of physical exertion with my legs) and am usually the guy charging out in front with a heavy pack - the steeper the slope the better. For aerobic and leg conditioning I rely on a triad of road cycling, swimming, and the stairmaster.

Road cycling is the easiest to do because it is certainly the most fun, and it really works the quadriceps. However, it works slightly different muscle groups than what you use for actual steep hiking and snowclimbing and does nothing for strengthening stabilizing muscles or training balancing your body and pack weight over your feet, so keep in mind that strength gains from cycling only have an approximate cross-over. For example, I can exhaust my legs for cycling but then have plenty of reserve to hike up steep snow and trails (makes for a great training combination!). Another downside is that unless you do nothing but sets on really steep hills (e.g. 15-20% hills), it's not very time efficient.

Swimming is something that I rarely hear other climbers doing, but I think it can be useful to include in a workout regimen. I always do flutter kick drills and distance free-style (e.g. 1-mile to 2,000 yard set). First, I've found it as a reliable fall back option to cycling on bad weather days or if I can't get out early enough to avoid cycling in the dark. Working on a hard and consistent flutter kick better trains muscles used for kicking (think kick-stepping in the snow) than running, cycling, stairs, etc. Also, it works just about every muscle in your body so is excellent for strengthening stabilizing muscles and your core and arms at the same time. Finally, by having more limited breaths, it can be helpful psychologically to be used to exercising without an ability to breath faster to make up for increased effort.

I've found the Stairmaster to be helpful if done in the right way and also realizing its limitations. When I used to live in Salt Lake City I would speed hike steep trails, sometimes with a weighted pack. In Berkeley the hills aren't steep enough, sustained enough, or long enough to make this worthwhile, so as much as it sucks, the stairmaster with a weighted pack still seems useful if done in the right way.

First, I usually wear my stiff boots to maintain the thick skin on my feet, so I never have to break my boots in for the season. I never use the handrails, forcing me to rely entirely on balancing my weight on my feet. By doing this, I'm working out my back, core, and a lot of the stabilizing muscles in addition to my quadriceps and upper calves. However, you do miss out on training strength, endurance, and stability in your ankles for the sloped surfaces and rougher trails (apart from hiking, I've found trail running to be the best for this).

Second, I set up some metrics to focus on to make sure I punish myself so that I am near exhaustion near the end and ideally near my lactic acid threshold throughout (easy to watch with a heart rate monitor). With whatever weight I have on my back, I attempt to maintain at least a 3,000 ft / hr ascent rate (it's easier to climb faster with a flat foot surface and little ankle flexure), starting at sustaining this for a minimum of 30 minutes and gradually increasing time once I increase the weight enough. I also keep track of my previous pace and try to match or improve on it, but using the 3,000 ft/hr metric as a bare minimum to meet. I also wear a regular weight that I gradually increase (up to 55 lbs right now) as my pace gets faster and it gets easier to complete the time.