My name is Francesco Puppi, I’m a professional trail runner for Hoka and a coach for Vert.run. Over the years I have raced everything from short mountain races to ultras, with recent highlights including winning the Canyons 100k and CCC.
As a coach, I focus on creating effective running workouts to help runners improve their performance, even without access to mountains.
Today, I’m here to answer one of the most common questions I get as a coach: how to train for hills without mountains, no matter where you live.
“Can I train for a mountain trail race even though I live in a flat place?”
Let’s dig in!
So…you want to know if it’s possible to be a successful trail runner without having regular access to the mountains? The answer is definitely yes!
There are many examples of great athletes who live and train in a relatively flat area and compete very successfully on the trails.
Inspiration from Ruth Croft
(The first–and probably most epic–example that comes to mind: pro runner Ruth Croft trained for, won and SET THE COURSE RECORD of CCC by UTMB while living and training in the flat city of Taipei, Taiwan!)
How to Train for Hills Without Mountains
Anyway, back to the point. In this article, we will explore why and how it’s possible to train for the hills…without the hills!
Take my example:
- I live in a hilly area, but I can’t go out and run a VK straight from my door.
- Most of my workouts and easy runs include only modest elevation gain…but yet, one of my biggest strengths on the trails are the uphills.
- I’m lucky enough to have trails right in my backyard, and the mountains are close by, so once or twice a week I’ll do a workout or a long run which includes a big vertical gain (over 1000m or 3000ft).
- But other than that, I regularly run on terrain that most trail runners would consider quite flat.
Running Workout Plans for Flat Places
Live in a flat place? Vert.run coaches build training plans around the terrain you have, not the terrain you wish you had.
Ruth Croft’s Training Strategy
Let’s go back to the example of Ruth Croft that we mentioned earlier. Professional runner Ruth was living in Taipei, Taiwan–a flat city–when she discovered trail running.
At that time, she was doing over 90 percent of her training on a flat concrete river path. She was able to take first at the 2016 UTMB CCC (and set the course record!) and second at the 2017 Lavaredo Ultra Trail.
She says: “never stress about not having mountains or trails out your back door.”
Running Workouts: Improving Uphill and Downhill Strength
How is it possible to improve your uphill and downhill strength even if you live in a city or a flat area?
With some adaptations and creativity, and maybe a little shift in your mindset, you can still train for trail running even if the closest thing to a trail is your local city park.
The key point is to understand that running is not always enough.
While you may not be able to replicate the exact vertical gain of the races you have in your calendar, or the ideal elevation prescribed by your training plan, you can mimic the intensity to simulate it and train your muscles to develop almost the same adaptations.
Strength and conditioning
Core and strength training should be a staple in every trail runner’s training program–especially if you train in a flat place.
The best exercises are the ones that involve strengthening the muscles recruited running:
- Squats
- Half squats
- Lunges
- Calf raises
- Step ups
- Bird dogs
- Bridges
But also non specific core and strength routines (like this one that I recorded) that help us build our general strength (plank, crunches, triceps dips, push-ups..).
One interesting and scientifically proven fact about strength is that, no matter what exercise you are doing or which muscle group is involved, your general strength will improve!
Running Workouts at Stairs
You may not be able to climb Mont Blanc, but one of the easiest ways to do some real elevation gain is by running up and down a staircase.
While living and training on a cruise ship, pro runner Zach Miller won the JFK 50 mile and Lake Sonoma 50 mile races (in 2013 and 2014 respectively.)
How did he do that? By training on stairs and on a treadmill.
Don’t let living in a flat place hold you back! Make sure you put the time in, stay consistent and follow the principle of progression: running up and down stairs can be a bit mentally daunting, so it’s important to be gradual. Make it fun and take your workout to the next level adding some intensity!
Examples of Running Workouts at Stairs:
1. Stair intervals + progression run:
After a good warm-up (on flat or on the stairs), run 10 x 30 seconds uphill intervals at high intensity (8/10 RPE). You can take one or two steps at a time and even alternate, to give your body different stimuli. Once you’re done, start a progression of 30 minutes beginning with an effort of 4/10, and pushing it a little harder every 5 minutes, ending at tempo pace.
2. Stair ladder:
After a good warm-up, run this ladder two times: 3 min – 2:30 min – 2 min – 1:30 min – 1 min – 30 sec. Recover jogging down the ladder until the start, after each interval. Finish with some flat cool-down.
3. Stair circuit:
Warm-up and then run 4 floors of stairs up and down, adding a core, strength or HIIT exercise each time you are at the bottom (examples: burpees, plank, push-ups, wall sit, jumps, lunges). Continue for 30 minutes continuously.
Running Workouts: Jumps
Jumps are a great way to strengthen your muscles, improve your reactivity and work on your downhill skills.
There are many ways to do jumps:
- Rope jump,
- Box jumps,
- Jump lunges,
- Jump squats,
- Plyometric jumps.
The key is: quality over quantity. Start with small amounts, stay consistent and you soon will notice the improvements.
I suggest starting with low impact exercises (such as the rope jump and box jumps) and then, once you get stronger, also thanks to the other strength and conditioning routines that you should be taking care of, continue to the more advanced exercises.
Treadmill
Some love it, some hate it: but no matter how you feel, a treadmill is definitely the most accurate simulation of uphill running.
You can virtually do any uphill workout with the treadmill: uphill tempo, uphill intervals, hilly runs, uphill strides…and it’s a very easy, useful way to train for the trails even if you live in a city (or you don’t have the possibility to run outside because it’s dark, icy or for other reasons).
Some treadmills can go up to a 30% grade or even more!
A couple of disadvantages: you cannot simulate the downhill, of course, and the foot strike is always the same. This tends to put more stress on your feet and ankles, so make sure you mix it up with some running outside (even on a flat surface) and do feet strengthening exercises.
Treadmill Incline Training: Protocols That Actually Work
From the Vert.run coaching team:
The treadmill section above covers the basics well. Here are three specific protocols you can plug directly into your training week. Before choosing which one to prioritize, look at your race profile. If your race has long, sustained climbs, lean toward the tempo protocol at lower effort. If your race has shorter, punchier climbs, lean toward the interval protocol at higher effort. Specificity matters even on a treadmill.
Protocol 1: Sustained climb tempo Set the treadmill to 8 to 10% incline. Run for 20 to 40 minutes at RPE 6 to 7, a comfortably hard effort you can sustain without stopping. This simulates the long, steady climbs you will face in a mountain race. Start at 20 minutes and build by 5 minutes each week. Best for runners whose races feature long, continuous ascents.
Protocol 2: Incline intervals Set the treadmill to 10 to 15% incline. Run 8 to 12 x 1 minute at RPE 8, walking or jogging flat for 90 seconds between each. This trains your cardiovascular system to handle the intensity spikes of shorter, punchier climbs. Best for runners whose races feature repeated short climbs rather than one big sustained effort.
Protocol 3: Progressive hilly run Set the treadmill to 6% incline and run easy for 10 minutes at RPE 4. Every 5 minutes, increase the incline by 2%. Continue until you reach 14 to 16%, then reverse back down the same way. Total session is 40 to 50 minutes. This mimics the undulating elevation profile of a trail race better than a flat sustained climb and works well regardless of your specific race profile.
One useful addition to any treadmill session: once you finish the incline work, step off the treadmill and do 15 to 20 minutes of flat outdoor running immediately after. Your legs will already be fatigued from the climbing effort, and running flat on tired legs simulates the feeling of reaching a runnable section mid-race when your quads have already taken a beating. It is a small addition that adds meaningful race-specific stimulus.
One important reminder from Francesco’s note above: the treadmill cannot train your downhills. Complement every treadmill block with eccentric leg work, slow downhill lunges and step-downs, to build the quad resilience your race will demand on the descents.
You’re already thinking like a trail runner. Now let’s build a plan around the terrain you actually have.
Running Workouts at The Gym
In the gym, you will find a wide range of possibilities to improve your uphill and downhill strength. Besides the treadmill, the weights and classic gym equipment, here are a few machines that you can use:
- The stairmaster, where you can basically replicate all the stair and treadmill workouts
- The elliptical: a wonderful way to add aerobic volume and intensity + strength without the injury risk of running (it’s a low impact activity)
- The rowing machine: for resistance training and general strength, using all major muscle groups
Stairmaster Workouts for Trail Running
From the Vert.run coaching team:
The Stairmaster is one of the most underrated tools for flat-city trail runners. Unlike the treadmill, it forces a stepping motion that more closely mimics the actual mechanics of power hiking uphill, the skill that separates strong mountain runners from struggling ones in the back half of a long race.
Stairmaster workout 1: Steady state Set a moderate pace you can sustain for 30 to 45 minutes at RPE 5 to 6. This is your aerobic base builder on the Stairmaster. Use it on easy days as a low-impact alternative to a flat easy run.
Stairmaster workout 2: Power hike intervals Set the Stairmaster to a challenging resistance. Alternate 3 minutes at RPE 7 to 8 with 2 minutes at RPE 4 to 5. Repeat for 30 to 40 minutes. This directly trains your power hiking, one of the most important and most undertrained skills for trail and ultra runners at any distance.
Stairmaster workout 3: Long effort 60 to 90 minutes at a steady RPE 5. Use this once every two weeks during your sharpening phase as your primary elevation stimulus for the week. It is not glamorous but done consistently it builds the specific muscular endurance that flat running simply cannot replicate.
A note on power hiking: if your race has significant elevation gain, power hiking is not a backup plan for when you are too tired to run. It is a skill to train deliberately. The athletes who race mountain ultras well are the ones who can power hike at a pace that keeps their heart rate low and their legs fresh for the runnable sections. The Stairmaster is one of the best tools to build that skill without access to real hills.
One thing worth trying if you want to add an extra stimulus: a weighted vest. Adding 5 to 10% of your bodyweight on a steady Stairmaster session increases the muscular demand without requiring more time. It has become a popular tool among flat-city runners preparing for mountain races. That said, this is not your main session of the week. You need a solid base of leg and core strength before introducing extra load, and when you do start, err on the side of conservative. Start lighter than you think you need to, keep the effort easy, and never use a vest on your interval sessions. The goal is a small additional stimulus, not a session you need to recover from.
Running Workouts in the sand
Running in the sand is a great way to build uphill strength when you live in a flat place.
The added resistance of running in the sand will help simulate the effort required for climbing hills.
In the sand, you’ll want a shorter stride, an increased cadence and more arm pumping to stay balanced, similarly to uphill running.
If the sand is compact enough, you can keep your shoes on. But if the sand is deep or soft, why not try running barefoot too? It’s a great proprioceptive exercise (use the principle of progression, in duration and intensity.)
Intensity
Running uphill is hard. It puts the cardiovascular and muscular systems into stress: that’s why you need to train your body to adapt to a similar intensity.
Combining intensity workouts with strength work on a regular basis will be the key to your success while training in a flat place.
Our bodies perceived exertion based on physiological parameters like heart race and breathing rate, so we can simulate that hard effort with a flat, fast workout such as an interval training session, a fartlek, a tempo run.
Besides this, as we mentioned, it’s important to keep our bodies strong and efficient with strength work (which has another important advantage or side effect: it keeps us healthy and injury free).
Mixing Different Components
What makes the difference in the bigger picture is the mix of different components—strength and conditioning, intensity, and cross-training —makes a difference in the bigger picture.
Want to train for a mountain trail race or ultra, but you live in a flat place? No problem! We have lots of training plans for flat places–our two most popular are this 50k Ultramarathon Training Plan, and this 50m Ultramarathon Training Plan
No mountains nearby? No problem. Tell us your race and where you train. We’ll build your plan around it.
How to Use the Mountain Index to Make Your Elevation Work Count
From the Vert.run coaching team:
The Mountain Index is simple: total elevation gain divided by total distance. A race with 3,000m (10,000ft) of gain over 50km (31 miles) has a Mountain Index of 60m per km. It is one of the most useful tools for trail runners to understand what a race actually demands beyond just the distance.
For flat-city runners, the honest reality is this: on a week-to-week basis, your Mountain Index will always be lower than your race demands. That is just the nature of training where you live. The tools in this article, stairs, treadmill, Stairmaster, sand, get you closer than doing nothing, but they will not fully close the gap on their own. That is fine. You do not need to match your race Mountain Index every week to be prepared.
Where the Mountain Index becomes genuinely useful for flat-city runners is in two specific situations.
The first is designing treadmill and Stairmaster sessions. If you know your race MI, you can calculate exactly how much elevation gain you need to accumulate in a given session to make it race-relevant. A 60 minute treadmill session at 10% incline running at 6km per hour gives you roughly 600m of gain over 6km, a MI of 100. That single session, done once a week, starts to move the needle in a meaningful way.
The second is planning your mountain trips. If you can get to real terrain once or twice during your sharpening phase, use the MI to design those days intentionally. Find a route whose MI closely matches your race. That day becomes your most specific training stimulus of the entire block. One well-designed mountain day at the right MI is worth more than weeks of flat running with occasional stair sessions.
So the approach for a flat-city runner is not to chase the MI every week. It is to use the MI to make your specific elevation sessions count, and to design your mountain trips so that when you do get there, you are replicating exactly what your race will demand.
How can I replace a hill workout if I don’t have access to the hills?
This is a question I often get from the athletes here at Vert.run, especially the new ones who are just discovering trail running and wonder how the heck they can train for a mountain trail race while living in a flat city.
There are many ways to replace a hill workout with another type of training, which of course won’t produce the exact same effect but which will still be very useful to build your fitness.
Some examples include:
1. If you don’t have access to a longer climb, a set of “short” uphill intervals, as long as 2 or 3 minutes, will work.
- For example, 6 x 3 minutes uphill @ 7 RPE, or 12 x 1 minute uphill @ 8 RPE (depending on what is available), jogging back downhill as a recovery.
2. A set of hill strides or hill sprints, on a short, steep incline (as short as 60m or 200ft).
- You can run two or three sets, each one including 6 to 8 hill sprints which should be run close to your maximum speed. Jog or walk back down to the start of the climb after each sprint, and recover for 2 or 3 minutes after each set.
3. A stair workout.
- Often, especially if you live in a city, you’ll have the possibility to run a few floors and this might be the easiest way to get in some elevation gain if you live in a city.
- People in the building might think that you’re a bit…different, but it’ll be totally worth the effort! If you need to make the session harder, bound up the stairs two or three steps at a time.
4. A treadmill workout:
- The treadmill gives you the possibility to set the grade of the incline and control the effort very precisely, with the only disadvantage being that it’s an extremely even surface. You can replicate a continuous climb, a set of uphill intervals, a hilly run, or alternating short climbs with some sections of flat running.
5. A cross-training session:
- If you have access to a gym, you can take advantage of the stair master, which is great for conditioning the legs. Another example, if you have a bike or a stationary bike, work at low cadence and hard gear to simulate a climb: it’ll make for a great strength and intensity workout.
- You can go climbing, do a CrossFit session, a HIIT, or strength and conditioning workout with a PT
6. A core and strength workout (in the gym or at home, with or without weights.)
- This is technically not a replacement for a hill session, but something that should be included in your typical training week all year. It’s still worth mentioning!
Sample Training Week
From the Vert.run coaching team:
This is an example of what a solid training week looks like for a runner based in a flat city, 8 weeks out from a 50k mountain race with significant elevation gain. This is a sharpening phase week, not a base building week.
Monday: Rest or 30 minutes easy cross-training (bike or elliptical). Active recovery only.
Tuesday: Treadmill incline intervals. 10 x 1 minute at 12% grade, RPE 8. Rest or walk for 90 seconds between each — no need to adjust the incline, just stop or walk in place. 15 minute warm-up and cool-down at easy pace. Total: 50 to 60 minutes.
Wednesday: Easy flat run, 50 to 60 minutes at RPE 4 to 5. Add 4 to 6 strides at the end, 20 seconds each at 80% effort with full recovery between. These keep your legs sharp and your running economy from going flat during a high-volume training block.
Thursday: Strength and core session, 40 to 45 minutes. Squats, lunges, step-ups, single-leg deadlifts, calf raises, plank variations. For a flat-city runner this is not optional. Thursday strength work is as important as any running session in the week.
Friday: Rest or very easy 20 to 30 minute jog. Legs should feel fresh going into the weekend.
Saturday: Long run, 2 to 2.5 hours. Use every elevation source available: stairs, treadmill incline sections, any real hills nearby. Target 60 to 70% of your race Mountain Index on this day. Practice your race nutrition and gear.
Sunday: Stairmaster or easy run, 50 to 60 minutes at RPE 4 to 5. Running on tired legs from Saturday. Keep the effort honest but do not push it.
Total week: approximately 6 to 7 hours of moving time.
A week like this requires knowing how to balance intensity, volume, and recovery in the right proportions. The further you go in distance, the more that balance matters and the harder it is to manage on your own. A 50k demands a certain level of preparation. A 100k or 100 miler demands significantly more, and the cost of getting the balance wrong compounds with every extra hour on the course. This is where working with a coach makes a real difference. A Vert coach builds your week around the terrain you actually have, adjusts your plan when life gets in the way, and makes sure you arrive at your start line ready. See our coaches and start your free trial here.
Frequently Asked Questions: Training for Hills Without Mountains
What is the single most beneficial session for a flat-city trail runner?
If I had to pick one, it would be a stair or treadmill interval session combined with strength work on the same day. Something like 10 x 30 seconds at high effort on stairs or treadmill at 8 to 10% incline, followed by 20 minutes of squats, lunges and calf raises. This combination trains your cardiovascular system, your uphill-specific muscles, and your general leg strength all in one session. Done consistently once a week, it will make a bigger difference than any amount of flat easy running.
Does doing more reps of shorter hills have the same effect as one long climb?
Not exactly the same, but close enough to be very useful. A long climb trains your ability to sustain effort over time and builds mental endurance for the mountains. Short hill repeats train explosive power, running economy and cardiovascular intensity. The good news is that for most trail runners who live in flat places, short repeats are actually the more important of the two, because they build the strength and efficiency that carries over to race day, even on long climbs. Use the long climb when you can get to the mountains. Use the short repeats every week at home.
How do I prepare my legs specifically for mountain running?
Three things done consistently: hill or stair intervals for uphill-specific strength, eccentric exercises like slow downhill lunges and step-downs for downhill resilience, and a weekly strength routine targeting glutes, quads and calves. Your legs need to be strong enough to absorb the impact of downhills, not just power the uphills. Most flat-city runners train the climbing and forget the descending, and that is where races are lost.
Is a treadmill a good substitute for real hills?
Yes, and it is one of the best tools available to a city-based trail runner. Set the incline to 8 to 15% and you can replicate almost any uphill workout: tempo efforts, intervals, progressive climbs. The main limitation is that you cannot train the downhill, and the surface is always even, which puts repetitive stress on the same muscles. To compensate, mix treadmill sessions with outdoor running even if it is flat, and keep your strength and jumps routine in place to build the leg resilience that technical downhills demand.
How long before my race should I try to get to the mountains for a specific training day?
Ideally at least once in the final six weeks before your race. A big mountain day three to four weeks out, either a long run or a race on similar terrain, is the best way to test your preparation and identify any gaps. If you can only get to the mountains once, make it count: match the elevation profile of your race as closely as possible and practice your nutrition, gear and pacing strategy on that day.
Want this plan structured week by week in the Vert app?
Prefer a personalized plan built around your schedule and race? Work with a Vert coach
Conclusion
It’s important to remember that in this age of social media where we feel like every other trail runner lives in a perfect, Alpine chalet with steep mountains right out their front door…that’s far from the reality.
A huge number of the athletes that I coach here at Vert.run don’t have daily access to trails or hills, and it’s a joy for me to help them discover that they can not only train for, but finish and even excel at mountain trail races.
Sure, living and training where big climbs abound would be ideal. But now you know how to become a successful trail runner even without the hills.
