Just got done with a 14 mile run - took me over 2 hours and so steep...

I did 2 pretty tough hill runs this summer. The first was an 8 mile run up and down Mount Elden in Flagstaff, Az. The 4 miles up took 34 minutes and was not an easy effort, I think it was a total of 1.500 feet of climbing, finishing over 9,000 feet. The second was a long run of 15-16 miles just outside of Flagstaff on some fire roads. We climbed 600 feet in the first 4 miles, down down the backside of the hill, and then back up 100 or so more...and then turned around. All in all it was 2 600 foot climbs and 1 100 foot climb over 15 miles, starting at 8,000 feet. Averaged just under 7 minute pace on this one, but most of that came from the last 3-4 miles being downhill.

There are ultramarathoners who climb up steep mountains at 15 min/mile pace.

22 mi hills every 2 weeks. following in the footsteps of Lydiard's teachings. I forget how long it took. more than 4 hours definately. call me insane but I never drifted above 128 Heart rate for the whole run. I really wanted to beat the Africans. ain't going to go under 2:05 marathon without an indestructable base to build insane speed on without PEDs.

I did a 11 miler once, it took me about 1 hour and 35 mins, climbed about 1000 ft in elevation the 5.5 miles in.

I live in the SF Bay Area and when you run steep trails you shouldn't be worrying about pace. It's a different game. Being out two hours is the thing. Nice duration run.

On my LSD runs, I sometimes incorporate hill repeats up Thacker Mountain (near Oxford, MS). Its a little over 1/2 mile to the top and only about 571 feet above sea level, but the last stretch is pretty steep. Yesterday I ran apprx. 14 miles w/ only three repeats up Thacker and the total run took me about two hours.

Bay area is crazy when it comes to steepness of trails. I wish there were more dirt/flatter runs around here... kind of sucks to spend 2-3 hours running on the side of a mountain and end up hitting less than 15.

My run yesterday started at about 100', went up to 3505', down to 2950', up to 3155', down to 3050', up to 3855', down to 3600', up to 4625', and then back the same way. Total elevation gain in about 13 miles was about 6355'.

Long time ago back in the early '80s some graduate student friends and I set out to hike up Sourdough Mountain in the North Cascades. It's a 5.5 mile long trail to the summit with a vertical gain of 5200 feet, less than a mile into the hike I found they were just going so slow it was actually painful for me to go at that pace, so I decided to run up the rest of the trail by myself instead. I don't have a time, but I sure was glad they had a water station at the lookout post. I stayed up top for a while enjoying the view over Ross Lake and talking with the rangers before eventually heading back down. Going down was as painful as going up, especially on the knees. My friends only made it about 2/3rds up before turning back; I passed them not long after they'd turned around.

Here's a short link to the trail:

http://www.cooltrails.com/sourdoughmtn.htm

bay area.... wrote:kind of sucks to spend 2-3 hours running on the side of a mountain and end up hitting less than 15.

Are you? And is it really that much more beneficial for only a 5k or 10k runner (not a marathoner or half marathoner)?

Maybe once in a while, but is it really necessary to do such a tough long run when training for a 5k?

bump good question I want to know the answer too

i'm in san fran too. i'm curious what streets and trails specifically you ran this on? i have encountered some tremendous hills for sure, but nothing to slow me down more than a minute or so a mile. there are hills here, not mountains.

I'm not familiar with San Francisco but I live around San Mateo County and places like Huddart Park, Foothills Park, Rancho San Antonio etc. are really hilly. Maybe the OP is referring to places like that.

Isn't Marin Headlands in San Francisco pretty hilly?

Mt. Home Inn? Phoenix Lake? Golden Gate Park? Crissy Field? China Camp? Tennessee Valley Road? Crown Road? Concrete Pipe? Lagunitas?

bay area.... wrote:

Bay area is crazy when it comes to steepness of trails. I wish there were more dirt/flatter runs around here... kind of sucks to spend 2-3 hours running on the side of a mountain and end up hitting less than 15.

I once did an eight mile tempo run on some trails outside of Asheville, NC, and I swear to God it was uphill both ways.

I know exactly what you mean. Today I ran a hard ass 3 mile run on the TM with the elevation set to .5. It took me almost 30 minutes. I was completely dead when I was done.

In high school I ran up in Tahoe for a 2 hour run for 12 miles by accident. I can't remember the name now but we wanted to run up to star lake or leaf lake ( cant remember the name) by one of the tallest peaks. I wish someone could show me the trail again so I could map it. All I remember is that it was a fire road up all the way out, with a fake peak every half mile. Towards the top it was switchbacks up to the lake. It ended up taking us 45 mins just to run back all down hill. Must have been like 65 mins to run up it. Im guessing we climbed in the range of 3000 feet. Total guess though.