My school is doing a fitness challenge later this month where students can go to the gym and take on a challenge to see who can climb the most feet on a treadmill in 6 minutes
I want to try my hand at this competition (they also have other events that I have no business doing - pull ups, benching, etc)
My question is: at what pace and incline do I maximize my vertical feet?
PRs: 4:53 mile, 17:02 5k, 36ish 10k - but I mostly stick to ultras
Set it to the max incline and whatever pace you can handle
The highest incline it will go. Pick the pace by effort. For reference, 15% incline at 5 minute pace effort would be around 10 minute pace. In 6 minutes you could get close to 500 ft gain.
In terms of just pure work done, 100% slope is the best way to climb, if your only goal is to gain maximum vertical feet. Any energy spent on horizontal movement is wasted.
However, our bodies work most efficiently in certain angles. Anecdotally, I think about 30 to 50% is the most efficient way to climb. Steeper than that and you are getting into awkward hip and knee angles that will decrease efficiency.
Im assuming your school has fairly basic treadmills that max out at a lower setting, so just set it as steep as it will go and run a pace you can handle for the duration of the test.