[Seth Keena]

Hi MountAire,

Thanks for writing in.

I’ll almost literally throw you a manual on how to train rather than tell you exactly what to do here – Training for the Uphill Athlete. From the sounds of it, you will get a lot of use out of this book now and in the future. It has step-wise instructions on how to plan your volume and intensity for such events, plus will answer more of the inevitable questions.

Other point of advice, that trail race is steep enough and at high enough elevation that you will almost certainly be power hiking most of the uphill portions. I suggest focusing on both running and hiking modality in your training.  Also, take very seriously the descending portion as that is a lot of concentric loading on legs otherwise not so accustomed to it. This is where the muscular endurance protocol (outlined in the book) is key to incorporate.

Happy training!

-Seth