You are preparing for a trail race with 1,000, 2,000, or even 4,000 metres of elevation gain… but the landscape around you is frustratingly flat?
No mountains, no mountain passes, not even a small hill long enough to train your climbing. Yet on race day, you will still have to climb.
So, how do you train for trail running when there are no hills near you?
The good news is that it is entirely possible to prepare your body effectively on flat terrain. You simply need to make up for the lack of elevation by training the physical qualities required for climbing and descending, while making the most of any opportunities to find hills when you can.
Here is how to do it.
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How to Train for Trail Running Without Hills: The Solutions
Not having hills nearby does not mean you cannot prepare for a trail race with elevation gain. You can develop key qualities on flat ground through strength training, stairs, an incline treadmill, and specific workouts.
The goal is not to replicate the mountains perfectly, but to prepare your body for the different demands it will face on race day.
Strength Training to Prepare for Climbs
When you live in a hilly region, every run naturally includes some strength work: climbing, descending, accelerating again… The terrain does part of the work for you.
On flat terrain, you need to seek out that stimulus more deliberately.
Strength training therefore becomes especially valuable when you are training for trail running without hills.
Prioritise exercises that target the muscles used during climbs and descents:
- squats;
- lunges;
- Bulgarian split squats;
- step-ups;
- deadlifts;
- calf raises;
- single-leg exercises;
- core training.
Single-leg work is particularly useful for trail running. Every stride happens on one foot, and differences in stability between your two legs can become more noticeable as fatigue builds.
The aim is not to build a huge amount of muscle mass. Instead, focus on making your legs stronger and more resilient, so they can keep working efficiently after several hours of running.
You can find all your strength training workouts directly integrated into the RunMotion app.
What About Downhills?
Strength training can also prepare your quadriceps for the demands of downhill running.
Exercises performed with a controlled lowering phase are particularly effective for training your muscles to withstand load.
This matters when you are preparing for a mountain trail from a flat area, because descents are probably the hardest part to replicate without elevation.
Stairs: Your Best Ally
No mountains? Find some stairs.
A long enough staircase can become a genuine training ground for trail running without hills. It offers two major benefits: climbing stairs heavily engages your legs, and you can easily repeat the effort.
For example, you could do:
10 × 2 minutes uphill, recovering with an easy walk back down.
Or, for a workout focused more on muscular endurance:
3 × 8 to 10 minutes of stair climbing, with a few minutes of recovery between sets.
There is no need to sprint. To prepare for trail running, it is often more useful to find a steady rhythm and train your ability to sustain the effort.
Stairs are especially useful for trail races featuring many short climbs. They will not replicate a 30-minute mountain ascent, of course, but they do help develop some of the qualities you need.
Use an Incline Treadmill to Replicate Long Climbs
If you have access to an incline treadmill, it can become an extremely useful training tool.
It allows you to create an artificial gradient and, above all, precisely control the duration and intensity of the effort.
For instance, you can complete 5 to 15-minute blocks at an incline, with recovery between each block. Most importantly, do not feel you have to run. On a trail race with steep grades, power hiking is often a perfectly effective strategy.
You can therefore alternate: run → power hike → run → power hike.
The goal is to get your muscles used to sustained uphill work and learn how to manage your effort. For long trail races, the ability to power hike efficiently uphill can be especially valuable.
Learn to Power Hike
This is an often-overlooked part of preparing for trail races with elevation gain.
Once a gradient becomes steep enough, running can cost a lot of energy for relatively little speed. The best trail runners do not necessarily run every section. They also know when to switch to hiking.
When training for trail running without hills, you can develop this skill on an incline treadmill or stairs.
The goal is to find a dynamic, steady, and energy-efficient hiking stride.
You can also include power-hiking sections during your long runs, even on flat terrain, to practise the transitions between running and walking.
Interval Training to Build Intensity
A hill naturally creates a highly complete workout: your legs have to push harder, your heart rate rises, and you need to sustain a demanding effort.
On flat terrain, interval training can develop some of these same qualities.
For example:
8 × 3 minutes hard, with 2 minutes of recovery
or:
5 × 5 minutes at a strong, sustained intensity, with 2 minutes of recovery.
These workouts do not replace hill sessions, but they develop your ability to sustain a demanding effort and repeat multiple high-intensity blocks. They are also a great opportunity to build the cardiovascular fitness you will need on climbs.
Flat terrain is not necessarily the enemy. It allows you to perform certain training sessions very effectively, in ways that can be harder to control on hilly terrain.
Long Runs to Get Your Legs Used to Fatigue
Running long on flat terrain is still highly relevant when preparing for a trail race with elevation gain.
Why?
Because on race day, you will need to tackle climbs and descents with several hours of effort already in your legs. A long run helps build that resistance to fatigue.
It is also ideal for testing:
- your nutrition;
- your hydration;
- your gear;
- your pace;
- your shoes;
- your race strategy.
For example, you can finish your run with a few kilometres at a sustained pace, or include some power-hiking periods. The objective is to develop your ability to keep moving efficiently when your legs start to feel tired.
Back-to-Back Long Runs to Simulate Fatigue
For long trail races, completing two reasonably long runs on consecutive days can also be useful.
For example:
Saturday: 2 hours 30 minutes of running
Sunday: 1 hour 30 minutes of easy running
You then begin the second run with existing muscular fatigue.
It does not replicate elevation gain, but it trains one major challenge of long-distance racing: being able to keep moving when your legs are no longer fresh.
This type of workout must, of course, be adapted to your level and should not become a weekly habit.
Cycling: A Useful Complement
Cycling can also have a place in your training when you want to prepare for trail running without hills.
It allows you to accumulate training time and work your legs while reducing impact compared with running. On an indoor bike, you can increase resistance and complete blocks of several minutes at a sustained intensity.
Cycling will not replace mountain running, but it can be an excellent addition for building endurance and leg strength.
And What About Downhills?
This is probably the main weakness of training carried out entirely on flat terrain.
You can strengthen your quadriceps.
You can perform eccentric exercises.
You can build your strength.
But nothing perfectly replicates a long mountain descent.
Downhill running technique, impact forces, changes of footing, and above all the accumulation of muscular fatigue require real experience on the terrain.
This is why, if you are preparing for a trail race with significant elevation gain, it is worthwhile to schedule a few specific mountain sessions whenever possible.
A mountain weekend, for example, can allow you to train for several hours of climbing and descending in conditions close to those of your race. However, do not try to make up all your elevation gain in one outing. One huge session done too suddenly can cause several days of fatigue and compromise the rest of your training plan.
Use Weekends to Find Elevation
No hills near home? Perhaps there are some within a few hours’ drive.
You do not need to go to the mountains every week. A few well-timed weekends can already add a valuable dose of race-specific training. Use these outings to:
- test your gear;
- train on long climbs;
- learn to manage your effort;
- practise uphill hiking;
- work on downhills;
- test your nutrition;
- discover the type of terrain you will encounter during the race.
The longer and more mountainous your trail race is, the more useful these specific outings become.
Find Elevation Where You Would Not Expect It
Before concluding that your area is completely flat, look around: a small hill with a few dozen metres of elevation gain can be enough for a repeat session.
You can also make use of:
- stairs;
- bridges;
- footbridges;
- car park ramps;
- embankments;
- levees;
- gently rising cycle paths;
- rolling trails, even mildly rolling ones.
A hill with 30 metres of elevation gain, repeated several times, already allows you to accumulate valuable climbing work. It will never be the same as a mountain outing, but it is always more race-specific than a completely flat session.
Adapt Your Training to Your Trail Race Profile
There is no single way to train for elevation gain.
Your race profile should guide your preparation. A 25 km trail race with 800 m of elevation gain does not have the same demands as a 100 km ultra with 5,000 m of elevation gain. Ask yourself these questions:
How many kilometres will I run?
How many metres of elevation gain?
How many metres of elevation loss?
Are the climbs long or short?
Are the descents technical?
What type of terrain is involved?
When do the main challenges occur during the race?
The greater the distance and elevation gain, the more important your ability to withstand muscular fatigue becomes. And the longer and more technical the descents, the more important it is to plan specific mountain training.
A Typical Week for Trail Running Without Hills
Here is an example week for a runner preparing for a trail race with elevation gain while living in a flat area:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: interval workout or threshold training
Wednesday: easy run
Thursday: strength training
Friday: rest or active recovery
Saturday: long run
Sunday: stairs, incline treadmill, or easy run
This structure should naturally be adapted to the runner’s level, experience, and race distance. When you have a mountain weekend planned, it can replace part of the specific work you would usually complete on flat terrain.
Do You Really Need Elevation to Prepare for a Trail Race?
No.
Living in a flat area does not mean you are doomed to be poorly prepared for your trail race. You can develop a large part of the required qualities on flat terrain:
- endurance;
- strength;
- power;
- muscular endurance;
- cardiovascular fitness;
- effort management;
- fatigue resistance.
However, it would be misleading to say that elevation can be replaced completely.
A long descent is still a long descent. It is probably the race-specific element that requires the most real-world practice. The best approach is therefore to combine both: train regularly on flat terrain to build your fitness, use strength work and specific workouts to compensate for the lack of hills, then add a few mountain outings to experience the real terrain.
You do not need to live at the foot of the mountains to prepare for a trail race with elevation gain. Above all, you need to know what to train and make the most of the terrain available to you.
Key Takeaways
If you are preparing for a trail race with elevation gain but training on flat terrain, remember to:
- Strengthen your legs to build strength and muscular endurance.
- Use stairs to replicate uphill efforts.
- Take advantage of an incline treadmill to train climbs and power hiking.
- Do interval training to develop your cardiovascular fitness.
- Complete long runs to get your body used to fatigue.
- Plan a few mountain weekends to work on race-specific demands, particularly downhills.
Above all, do not try to artificially replicate 100% of your trail race in training.
Build your engine on flat ground, strengthen your legs, then use mountain outings to learn how to put it all to work on the climbs and descents.