How to train for hills when you live somewhere flat!

One of the common obstacles that people face when doing events and competitions is not having the ability to be able to train for hills when you live somewhere flat. This can make the events seem very daunting for a lot of people and may even put some people off! However, there are ways to get around this and still train for the climbs when you do not have access to them!

What is climbing really about? When talking about climbing we can break this down to the requirements: Power to weight & sustained power output. Here are some ideas on how you can improve these, replicate the demands of the climb and improve your efficiency:

Improve your threshold power

Improving your threshold power (FTP) will improve the power that you are able to repeatedly sustain for multiple long climbs. There are many ways that you can look to do this by working both above and below your lactate threshold. Having a coach to structure your training to suit your individual makeup and needs will help you maximise your time spent on this area!

Drop your weight

Once you have addressed your power you can then consider dropping your weight to improve your power:weight. This is going to be an area which needs to be done with caution as it can be easy to under fuel which has a negative effect on your training, which is still going to be the most important part. Dropping your weight can be one of the easiest ways to improve your climbing for a lot of newcomers to the sport.

Ride into a headwind

For those of us who live in a flat area, you can intentionally use the wind to replicate the climbs. You will need to generate more force when riding against the wind, very similar to what you will experience when riding uphill. You can also use the wind to help develop your sustainable power and create resistance to allow you to perform efforts at a higher intensity.

Improve your strength

When the road starts to get steep you will begin to draw upon your muscular strength. You could improve this by doing over geared efforts which will reduce your cadence and increase the force you need to put through the pedals, just like you would be forced to do on a steep climb.

Core strength

It’s quite common that it is actually your back that gives out before your legs on a long climb. Your body position can be very different when you are climbing compared to riding on the flat.

When your body is out of it’s normal riding position and forced to maintain a high intensity then you are likely going to encounter some back pain. You can build your core strength with various core exercises to prevent this from happening and making sure you stay strong and controlled on the bike.

How can you improve this? Check out our blog on ‘Why you need to be training off the bike as hard as you should on the bike!’

Indoor training

The ability to train for the climbs is becoming increasingly more accessible with the availability of smart trainers. Having the ability to ride against the exact same resistance that you are going to have in your event will be some of the best preparation and training that you can get! You could even take that a step further and get a device like the ‘Wahoo Climb’ to get the full experience.

Knowledge is power!

Knowing the climbs that you will be doing will allow you to do your homework. It’s incredibly underestimated how much difference this can make to the event day!

You can then adapt your training, pacing and nutrition to be able to get the absolute best from yourself.

Get in touch with us to have a coach to guide you through this process, prepare yourself and reach your potential on race day!

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