Canadian adventure racer and Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) World Champion Ryan Atkins might not be able to race right now, but that hasn’t stopped him from pushing the limits of endurance.
autry super vintage medalist low top sneakers item coronavirus pandemic, thousands of cyclists have taken on the Everesting challenge—riding the equivalent ascent of Mount Everest on a local climb. But last June, Atkins became one of the 154 runners who have made the 8,848-meter ascent on foot. He set the unassisted record in the process when he ran 36 laps up and down a ski hill in Sutton, Quebec, for a total run time of 11 hours and 30 minutes.
It should be noted that Atkins’s record has only been broken in an assisted attempt by Californian Gary Gellin on July 13. Gellin opted to ride his bike down the descent rather than run though, and even with the pedal-powered assistance, he was only eight minutes faster than Atkins.
Will Atkins try to get the assisted record? Probably not—because next, he wants to try to Everest on the bike and see how much faster he can go.
While you might not be interested in running 8,848 meters or completing a 70-kilometer run consisting of only extreme ups and downs anytime soon, Atkins still has some advice that might help you on your next adventure.
Do what you can with what you have
As the season’s races began to disappear off the calendar, Atkins was faced with a dilemma: What to do with the fitness he had built up over the winter and spring.
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“I had all this fitness and motivation, and nowhere to put it,” he said. “I’d been planning to try for a sneaker con chicago recap, which I’d been wanting to do for years, but I couldn’t even cross the border to get to the U.S. So, I was like, well, what else can I do?”
He considered the 24-hour elevation record, and realized that an Everest attempt would take about half that time. (“Much more manageable,” he said, seemingly with zero sarcasm.) “I figured I wouldn’t be as destroyed from it, it would be more like a good training day versus an ‘annihilate yourself’ day.”
she retired from professional running | Pace yourself on hills—going up and down
It’s true in a race, and it’s true in a hill workout of any kind: It’s easy to go out too fast on the first climb, and to take downhills at a pace that will add up to sore, stiff quads almost immediately.
Before heading uphill, Atkins had calculated the average VAM (meters climbed per hour) that he would have to hold in order to get the record, and he based his pace on maintaining that number.
And when it came to downhills, Atkins kept a close eye on his efforts.
“Uphills are hard, but so are downhills in a different way,” he said. “The uphills last way longer, and in this case, it was all at a high-tempo pace. But the downhills factored into the time as well so I needed to be fast on them without destroying my legs. You can bomb down once, but you’ll be totally blown up after the third time if you do that. Running downhill is really muscular. You start feeling the effort in your quadriceps, almost a stretching sensation. And when you start to notice that stretching feeling, you’re going too fast and need to ease up.”
she retired from professional running | Find a rhythm
Finding a rhythm that works for you on a long hill—it might not be a blistering pace like the one Atkins can hold—is critical to climbing success.
“Your ascent rate should stay consistent,” he said. (This is where a watch that can measure VAM, not just pace, is helpful.) “If it gets steep enough to power hike, you can still be ascending at the same rate you were when it was less steep and you were running. ... I also really like focusing on an effort rhythm. So if the hill kicks up, that might mean you’re transitioning to a walking, but it still feels like the same effort level. This helps you avoid spikes that cost a lot of energy throughout the day.”
The power of power hiking
So many runners are quick to dismiss power hiking, but often it’s as fast or even faster than continuing to attempt to run up a steep incline.
“When the grade was over 20 percent, I was dropping into a power hike,” Atkins said. “That was more efficient, and it helped break up the run and give different muscles a break.”
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Recruit friends
Hill workouts are infinitely more bearable if you have a few buddies. Lindsay Webster, a professional OCR athlete and Atkins’s wife, was along for a few laps, and former U.S. cyclocross National Champion Tim Johnson and Canadian Olympic cyclist Lyne Bessette, who is married to Johnson, also joined him for some laps.
“Lyne ran eight laps with me,” Atkins said. “Tim was on an e-bike and did a few laps, and brought me a hillside IPA. That was pretty motivating.”
Fuel your efforts
Speaking of IPAs, fueling an 11-hour day of hard uphill running requires a lot of eating and drinking, especially when temperatures are hitting the 80s and the sun in pounding on the ski hill. Rather than starting at dawn to beat some of the summer heat, Atkins had a big breakfast and started running around 8:30 a.m. on ‘race day.’
“I d713l I wanted to eat breakfast and keep fueling throughout the day,” he explained.
During his run, he had a duffel bag filled with water bottles, Canadian staple maple syrup, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, as well as plenty of candy and the aforementioned beer. (Trust a cyclocross racer to bring beer to a hill climb.)
Atkins grabbed water bottles and snacks at the bottom of the hill on most laps, and would take a few bites and sips as he began to ascend. It turned into a shuttle run-styled setup quickly.
“I’d take a few sips, and leave the bottle partway up the hill,” he explained. “Then, the next lap, I’d pick it up where I’d left it, take a few more drinks, and leave it further up the hill.”
By the halfway point, the hill was littered with half-drunk bottles, but luckily, his pit crew was there to collect and refill them as needed.
Work the weights
As an obstacle course racer, Atkins spends almost as much time lifting weights and doing bodyweight work as he does actually running. Because of this, his body is more armored to handle the rigors of both up and downhill running. As an endurance runner, you can benefit from adding in some lower body work if you haven’t already.
“I do a lot of weighted squats in my training, and that helps build the strength that I needed for those hills,” he said. “I think that’s why I wasn’t sore—some days I’ll do five or six hundred weighted squats with a 70-pound sandbag.” (You may not want to start with that.)
Expect ups and downs
And not just in the elevation profile—if you know you’re out for an all-day adventure, expect to have some mental hurdles to contend with. Atkins says he never hit the wall during his Everesting attempt, but there were plenty of low moments.
“Especially around hour three when I d713l I still had prada hours to go and I was already tired, my legs were already sore, my feet were starting to feel sore… That was tough,” he admitted.
Molly writes about cycling, nutrition and training, with an emphasis on women in sport. Her new middle-grade series, Shred Girls, debuts with Rodale Kids/Random House in 2019 with "Lindsay's Joyride." Her other books include "Mud, Snow and Cyclocross," "Saddle, Sore" and "Fuel Your Ride." Her work has been published in magazines like Bicycling, Outside and Nylon. She co-hosts The Consummate Athlete Podcast.
