Brandon Carius Heads West: Hills to Run...

People often ask me how I train for running. I never mean to sound mean or sarcastic (though I am rarely successful in not sounding that way), but the simple fact is this: to get better at running, go running. Sounds difficult, right? Again, not an attempt to be overtly mocking, but it really is that simple. I just like to run. I base where I run, how far, and how fast, on the amount of time I have, the location(s) available to me, and what I am training for (or not training for) at that particular moment. So for right now, I'm looking at running one of the craziest distance races that also maintains severe elevation drops and gains, so guess what my motto is?

Go long, go hills.

Now, I started off on various FOBs in Afghanistan, which did not have much in hills, so I had to get into it when I got back to Alaska. The hills for me these past few weeks have contained three areas:

1. Approach hill, a minor climb of about 100-150 feet, simply a slow hill with an ATV area next to it to practice some sharp hills, nothing too major but just to keep me doing hills even on my off-days/easy days and allowed me to transition from flat terrain to hills.

2. Birch Hill: Fort Wainwright's "ski resort" has a road that winds up it's eastern side, with 3 main uphill areas broken up by one slow descent, rising about 550-700 feet in elevation. This is very close by to my house, and I have been able to do solid repeats on it with my long runs. Birch Hill also has numerous scattered ATV trails, allowing me to go from a gradual uphill to a hard climb at times to both through in variation for training and to practice brief walks. It also has been good to practice sharp ascents and descents on the face itself. Great times.

Birch Hill in the winter. The snow is all gone now, but it's still pretty tall (the road runs along the right side of the picture). The face I run on, on the left side, is literally foot after foot of "fun".

For those who can't read map relief (elevation), all those lines means it's going uphill. All those lines close together means it's going uphill, and it's pretty steep.

3. Ester Dome: This major hill rises over 2,000 feet over the course of about 2.5-3 miles, and is virtually never-ending once you start. About one-third of the way up, it transitions from pavement to dirts/gravel, helping to feel more like a trail. What's more, there is a trail off to the side about a quarter of the way up that has some extremely steep climbs and scores of exposed roots and rocks, which has greatly helped improve both my climbing and off-road capabilities. It is also the crux of the Equinox Ultramarathon, which is believed to make it one of the hardest ultramarathons in America.