Life might sometimes feel like an uphill struggle, but it’s hard always to find daily elevation for training. Whether you run, walk or crawl to gain your elevation it all counts towards your goal.
A quick loop round your local park isn’t likely to get you very far, you need to prepare, you will need hills and you need them now.
How to achieve elevation in the UK
1. Elevate Your Tread
With gyms reopening on April 12th, a return to the treadmill is on the horizon. Elevation can be achieved in the gym by sticking the treadmill on incline or having a go on the stair climber. It’s time to put on your favourite podcast (we’d remember the new Tough Mudder No Excuses Podcast) or a banging workout playlist and get to work on those machines. You can achieve plenty of elevation without having to step foot on a hill.
2. Make Your Weekend Walks Work
Put those weekend walks with friends to good use, when you hit the parks pick those that have hills so that you gain elevation as well as those all important steps and chat. In London why not head to Crystal Palace and Dulwich Wood, Primrose Hill and Hampstead Heath. If you live near Wales, take a trip to Brecon Beacons, a National Park famed for its big green open spaces offering miles and miles of walking.
3. Hit & Hike the Hills
As beneficial as those daily walks are, they aren’t going to cut it for this challenge. You need to be prepared to do hill climbs and scale some proper mountains. We’ve handily rounded up our top three picks near (or around) London, the Midlands, Yorkshire and Scotland.
London
London, and it’s outskirts, certainly isn’t known for its hill and mountain ranges, but you can find a fair few uphill walks that are perfect when you’re trying to escape the big smoke:-
- The North Downs: Leith Hill (246 meters)
- South Downs: Ditchling Beacon (214 meters)
- Sussex: Black Down (191m meters)
Midlands
When it comes to walking trails, you can’t get better than what the Midlands has to offer, and for this reason we’re counting Marilyns as one:-
- Carding Mill Valley and the Long Mynd, forming part of the Shropshire Hills, reaching 516 meters high.
- Marilyns, with 3 tops to climb & conquer; the highest point is Kinder Scout at 636 meters, then Bardon Hill at 278 meters and Acre at 168 meters.
- The Wrekin, ‘little mountain’ in Shropshire, is a hiking highlight at 407 meters.
Yorkshire
Yorkshire will have you sorted for some serious elevation. Here’s the cream of the crop:-
- Whernside, despite being tagged as the unfashionable one of the Three Peaks, Whernside holds the glorious distinction of being the highest hill in the Yorkshire Dales at 736 meters.
- Ingleborough is without doubt the most popular of all the hills in the Yorkshire Dales and you can bag yourself 723 meters in elevation.
- Wild Boar Fell is a dramatic sight as it is approached, and you’ll achieve a dramatic chunk of your elevation goal with a height of 708 meters.
Scotland
Where to start with hikes and trails in Scotland? There are so many to mention, there are 282 Munros after all. Here’s a few Mudder HQ team favourites:-
- Three sisters of Glen Coe, with an ascent of 1300 meters.
- Schiehallion, go chiefly for the views but also to secure 715 meters in elevation.
- Mayar and Driesh in Glen Clova has an ascent of 900 meters.
If you really want to take it to the next level, you could jump on the latest endurance fitness trend of Everesting. It’s a simple concept; find a hill, cycle or run up and down it until you’ve climbed 8,848 metres – the height of the biggest mountain in the world: Everest. You’d hit your elevation goal in no time at all.
If you’re yet to commit to an Elevation Milestone here’s a rundown of what they entail:-
For the Pyramid Scheme Milestone you need to hike, walk, stair climb (or run) 1990 meters in elevation.
The Mudderhorn Milestone will see you needing to hike, walk, stair climb (or run) 4478 meters in elevation.
And for the biggy, our Everest Milestone, you’ll need to hike, walk, stair climb (or run) 8848 meters in elevation in order to conquer the challenge.
You’ve climbed the heights, celebrated what you’ve conquered, what other Milestones are you going to take on?
