Three powerhouses of endurance performance teamed up to write Patagonia’s latest book, ‘Training for the Uphill Athlete: A Manual for Mountain Runners and Ski Mountaineers.’
Kilian Jornet has summited Everest twice in one week and set countless FKTs. Steve House is responsible for first ascents across the world. And Scott Johnston is an Olympic skiing coach. Basically, these guys know mountain sports like few others.
Patagonia announced its latest training book this week. The nearly 400-page manual “Training for the Uphill Athlete” hits shelves on March 12, 2019.
The book is all about endurance training for ski mountaineers and trail runners. “Training for the Uphill Athlete” covers physiology, how to be a better athlete, strength training, how to structure workouts, and plan training.
“’Training for the Uphill Athlete’ offers ironclad, deliberate, science-based methodology that any athlete can hang their hat on,” said Nikki LaRochelle, member of the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Team. “For the serious mountain runner or ski mountaineer, this book is a must.”
‘Training for the Uphill Athlete’: Jornet Training Book
The book follows House and Johnston’s successful training book “Training for the New Alpinism.” In a similar manner to “Training for the Uphill Athlete,” “Training for New Alpinism” covers everything from physiology to training techniques to acclimatization. It’s very thorough at 460 pages, but “New Alpinism” focuses mainly on alpine climbing.
“Training for the Uphill Athlete” aspires to satiate a different type of athlete’s training desires. After reading “Training for the New Alpinism,” Jornet saw the need for a similar training manual for non-climbing mountain athletes.
“The final result: my climbing-training journey and Scott’s 30-plus years of athletic and coaching experience, combined with the insights from Kílian and his years in the snow and on the trail,” said House.
However, it’s not just one big training book. Personal stories, photos, and graphs from top professional uphill athletes line the pages. Below is a breakdown of the book’s layout.
Training for the Uphill Athlete
- Section One: The Physiological Basis of Endurance Training provides the framework and a scientific basis for the authors’ training philosophy: “You will never maximize your endurance potential without first maximizing your basic aerobic capacity.”
- Section Two: The Methodology of Endurance Training is about becoming a better athlete or coach. The range of topics is broad, from the methodologies of endurance training to monitoring your training and application.
- Section Three: Strength Training for the Uphill Athlete demystifies strength as it applies to endurance athletes as opposed to weightlifters.
- Section Four: How to Train covers ways to categorize, design, and structure workouts as well as how to mix them to meet your goals.
- Section Five: Planning Your Training gives several sample plans to use for guidance or directly apply to your training.
“Training for the Uphill Athlete” is available for preorder now on Amazon. It releases March 12, 2019.
