How to Calculate Your Long Run Vert

Not only does the total elevation gain/loss matter, but the climb/descent and terrain specificity matters as well. For instance, if you’re doing a 50k with 6,000ft of elevation gain/loss, is that coming from a bunch of short, punchy climbs or just two 3,000ft climbs? Whenever possible, practice on climbs and descents similar to what you’ll be racing on.

You can also look at feet per mile gain and loss. When trying to get an idea of a race course, I’ll try to find someone’s Strava data from a previous year to help me get a feel for the steepness of the climbs. There might be some mellower climbs at ~150ft of gain per mile, while others might be at ~1000ft per mile, which would let me know I better be ready to run and hike fast.

🏔️(Race Elevation Gain in Feet / Race Distance in Miles) x Miles of Long Run = How much elevation gain in feet you should aim for during your long run.

🏔️Example: (8,000/50) x 22 = 3,520ft. This means that your 22-mile long run should have around 3,520ft of elevation gain. (This would be 160ft per mile)

This formula can be applied to shorter race-specific runs as well. I use “elevation gain” in the formula for ease, but this can be used for elevation loss too.

Lastly, don’t get overly caught up in the numbers. I’ll do the formula and then give myself a target range instead of trying to be exact.