How to Train for 100 Miles When You Don’t Have Access to Hills

Plenty of runners preparing for big hilly races live in areas that are, shall we say, topographically challenged.

Flat canal paths, tidy parks, maybe a footbridge if you’re lucky. And yet those same runners still turn up to SDW100, Lakeland, or World Trail Majors races and run brilliantly. You absolutely can train for hilly ultras without hills — the trick is preparing the systems the hills stress, instead of worrying about the hills themselves.

Centurion Coach Eddie Sutton has helped runners from all over the world excel in the hills using the environment and time they have available.

Here’s how to build strength, resilience, and confidence for a mountainous 50-100-miler even when your local elevation profile looks like it’s been drawn with a ruler.

1. Build climbing strength without actual climbs

If your surroundings don’t give you elevation, you manufacture the stimulus. This isn’t going to be a huge revelation for our first bit of advice, but it’s key.

A treadmill at 8–15% incline is an excellent substitute for real hills and lets you control intensity precisely. Stair workouts create big, repeatable doses of calf and quad strength, and even short inclines can become useful with a weighted pack or brisk hiking.

Split squats and step-ups in the gym reinforce climbing mechanics and give structure to the work you can’t get outdoors. None of this feels glamorous, but it builds the raw power you’ll rely on in long, grinding climbs.

“Even just skipping the lift at work and using the stairs can drop a good amount of extra vertical training into your week” adds Head of Endurance Robbie Britton.

2. Develop eccentric quad resilience with targeted work

Downhill running is where unprepared runners lose hours and gain lifelong memories of sore quads. If you can’t practise long descents outside, you train the eccentric pattern indoors and in the gym.

Controlled step-downs and slow eccentric split squats are perfect for conditioning the tissues that get hammered on the downs. If you have access to a treadmill with decline, even a gentle grade is useful.

Combine this with RDLs, hamstring work, and occasional plyometrics to build shock absorption. The goal is durable quads that don’t disintegrate when the race throws long descents at you.

3. Use terrain variation to break repetition-fatigue

Even flat areas offer ways to introduce variability. Parks, sports fields, gravel paths, sand patches, rutted bridleways, crazy paving, grass, and woodland trails all force small mechanical adjustments that mimic the demands of undulating terrain.

“This advice goes for your day to day running as well as picking a nice spot for your long run” says Robbie. “You don’t need to wait until the weekend to do a little bit of work that can help you on the trails”.

Changing surfaces improves ankle stability, foot strength, proprioception, and cadence adaptability — all crucial for handling the chaos of a hilly course. A runner who trains variability on flat ground often arrives more balanced than someone who only runs the same type of hill every week.

4. Make strength training one of your key pillars

If hills can’t strengthen you, strength training will.

Prioritise quads for downhill absorption, glutes for power on climbs, calves for repetitive loading, and core control for maintaining posture late into a race.

With a background in strength Eddie knows “there are so many exercises to pick from and it can feel a little bit overwhelming to start so just pick 3-4 that take about 15 mins. I often find doing that straight after a run helps as you are warmed up and more likely to do it before the rest of the day runs away with you.”

Two or three structured sessions per week — even 20–30 minutes — can transform your durability. Strength work fills the gap that missing elevation creates, ensuring you’re not solely reliant on running volume to build resilience. For flatland athletes, it’s the great equaliser.

“Yet it doesn’t need to be perfect,” Eddie reminds us, “it just needs to be done, so if that is calf raises whilst you brush your teeth, a wobble board by the kettle or some step ups using the car door whilst you wait for the kids it all counts”.

5. Use long runs to build durability, not terrain

Long runs don’t need to be hilly to be effective. The purpose of the long run is metabolic conditioning, fuelling practice, and learning to move efficiently for hours — all of which can be developed on flat ground. “If you are doing a hilly race, even the fastest runners will switch to a hike up the climbs so don’t neglect this in your training.” says coach Eddie. “Long runs can be substituted for weighted hikes (I find packing a rucksack with a big flask and a few sandwiches does the trick). This helps build strength in the hiking muscles, time on feet without the impact”

These steady efforts help you tolerate fatigue, test nutrition, and refine your pacing strategy without needing long climbs. When paired with midweek incline or stair sessions, flat long runs or long hikes can still contribute massively to your hill-readiness if that is all you have.

6. Simulate the feel of hills, even if you can’t simulate the shape

Hill training isn’t just about elevation — it’s about rhythm changes. You can recreate this by inserting short power-hiking intervals, low-cadence grind sections, or brief tempo surges into otherwise steady runs.

Adding targeted efforts late in a long run — such as 5-minute steady pushes — mimics climbing on tired legs. These shifts train your neuromuscular system to handle the unpredictable nature of hilly courses without needing the hills themselves.

7. If you occasionally access hills, use them wisely

If you can visit hills once every few weeks, be intentional with that time. Do a hilly long run to test climbing rhythm, practise descending technique, and expose your legs to the stressors you can’t replicate at home. A single well-planned session can replace weeks of scattered hill training and build enormous confidence. Think of these trips as targeted testing days, not panic-fuelled cram sessions.

In Summary

You don’t need mountains to prepare for mountain ultras — you do need the adaptations mountains create.

Build climbing strength, train eccentric control, increase durability through long runs, embrace terrain variation, and use strength training to fill in the gaps.

When those systems are in place, geography stops being a limitation and becomes just another variable you’ve learned to work around.

“And don’t forget to hike!”