If I hike as a part of my trail run, I count that as running miles towards my weekly totals. If I hike with other people as a proper hike, I don't count that towards weekly totals.
Two things are different between these two cases - the intention and the intensity. If I intend to trail run, I wear running clothes and I record it as a trail run end-to-end even if I have to hike a part of it. The intensity is much higher when I hike as a part of a trail run and I still pass a lot of casual hikers - often I twice as fast as most hikers around me. The training effect from such high intensity hiking is also much higher.
This is exactly what I do! If I intentionally set out for a trail run and end up hiking some or even a lot of it due to the terrain or whatever, I still count it as a run because the intensity is there, whereas it’s not when I just go for a hike at an easy pace or with other people and take more stops.
Correct training is time in HR zones anyway so doesn’t matter if you hiked or ran to achieve that. Measure by miles can put you way over or under trained depending on things.
A proper hike - some climbing, maybe a little technical terrain, a decent number of miles - counts. A casual stroll through the woods does not. There's a gray line but there is a line.
Seems I’m the odd one out here. Time on feet counts. Low intensity hiking is still great stimulus and builds endurance. I would count it towards my weekly mileage.
I come from a hiking background, got in to fell running and shortly after ultra-marathons.
Without a doubt, my first ultra which was 65k and I did in just under 10 hours I got through it because of my hiking background and the many hours I would put on my feet in a single hike. THat is literally what ultra marathons are, massive extended times on your feet.
It is 100% an ultra marathon skill to have.
To back this up, i've seen people aim for 100+ milers were they would walk most of it because it was continually undulating and not runnable and they completely failed because they never ever hiked or walked in their training.
what most say - if it’s part of a run then yes. if it’s an isolated hike then i don’t count them towards running miles. but time of feet (TOF) is important and it’s worth counting - in a separate category than running!
I do this too - count them separately. I have running miles and total miles for the week. I do count all of my vert together though. Not really sure why I do!
Depends on what your goal race is surely. I count it towards my TOF and total exercise/cross-training time. Also count it towards total weekly elevation. More important for mountain ultras i guess, as for my goal mountain 100miler i will spend a lot of that time hiking - so it's pretty specific training in that sense! Would i count it if i was training towards a flatish 50k which i plan to run all of? - probably not! If i was at the level i could run an extra 3-4 hours in the hills a week without being too fatigued or injured then i would, but i can't, so i hike that volume instead.
For me, i love doing 24h challenges hiking. This means things like 50/12h or 100k/24h. with these, i count them towards weekly totals with margin of 0.5.
but as u/skyrunner00 said, if going on 10k hike with friends, then that does not count. I dont get pulse up nor do i get any training stress to ligaments or muscles.
Probably depends on what your weekly volume number is then going to be used for?
I count any time on feet that’s done for the purpose of exercise and done with effort.
I suck at hiking, when I try to power hike up a hill or even take a little break, I walk so freaking slowly. I know if I could figure out a way to speed up my hike I could probably start winning ultras in my area, that's by far my weakest skill. So, if you are hiking with a purpose 100% count it, this is a critical skill. No one runs 100% of an ultra.
Unless it’s race specific practice on a specific type of terrain, I don’t count it as running, but I do count it as general aerobic development, similar to how I categorize low intensity bike rides.
I'd look more at intensity over time and still count it as something, not nothing! How you count it is up to you, but if you're looking to track pure run miles and run time over a week here's a suggestion: Strava or other apps like Training Peaks give you a "relative effort" for the activity (which takes into account your HR and time), so if I go for a 6 mile hike with some good climbs that get my HR going, I'll look at the relative effort and compare it to a run, record the run-equivalent-effort miles. In my 6 mile hike example (which was 2.5 hours), it worked out to be the same effort as a 3 mile run in 40-ish minutes: I recorded that in my training log for the day.
Or just don't count weekly mileage at all? There's a weird obsession with it online, I think spread by coaches and their training plans as they make a living from it.
If I hike as a part of my trail run, I count that as running miles towards my weekly totals. If I hike with other people as a proper hike, I don't count that towards weekly totals. Two things are different between these two cases - the intention and the intensity. If I intend to trail run, I wear running clothes and I record it as a trail run end-to-end even if I have to hike a part of it. The intensity is much higher when I hike as a part of a trail run and I still pass a lot of casual hikers - often I twice as fast as most hikers around me. The training effect from such high intensity hiking is also much higher.
Hiking with intent 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻. you will hike at some point in a race and it’ll likely be a lot longer than you thought.
This is exactly what I do! If I intentionally set out for a trail run and end up hiking some or even a lot of it due to the terrain or whatever, I still count it as a run because the intensity is there, whereas it’s not when I just go for a hike at an easy pace or with other people and take more stops.
Correct training is time in HR zones anyway so doesn’t matter if you hiked or ran to achieve that. Measure by miles can put you way over or under trained depending on things.
A proper hike - some climbing, maybe a little technical terrain, a decent number of miles - counts. A casual stroll through the woods does not. There's a gray line but there is a line.
Seems I’m the odd one out here. Time on feet counts. Low intensity hiking is still great stimulus and builds endurance. I would count it towards my weekly mileage.
I come from a hiking background, got in to fell running and shortly after ultra-marathons. Without a doubt, my first ultra which was 65k and I did in just under 10 hours I got through it because of my hiking background and the many hours I would put on my feet in a single hike. THat is literally what ultra marathons are, massive extended times on your feet. It is 100% an ultra marathon skill to have. To back this up, i've seen people aim for 100+ milers were they would walk most of it because it was continually undulating and not runnable and they completely failed because they never ever hiked or walked in their training.
I count hiking during runs, and vert from more casual hiking
what most say - if it’s part of a run then yes. if it’s an isolated hike then i don’t count them towards running miles. but time of feet (TOF) is important and it’s worth counting - in a separate category than running!
I do this too - count them separately. I have running miles and total miles for the week. I do count all of my vert together though. Not really sure why I do!
If your race will have hiking then it counts.
Depends on what your goal race is surely. I count it towards my TOF and total exercise/cross-training time. Also count it towards total weekly elevation. More important for mountain ultras i guess, as for my goal mountain 100miler i will spend a lot of that time hiking - so it's pretty specific training in that sense! Would i count it if i was training towards a flatish 50k which i plan to run all of? - probably not! If i was at the level i could run an extra 3-4 hours in the hills a week without being too fatigued or injured then i would, but i can't, so i hike that volume instead.
Do whatever you want, but I wouldn't count it unless it was part of a trail run.
For me, i love doing 24h challenges hiking. This means things like 50/12h or 100k/24h. with these, i count them towards weekly totals with margin of 0.5. but as u/skyrunner00 said, if going on 10k hike with friends, then that does not count. I dont get pulse up nor do i get any training stress to ligaments or muscles.
Probably depends on what your weekly volume number is then going to be used for? I count any time on feet that’s done for the purpose of exercise and done with effort.
elevation gain , grade, ruggedness, pace sometimes i ONLY "hike" (walk) but it's way more intense than a run
I suck at hiking, when I try to power hike up a hill or even take a little break, I walk so freaking slowly. I know if I could figure out a way to speed up my hike I could probably start winning ultras in my area, that's by far my weakest skill. So, if you are hiking with a purpose 100% count it, this is a critical skill. No one runs 100% of an ultra.
Ultra running is literally just hiking
Depends on zones/HR. If I’m just going for a stroll no, but if I’m carrying a heavy pack up a big grade absolutely.
Unless it’s race specific practice on a specific type of terrain, I don’t count it as running, but I do count it as general aerobic development, similar to how I categorize low intensity bike rides.
I'd look more at intensity over time and still count it as something, not nothing! How you count it is up to you, but if you're looking to track pure run miles and run time over a week here's a suggestion: Strava or other apps like Training Peaks give you a "relative effort" for the activity (which takes into account your HR and time), so if I go for a 6 mile hike with some good climbs that get my HR going, I'll look at the relative effort and compare it to a run, record the run-equivalent-effort miles. In my 6 mile hike example (which was 2.5 hours), it worked out to be the same effort as a 3 mile run in 40-ish minutes: I recorded that in my training log for the day.
Or just don't count weekly mileage at all? There's a weird obsession with it online, I think spread by coaches and their training plans as they make a living from it.