The answer is no and yes. Assuming by "pounding" you mean walking,
then it's hard to expect much on flats alone unless you are going on
very long walks at a brisk pace skiwalking with poles, adding in an
occasional 15 to 60 second pickup (run). Likewise, taking a hill at a
pace that you can't maintain isn't much help for anything. The simple
answer is that endurance comes from a combination of long, slow
distance (LSD) over a variety of terrain, preferably not flat, and a
variety of (fewer) faster sessions specifically aimed at raising your
lactate (or anaerobic) threshhold. It should be done with a variety of
activities that your body and schedule allow, such as walk, runs,
rollerskiing (including classical double poling if possible), as
well as stuff in the gym, backpacks, rowing, biking, etc. I have to go,
so will let others fill in the blanks.

Gene

P.S. If you meant rollerskiing up this hill, then either you're going
too hard or your technique needs work to allow you to go at a more
controlled pace. If the latter, beating yourself to death doesn't
really do much good.



On Tue, 23 Apr 2013 05:48:55 -0700 (PDT)
wrote:

I really have two questions - 1) whether I should mostly use uphill
for endurance training and 2) if not, how it should be
combined/spaced with flats. There's usually a question about the
goal. Just for the heck of it, let's say the goal is to do the
shorter (27K, I think) skating event in Ottawa (Gatineau).

Before discovering a hilly road about 25 minutes by car last fall, I
had been pounding a nearby flat patch for about 5 years, with hardly
anything to show for it on snow. The hills brought visible
improvement in endurance. That road has a 0.8-mile section that in
the beginning I couldn't climb without stopping and still find pretty
difficult. It is also where I have to walk down (this strategy firmly
ingrained after my padded shorts saved the day a few months ago when
impatience took the better of me). The other 1.3-mile section is more
varied and less steep. Although this is a small country road, I can
really only use it early in the morning, as traffic builds up later
in the day. Not sure if a heavy workout is a good thing that early in
the day, even though I warm up for about 1.5 miles.

Of course I can only do this on a weekend. Sometimes I would go out
both Sat and Sun, and if feels OK, provided there were about 24 hours
in between. This past weekend I did the hill Sat afternoon, and the
going was pretty tough when I did the same thing next morning.

Other than that, I do an occasional 14 to 20K around the flat patch
that same weekend and about 9K every other day after work (depending
on the weather) around the development.

So, seeing the results after hill traininig and being skeptical about
putting in serious time on flats, I'm wondering if the hills plus
short outings during the week would do it for me.

Thanks!