Hill Training for Runners: Best Trail Running Routes in and Around Hamilton

Welcome to the Journey If you’re reading this, you’ve got your eye on one of Ontario’s toughest and most rewarding trail races — the Sulphur Springs Trail Race, now a Western States qualifier. Whether you’re gearing up for 50K, 50 miles, 100K, or the full 100 miles, I want to help you arrive ready, strong, healthy, and confident. I know this race inside out. Last year, I managed one of the aid stations at the bottom of Martin Road, and coached multiple athletes who crossed those finish lines from 50K all the way to 100 miles. Every one of them finished. That’s not luck, that’s smart training, grit, and commitment. And I didn’t just watch it happen, I paced one of my athletes through her final 26 km, bringing her to her 100-mile buckle finish. Watching her dig deep and fight through those final loops was one of the most powerful coaching moments of my life. If you’re ready to train with purpose, this guide will show you how to build toward your best Sulphur Springs yet. Why Sulphur Springs Trail Race Deserves Your Respect Sulphur Springs isn’t just another ultra. It’s history, community, and pure challenge wrapped into one. Here’s why it’s special: 20 km loop course through the Dundas Valley Conservation Area, featuring singletrack, forest canopy, and punchy climbs. Each loop delivers roughly 500 m of elevation gain and it adds up fast. It’s Ontario’s oldest ultra, running since the early 1990s, and it shows in the atmosphere and volunteer spirit. 100K and 100-mile finishes under cutoff earn you a Western States ballot, making this Ontario’s only WSER-qualifying event. If you want to test yourself, this is the place to do it. What It Takes to Train for 100 Miles Training for Sulphur Springs, or any ultra, means blending science, structure, and heart. You’re not just logging miles. You’re building durability, learning how to manage fatigue, and training your brain as much as your body. Here’s the roadmap: 1️⃣ The Timeline If your goal is 100K or 100 miles, expect 10–13 months of structured preparation. That gives you enough time for base, build, peak, taper, and recovery. Phases look like this: Base/Foundation (12–16 weeks): Aerobic strength, movement quality, and consistency. Build (12–16 weeks): Volume, long runs, back-to-backs, trail exposure. Peak (8–12 weeks): Race simulation, fatigue training, terrain work. Taper (2–4 weeks): Reduce volume, stay sharp, arrive fresh. If you’re already running 50–70 km weekly, I can compress the timeline while maintaining recovery and safety. 2️⃣ Weekly Mileage & Long Runs Mileage peaks vary by athlete, but here’s what’s common for 100-mile prep on Ontario trails: Base: 50–70 km/week Build: 90–140 km/week Peak: 160–200+ km/week Long runs: 40–60 km or more, often back-to-back weekends Smart training isn’t about chasing numbers. It’s about stacking quality weeks and staying healthy. 3️⃣ Train for the Terrain Sulphur Springs will test your climbing, descending, and patience especially on sections like Martin Road and the escarpment trails. You’ll need hill work (up and down), technical trail exposure, and specific strength to handle the repeated loops. If you can train on course terrain, perfect. If not, I’ll guide you on how to simulate it effectively. 4️⃣ Back-to-Back Long Runs A core element of ultra prep. Back-to-backs build fatigue resistance, fueling rhythm, and mental durability. Example: 40 km Saturday + 30 km Sunday both controlled, intentional, and strategic. These sessions teach your legs and brain how to perform under cumulative fatigue. 5️⃣ Strength, Mobility & Durability Running alone won’t carry you 100 miles. You need a body that can handle the miles. That’s why I integrate: Strength and stability work Single-leg training Mobility and injury prevention drills Core and glute activation This isn’t optional, it’s what keeps you healthy and powerful all season. 6️⃣ Nutrition & Gut Training You can’t fake fueling. You have to train your gut just like you train your legs. We’ll test what works gels, solids, salts, fluids and dial in your intake by time and effort. You’ll simulate race-day nutrition on long runs and learn how to manage your energy over 12–24+ hours of movement. 7️⃣ Pacing & Mental Game No 100-mile race goes perfectly. You’ll hit walls, and that’s okay. The key is pacing control, energy management, and mental resilience. We’ll plan loop strategies, pacing windows, and mental cues to carry you through those dark patches. From Aid Station to Finish Line — What I Saw Last year, I witnessed something special. Athletes I coached started that race with massive goals and finished with pride, exhaustion, and pure joy. Every single one crossed under their own power because we built their training right: foundation, volume, strength, fueling, and mindset. And pacing my athlete through those final 26 km to her 100-mile buckle… that changed me as a coach. It reminded me why I do this, to help people push beyond what they thought possible. Why Train With Me Here’s what I deliver when you join my program: ✅ Custom programming built for your schedule, goals, and body. ✅ Holistic coaching run training, strength, mobility, fueling, recovery, mindset. ✅ Hands-on support: I check in, adjust, and coach you through every phase. ✅ Community of trail runners, strength athletes, and real people chasing big goals. ✅ Proven results for 50K, 100K, 50M, 100M finishers. ✅ Passion & integrity, I live this sport and coach it with heart. Ready to get started? Visit coachmartin.ca for a free consult and let’s build your ultra plan. Start Building Now Here’s how you can start preparing today: Run 3–5x per week (build up to 50–70 km/week). Strength train 2x weekly. Add hill work weekly (both up and down). Practice fueling on long runs. Add back-to-back runs (even short ones). Study the course and visualize your loops. Join trail groups and connect with others training for SSTR. By fall, you are building your base. By spring, you’re peaking. By May you’re ready to take on Sulphur Springs. Final Word: Let’s Do This Together Sulphur Springs will test every part of you, physically and mentally. But it will also give you one of the most powerful experiences of your life. Loop by loop, aid station by aid station, you’ll learn what you’re truly capable of. When you cross that finish line buckle in hand, heart full, it will all make sense. Let’s get you there. Visit coachmartin.ca and let’s start your Sulphur journey together. See you on the trails. Martin

It’s late August, which means you have about ten weeks until Hamilton’s Road2Hope race weekend (Saturday, November 1 for the 1K/5K/10K; Sunday, November 2 for the half and full marathon, 8:00 a.m. start). Both longer races start and finish in Confederation Park on a flat, fast, waterfront route. This is a great hometown race, with many of the runners, sponsors, and volunteers hailing from Hamilton and the surrounding areas. It’s a personal favourite of mine, mostly because it’s one of the friendliest road races around, and for that reason alone, a great first half- or full marathon. The route will be familiar to local runners, and the shirts and finisher medals are always a source of pride. But the gold, silver, and bronze in this race go to the runners with excellent pacing discipline and strong aerobic conditioning. Whether you’re in it to win it or you just want to finish your first big race, the Road2Hope is a great event to start with. Why start now Ten weeks is enough time to arrive ready, especially if you’ve already been running for a while. Ad structure by following a plan that emphasizes mostly easy running, a small amount of purposeful faster work, and steady long-run progression. After all, you don’t want ot overtrain. Science shows that endurance athletes tend to respond best when the majority of training is kept at a low intensity, with limited, well-placed high-intensity sessions. This approach will help you improve your overall fitness without carrying chronic fatigue into race day. How I coach You won’t get a cookie-cutter PDF from me -- you’ll get an individualized plan that’s uniquely yours. We begin with your current mileage, available training days, and background, then build a progression that fits your real life. It’s also likely you’ll be spending some time in the gym: We include strength work in the plan because it improves running economy and durability for so many runners. We adjust the week if and when life intervenes, so you can maintain momentum instead of starting over. Your 10-week build (starting week of August 25) Below is a sample plan. It explains what we do in each phase and why it works. If your current weekly mileage is very low, we’ll target the half this year (or a Saturday 10K) and use the same structure with smaller volumes, setting you up for a spring marathon. Weeks 1–2: Reboot and aerobic base We establish a reliable routine of mostly easy running with short strides (8–10 seconds, full recovery) and two brief strength sessions per week. The easy volume rebuilds your aerobic engine, the strides reintroduce leg speed without stress, and the strength work begins improving running economy through neuromuscular adaptations. Long runs are comfortable and unhurried (typically 12–14 km for half-marathoners and 18–22 km for marathoners), so you finish feeling like you could do more. This balance lets you recover between days while accumulating the kind of work that actually moves fitness forward. Weeks 3–5: Threshold development and hill economy We add one focused workout each week, for example, steady threshold running or aerobic intervals, and keep one long run that we add distance to gradually over time. Threshold efforts improve your ability to clear and tolerate lactate so your target pace feels easier, while short hill repetitions reinforce mechanics and strength specific to running. Long runs begin to include brief segments at planned race effort so you can practice fueling, pacing, and form under light fatigue without overreaching. This phase builds confidence while preserving the mostly-easy backbone that supports consistent training. Weeks 6–7: Specific preparation and peak stimulus In this phase, we combine longer tempo blocks with race-pace segments inside the long run to simulate the demands of a flat, steady course like the Road2Hope . Half-marathoners might complete an 18–21 km long run with 8–10 km at goal pace; marathoners might run 30–34 km with the final 10–12 km near marathon effort. These sessions teach even pacing and late-run focus—the exact skills the Road2Hope course rewards—while the rest of the week stays predominantly easy so you absorb the work. Strength training stays in but shifts to maintenance to preserve freshness. Weeks 8–9: Taper while keeping your edge With the race just a few weeks out, we deliberately reduce weekly volume while keeping short, familiar doses of intensity. The goal is to remove accumulated fatigue without losing the adaptations you’ve built. Research on tapering supports maintaining intensity, trimming volume substantially, and only slightly reducing frequency; this strategy reliably improves endurance performance across taper lengths of about one to three weeks. Practically, you’ll feel your legs come back while workouts remain snappy but brief. Week 10: Race week routine It’s race week: Time to finalize pacing and logistics. We’ll keep runs short with a few strides, and prioritize sleep, nutrition, and calm. Your fueling plan — which you’ll have tested in training — should supply 30–60 grams of carbohydrate per hour for most athletes in the half or a faster marathon, and up to ~90 grams per hour for marathons expected to last three hours or more. We’ll choose products you tolerate, practice timing, and pair carbs with fluids and electrolytes. This approach helps maintain blood glucose and delays fatigue so your late-race pace holds. Why we keep strength work in the plan Running performance is not just about the cardiovascular system; stronger muscles and tendons can make you more economical at a given pace. Multiple reviews and recent trials show that adding heavy resistance or explosive strength training two to three times per week over about 8–12 weeks can meaningfully improve running economy and time-trial performance, with benefits that persist when transitioned to lighter maintenance work in the final weeks. We use compound lifts (e.g., squats, deadlifts, step-ups) and single-leg stability to build resilience, and we taper the loads as race day approaches so your legs feel springy, not sore. How we fuel the training During the build, daily carbohydrate availability matters so you can complete key sessions and recover. Studies show that a higher carbohydrate intake during heavier training weeks, then race-specific fueling during long runs and tune-ups. (We’ll have worked on all of this so that you’re not trying anything new on race day.) Your nutrition , like the rest of your training plan, will be tailored to you, but the principle is simple: Arrive fueled for quality, replenish promptly afterward, and keep hydration and electrolytes consistent with conditions. Ready to train smarter? Training for Road2Hope is not about chasing heroic workouts; it’s about stacking the right sessions, week after week, and arriving on November 2 with strong legs and a calm mind. If you want a plan built around your history, your schedule, and this course — and a coach who will adjust it as life happens — apply to train with me. We’ll map your ten-week block to Road2Hope, practice what you’ll execute on the day, and help you finish strong. Get in touch. Register for the Road2Hope .