Hilly Hundred Training: A Strength Plan for the Climbs

Training for the Hilly Hundred is fundamentally a leg-strength problem wearing a cycling costume: two consecutive days of climbing near Bloomington in early October reward riders who added off bike strength work to their mileage, not riders who simply logged more saddle time. The event’s back-to-back structure is what makes it unusual among local rides, and it changes what a smart training block actually needs. A free consultation is a straightforward way to add that strength layer to a Carmel training week without cutting into ride time.

What two days of hills actually demands

A single hard climbing day tests fitness. A second hard climbing day, the morning after, tests something closer to durability, whether your legs can still produce real force after yesterday’s effort and an imperfect night of recovery. Riders who train only on the bike often discover this the hard way on day two, when the same climbs that felt manageable on Saturday feel considerably harder on Sunday, not because the hills changed but because nothing in their training prepared their legs to recover and perform again within twenty four hours.

The strength work that transfers to climbing

Riding builds the specific pedal stroke and aerobic base a ride needs, and strength work fills in what pedaling alone leaves out. A weekly yoga class is a common add-on for cyclists chasing recovery and mobility, and it is a fine habit, though on its own it does not build the force-production strength that climbing actually rewards.

• Squats and leg press work. Quad strength built under load raises the ceiling on how much force each pedal stroke can produce, which matters most on the steepest sections.
• Hip thrusts and glute bridges. Climbing draws heavily on hip extension, and this pattern rarely gets trained by riding alone.
• Single leg work. Step ups and split squats address the slight left-right imbalance every rider develops, which shows up as fatigue on one side late on day two.
• Core anti-rotation work. A stable trunk keeps power moving efficiently into the pedals and keeps handling controlled on fast descents, where a tired core is the quiet cause of a shaky line.

Two sessions a week, on non-riding days, is enough to add this without stealing legs from long weekend rides.

Building the block before early October

Eight to ten weeks is a workable runway for most riders who already have some base fitness. The early weeks focus on technique and moderate loads while riding volume builds separately, the middle weeks push loads and volume together, and the final two weeks taper strength work sharply so legs arrive fresh rather than sore. That taper matters more here than for a single-day event, because day two only goes well if day one did not cost more than it should have.

Recovering between day one and day two

This is the detail a single-day race never has to solve, and it is worth training deliberately rather than hoping for the best. Protein and carbohydrate intake immediately after day one’s ride, an easy short spin or walk that evening to keep blood moving through tired legs, and a genuinely early bedtime all do more for day two than anything done in a gym that week. The strength training earlier in the block is what makes that recovery routine effective, stronger legs simply produce less internal damage per climb, which is the whole reason the training happens months in advance rather than the week of the ride.

Progressing the plan week to week

An eight to ten week block should look noticeably different in week one than in week seven, and riders who repeat the same workout every week tend to plateau earlier than the calendar would suggest. The early weeks favor higher reps and lighter loads while the nervous system relearns squat and hinge patterns that saddle time alone never rehearses. The middle weeks add real load, fewer reps, more weight, building the raw strength that becomes climbing power later. The final two weeks shift again, lighter loads, faster intent, so the strength built earlier starts expressing itself as power rather than pure grinding force. Skipping straight to heavy loading in week one is a common mistake, and it usually costs a rider a week of soreness that would have been better spent riding.

Saddle position and off bike strength are connected

Riders sometimes treat bike fit and off bike training as separate problems, and they are not. Tight, underdeveloped hips are a common reason a fit that looked correct on paper still feels cramped by hour three of a climbing day, and hip and hamstring strength work done consistently off the bike often resolves a discomfort that a fit adjustment alone could not. This is one more reason the strength block pays off over an entire riding season, not just for one October weekend, the same durability that makes day two of the Hilly Hundred feel manageable also makes every long ride afterward feel less like a recovery project.

If your last Hilly Hundred left day two feeling like a different, much harder event than day one, that gap is trainable. A coach here can build the block around whatever riding schedule you already keep, the same approach behind the Monumental Marathon plan and Carmel’s own Women’s Running Festival prep. Book the free consultation and give day two a fair shot at feeling like day one.