30% Tread ME – 90 lb Weighted (30 min)

Local muscular endurance for steep, loaded mountain work—built on a long runway of strength and aerobic honesty.

Quick Specs

  • Type: Muscular Endurance (ME) – steep uphill, loaded

  • Environment: Treadmill at 30% grade

  • Duration: 30 minutes continuous

  • Speed: 1.5 mph (progressed from 1.3 mph)

  • Load: 90 lb total

    • 80 lb in a pack

    • 5 lb on each ankle

  • Warm-up / cool-down: None; this workout is a progressive session

Important: This is a late-stage progression, not a starting point.

What This Workout Trains

This session targets local muscular endurance of the uphill chain under heavy load:

  • Glutes, quads, calves, and supporting musculature for sustained steep climbing

  • Ability to tolerate and clear local fatigue without needing high heart-rate or pace

  • Mental posture: staying composed and precise under heavy, repetitive strain

In Heretic Trail language, this is a Muscular Endurance (ME) session that presumes:

  • Ongoing Low Aerobic (LA) work — easy running/hiking that builds your aerobic base

  • Consistent Force Margin (FM) training — heavier strength work that raises your force ceiling

  • Regular Dynamic Balance (DB) work — coordination, stability, and control on unstable surfaces and variable terrain

You earn this workout with those three.

Context & Progression (How We Got Here)

This exact workout didn’t appear out of nowhere.

Prior steps in this progression included:

  • Loaded climbs on the Manitou Incline with:

    • ~45 lb pack → then

    • ~60 lb pack

  • Earlier treadmill ME sessions at 30% grade with:

    • Lighter loads and/or

    • Slower belt speed (e.g., 1.3 mph for 30 min with 90 lb)

Each step only moved one or two variables at a time:

  • Increase load or speed

  • Extend duration or density of work

  • Never overhaul everything at once

This is core to Heretic Trail:

No workout is magic. No workout stands alone. Everything lives inside a progression.

This 1.5 mph, 30-minute, 90-lb version is simply one snapshot along that continuum.

Who This Is For

This workout is appropriate for athletes who:

  • Have months–years of consistent LA running/hiking

  • Have a robust strength background (FM) including loaded carries, squats/hinges, and single-leg work

  • Are regularly doing dynamic balance work (DB)

  • Already tolerate steep grades and moderate loads without joint or tendon complaints

  • Are preparing for:

    • Very steep mountain ultras

    • Races with long, loaded climbs

    • Big backcountry days that demand durability under weight

If any of that feels shaky, you’re not “behind”—you’re just earlier in the progression. The work shifts back toward building LA + FM + DB first.

Prerequisites & Minimum Standards

Before you touch this version, I’d want to see something like:

  • LA:

    • 4–6+ hours/week of easy running/hiking for several months without repeated breakdowns

  • FM:

    • Comfortable with loaded carries (e.g., working up to 30%+ bodyweight) on stairs or moderate grade

    • Able to perform basic strength patterns (squat, hinge, step-up, calf raise) 2x/week without flaring anything up

  • DB:

    • Regular practice of single-leg balance, step-downs, or trail agility drills

    • No panic or wobble every time the ground isn’t flat

These aren’t strict lab numbers, just reality checks. If your foundation is wobbly, this session will expose it quickly—and not in a good way.

How to Run the Session

Session Name in Your Log:
30% Tread ME – 90 lb (80 back, 5 each ankle) Weighted, 30' @ 1.5 mph

  1. Warm-up (optional)

    • 10 minutes of easy walking/jogging

    • A few minutes of unloaded or lightly loaded uphill treadmill (gentler grade)

    • Simple mobility for ankles, calves, hips

  2. Set Up

    • Treadmill: 30% grade

    • Speed: working 1.0mph up to 1.5 mph (or your current progression point)

    • Load: target total (e.g., 90 lb; pack + ankle weights or equivalent)

    • Safety: handrails clear, emergency stop accessible, no distractions

  3. Main Set – 30 minutes continuous

    • Step on, start the belt, get stable

    • Once settled, start the 30-minute clock

    • Hands off the rails 100%, completely upright and stable — this is about posture and local fatigue, not hanging on

    • Focus on:

      • Deliberate, long steps w/ lower cadence

      • Stacked posture: ribs over hips, hips over feet

      • Smooth, rhythmic breathing

  4. Cool Down (optional)

    • Drop grade and load

    • 5–10 minutes of easy walking

    • Light mobility for calves, hips, and low back

How to Progress (Example Path)

Here’s an example progression arc leading toward this session. Keep intensity in a moderate range; this is about local fatigue, not red-lining. The numbers are illustrative; your reality may differ:

  1. Phase 1 – Foundation ME

    • 4x(8' work, 2’ easy) @ 30% with 40–50 lb total, 1.2–1.3 mph

  2. Phase 2 – Load Emphasis

    • 6x(5’ work, 2’ easy)' @ 30% with 60–70 lb total, 1.2–1.3 mph

  3. Phase 3 – Toward This Session

    • 30' @ 30% with 90 lb total, 1.3 mph

  4. Phase 4 – This Session

    • 30' @ 30% with 90 lb, 1.5 mph

You only move forward when:

  • Joints/tendons stay quiet

  • You recover within 24–48 hours

  • The rest of your training (especially LA) doesn’t collapse

If you rush this, you don’t get fitter—you just get hurt.

Where This Fits in the Week

In a typical build, this type of workout might appear:

  • Once every 7–14 days, depending on:

    • Age

    • Training age

    • Overall load and race proximity

Often placed:

  • On a day with otherwise light volume

  • Not the day before your longest run or key high-aerobic work

The point is to add a sharp, specific stimulus without blowing up your ability to practice the basics.

If You’re New to ME Work

If you haven’t:

  • Built a consistent LA base, and/or

  • Done dedicated FM and DB work, and/or

  • Spent time on steep grades or with a pack

…then your version of this might look more like:

  • 10–15' @ 10–15% grade

  • Bodyweight or light pack (10–20 lb)

  • 0.8–1.0 mph

  • Lots of attention to form and how your tissues respond over the next 48 hours

The goal isn’t to copy someone else’s numbers.

The goal is to enter the same category of stress at a level that’s appropriate for you, then progress.

Common Mistakes

  • Treating it like a hero workout.
    Max-effort load + speed + duration is a great way to end your season.

  • Skipping the foundation.
    Without LA, FM, and DB in place, this becomes a durability test you didn’t train for.

  • Letting form collapse.
    Hunched shoulders, hanging on the rails, sloppy foot placement—your body will adapt to whatever posture you spend 30 minutes in.

  • Over-frequencing it.
    Twice a week, on top of everything else, is too much, and leads to stagnation

Heretic Trail Notes

At Heretic Trail, this session is just one expression of a bigger idea:

  • Devotion over bravado. You don’t “win” this workout by surviving it once. You win by integrating it sensibly into months of practice.

  • Progression over novelty. The magic isn’t in 30' @ 1.5 mph with 90 lb. It’s in the dozens of sessions—LA, FM, DB, and ME—that made this possible.

  • Appropriate always. The correct version of this workout is the one you can recover from, learn from, and repeat.

Gear Notes (placeholder for future affiliate integration)

On the live page, this is where you can briefly mention:

  • Pack style & why (fit, stability, load carry)

  • Footwear choice (tread, support, drop)

  • Any specific supportive equipment (e.g., belt, ankle weights, treadmill characteristics)

For now you can just label it “Gear I Used (Details Coming Soon)” and fill in later once your affiliate pages are ready.