![VAMPS skiers doing some hill work on Dollar Mountain near Sun Valley, Idaho, in October 2010. (From left to right): EJ Harpham, Alex Sundali, Tizz Strachan, Trina Peters, Tess O'Sullivan, and Anne Marie Gardner. (Photo: Muffy Ritz)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/11/FS-WW-vamps-hill-workout.jpg")
Editor’s Note: The following has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of Beech Hill in Durham, N.H.
This week, Muffy Ritz, founder and head coach of the VAMPS women’s masters group in Sun Valley, Idaho, leads us through the Vamps Hill Workout, which she adopted from the University of New Hampshire’s Beech Hill climb. According to Ritz, UNH grads Sarah Walker McLaughlin and Eva Pregitzer Turzian (UNH Graduates) brought the workout West with them.
Ritz likes it because all you need is a hill with one minute or more of climbing. She has her athletes do the 45-minute workout about once a month up their local ski hill, Dollar Mountain.
“The workout incorporates 3 different Training levels (easy/medium/hard) as well as endurance and power,” she explained in an email. “It also utilizes 3 separate techniques (hill walking, moosehoofing and hill bounding) in one workout.”
The Workout: Vamps Hill Workout (a non-stop effort incorporating hill walking, moosehoofing (bounding lite) and hill bounding)
Need: A moderately steep Hill that is at least 1-minute long and wide enough for all three techniques at once, not just a road. Participants should have bounding poles and water.
Setup: 3 sections marked by cones, including a 1-minute hill walk, 1-minute moosehoof, and 30-second hill-bounding, with space for recovery in between, plus a start and finish. The coach should time themselves on each section and drop the cones where appropriate. The walking to the next section (recovery) should take a bit longer than the working section. It just depends on how it is set up.
Warm-up: Walk the course while coach demonstrates proper technique where indicated in each section.
Get Going: Start with one of the sections (marked by cones) hill walk, moosehoof or hill bound and recover by walking or jogging over to the next section, then the next, and back to the start.
- The workout is continuous for 45 minutes.
- Each loop is about 5 minutes long so seven to eight laps can be completed. It is cumulative and it whoops you by the end.
- Pick a place on course to leave water bottles etc. to drink every lap if necessary.
Cool down: Walk out and stretching
![About once a month, Muffy Ritz sends her athletes up Dollar Mountain near Sun Valley, Idaho, for the Vamps Hill workout. They use the road on the right for the moosehooves section and mowed grassy areas for the hill walking and bounding. "The more spread out the sections are, the more recovery there is," Ritz explains.](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/11/Dollar.jpg")
One comment
ColoradoSep
November 6, 2013 at 3:54 pm
I hate to be that guy, but I’m gonna. 🙂
…which she adopted from the University of New Hampshire’s Beach Hill climb.
As all of us who suffered every Wednesday and barely made it back to the dining hall in time know, it’s “Beech” Hill, not “Beach” Hill.
We bounded up Beech Hill, and skied on our rock skis on Hampton Beach.
You’d with think having a Wildcat alum on staff that kind of stuff would be caught before going to press. 🙂
SEP