Seth:

Two-a-days can be helpful when trying to accumulate more volume but I think you should try some things before that:

Include one rest day/week

Include more modulation between days. You need some light days and some heavy days through the week. All you days have a pretty high load in them.

Include light recovery weeks every 2-3.

Reduce the intensity of some more of your aerobic workouts from Z2 down to Z1.

All the things you are saying indicate you are training close to your maximum sustainable load. Not allowing adequate recovery will eventually derail your progress.

Scott

Seth:
As answers to your questions above:

1) Three build weeks followed by a recovery week seems to work well for most folks. The recovery week is focused on getting you recovered so you can throw down again for the next 3 building weeks. I normally cut volume around 50% in the recovery week for those thatI coach. Make sure you come out of the week itching to go.

2) If you are aerobically deficient then you can speed up the aerobic adaptation process by training close to your aerobic threshold as much as possible (top of Z2). Recovery from training in this zone you should be complete within 8-24 hours. If it you’re not able to do what you did yesterday again today you were training above the AeT. This is a good way to tell if you are training aerobically. But do take a rest day each week. This day should not involve training. It should involve recovery activities.

3) Depending on how hard you are climbing, that climbing day may or may not act as a recovery activity. In general I would agree that it can be a great recovery activity. One of the pro runners I coach, Luke Nelson, uses gym climbing sessions for recovery. They serve that purpose well for him. If you feel better after that climbing and it seems to help your legs then you have your answer.

It is a challenge to work a full time job and accumulate enough volume of this aerobic base work to nudge the AeT upward. That’s one of the reasons many people are drawn to high intensity workouts. They are time crunched and these 45 minute HIIT workouts make them feel like they are training. We’re trying to show an optimal way to train for these mountain events. It may not work for everyone. We see people making solid aerobic gains using our approach once they can hit 8+ hours/week of aerobic training. When they get over 12 hours of aerobic volume they really see improvement. Under 8 hour it will be tough to move the aerobic needle.

As Mark Twight so aptly adapted Milt Friedman’s famous in our book: “There is no such thing as a free lunch”.

Scott

Hafjell;

Sadly there will come an upper limit to the time anyone can spend training but this is certainly more true for no pro, working/family people. What we try to do with our more time restricted coaching clients is to give them a big weekend training day, when that will usually have a bigger block of time to sneak out for a few hours training. This concentration and even extend to doing two big back to back days on the weekend and smaller maintenance workouts mid week. We’ve even got folks who get up at 4AM to get training in while the family sleeps. It sure takes an understanding spouse.

Scott

@s.luedtke: Based on your posts in this thread, I’d say you’re well on your way. It doesn’t sound like you have to go back to the drawing board. If you can maintain that consistency, you’ll continue to see gains.

Everyone has to deal with life constraints, so I wouldn’t get bummed about it. The difference between us and pros is that their constraints are (eventually) physiological. For the rest of us, life constraints are centered around other, (more?) important commitments.

@hafjell: Aside from what Scott J. suggested, it’s hard to make any specific recommendations because everyone’s constraints are different. However, here are a few questions to ask yourself that may help free up some time:

• How far is your commute? Rather than drive, could you run to work? If it’s too far, could you drive part way, and then run the rest?
• Do your kids have extracurricular activities that are scheduled at the same time? Could they be scheduled at the same time? While the kids are occupied, could you train in the same area? (If you train in the same area as their activities, then you won’t have to spend time driving elsewhere.)
• Do you and your spouse kid-wrangle at the same time? Instead, could you alternate so that only one parent is on duty at a time?
• How much TV do you watch? If you watched no TV at all, including after dark, how much training time would that give you? (Buy a headlamp if necessary.)
• How long is your lunch hour? Could you eat a quick lunch and then take a nap in your car? (I realize you didn’t ask about recovery, but the more sleep you get, the better you’ll recover. The more you recover, the better the training effect.)

In general, look for things that don’t add value. Cut them out and add training and recovery instead.

As Scott J. mentioned, many athletes get up really early to get their training in. I did that for the first couple years, but I blew myself up. These days, cutting sleep is a last resort because it means I’ll eventually have to cut training to catch up.

The upside to training super early is that it’s taken care of ahead of everything else. It’s a great stress reducer. The downside is that cutting sleep is kind of like doing a long road trip and cutting back on gas… It’ll work sometimes, but you have to plan ahead and be careful you don’t cut it too close. And do it all without a gas gauge…