Time Crunched Plan Questions

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August 8, 2018 at 1:28 pm #11107

Felipe Q
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I have been slowly working through a TftNA plan over the last 12 months to assist in a mostly flat 100 mile ruck march in Holland (Nijmegen March), which I successfully completed a couple of weeks ago. My next goal is Rainier about 10 months from now, and I have purchased the time crunched plan due to my limited training time and flat home topography.

I note that the first task in the plan is to calculate the AnT which I have read in the forum as corresponding to the top of Z3. The aerobic workouts in the plan seem to focus on the upper limits of the AnT 80-90%, which would correspond to upper Z2 to mid Z3 for the aerobically challenged like me with large zones. My TftNA plans were almost exclusively focused on Z1 training (below AeT) to help build a strong aerobic base, and I expected more Z1 training in my future. You mention above the AeT is the focus of 90% of the base training.

Is the focus of the aerobic training in the time crunched plan being close to the AnT as opposed to the AeT due to the more limited training hours in the plan? 6hrs/week versus 10+ for the longer plans? I know you mentioned going harder is not a shortcut to building aerobic capacity. Unless I’m reading something wrong in the plan, my concern that that I will be ignoring the low and slow Z1 workouts for 12 weeks, and working mostly in Z3. Thanks for any clarification you can provide.
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Posted In: General Training Discussion

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Anonymous on August 9, 2018 at 4:08 pm #11117

Felipe;

I started a new thread with your topic.

We used % of AnT HR because in this plan you’ll be doing more intensity. Normally we don’t add much intensity until one has had a substantial aerobic base building period. But in this plan, because of both the shorten of the plan and its time crunched nature, we move to more intense workouts whether the person is ready for them or not. We do this because this will show good short term gains. But we are also careful to explain that this method is a compromise for long term development. So, yes we do this because 6 hours/week of Z1-2 training is not going to give much aerobic training effect.

Scott

Participant

Felipe Q on August 10, 2018 at 10:39 am #11123

Thanks very much for the clarification Scott, and for the prompt reply. As my time is limited to about 6 hours a week in the gym and/or in the building fire stairs until I get closer to my climb, I think I chose the right plan to buy. I’ll tack on a long weighted hill climb schedule as per p. 238 of TftNA on the weekends about 4 months before my climb. I’ll also be sure to add a 4-6 week pure base building period in between sessions of the 12 week time crunched plan as suggested. If this approach seems out of whack in any way, please let me know and I’ll schedule a phone consult. Cheers.

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Anonymous on August 10, 2018 at 5:12 pm #11126

Felipe:

I think that approach is very reasonable given your time constraints.

Scott

Participant

Frantik on April 1, 2019 at 11:18 am #19676

I didn’t want to start a new thread since I have one question as well for the 12-week time crunched program I just got. I hope it’s ok to write in this one.

So the aerobic pace sessions say Hold HR to 80-90% of AnT HR for the entire duration and then in the comments of the activity it writes ‘try to keep it above the 50% number as explained above’.

Is there a typo somewhere or is the HR range supposed to be 50%-90%?

If that’s the case isn’t 50% rather low as a bottom limit?
(I guess ideally you want to be close to the 90% for this kind of program as discussed above)

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