Which terrain to build AeT? And some other questions.

I’ve spent way too much time reading the forums here so I’ll chime in with what I’ve learned so far:

Keep under zone 2 (under 130) even later in the workout.

Steep terrain is good because it mirrors your event. I would probably do a mix of flat and rolling and then make weekend trips to climb in the mountains if I were living where you do. But maybe you might have to add in some inclined treadmill or stairwell workouts to get more vertical in if those MTB trails are really gentle. I admit I tend to gloss over those flatlander posts because I live in the mountains.

Don’t bomb downhill, just go Z1 and count the entire time towards the workout. (if it calls for 2 hour Z2 uphill workout, count the entire time up and down towards the 2 hours). Although sometimes I like to jog downhill because otherwise my HR goes too high, still. (I think living at elevation is part of the issue too, our AeT is just lower here).

When I started following TftNA’s plan in the fall I was ridiculously slow too. I was cross country skiing and hiking uphill in what felt like slow motion. I’ve definitely sped up.

I did an AnT test at the beginning and it is helpful to know if you are aerobically deficient (so if you can add in the occasional Z3 workout or not) and I use Training Peaks so they use that number to calculate your training stress as well. I’m guessing based on your previous post about AeT that you probably are aerobically deficient though (the fact you could work out at an hour at a much higher HR in your initial test.) But you won’t know when you’ve fixed your ADS unless you know your AnT.

One more note that I wish maybe I had read when I started — I personally have found the most satisfying part is going from carb burner to fat burner. I was the kind of person who always had a Gu or Clif Blok handy just in case (and of course plenty of high carb snacks), or who would bonk on a long day, or just get really irritable when hungry. Now I can go for hours fasted with zero carbs and I don’t get hangry anymore. I started with fasted training then a few weeks ago went high fat low carb to help my training, and see if it would fix my allergies. It is helping with both although the first week or two was tough on training.

Hi,

To have a better understanding how to become a fat burner look at the following article Tips for fasted training

There are lots of articles and to find them is not so easy on the website. My suggestion is to start with the topic Training Practice and sometimes it is worth to reread the articles again as one’s understanding of the principles gets better, one finds other tips that are embedded in the same article. I guess when one is ready, one starts learning.

In regards to terrain, I also live in flatland and I had previously posted a question and Scott Johnston’s answer is probably what you might be looking for. It was in my case.

If you have been doing Crossfit for a long time, I suspect you might have ADS and the only way I have found to cure, is lot’s of volume at AeT, regardless how slow it is. At some point one becomes faster compared to himself or herself at the same AeT. It may take 8-12 weeks before there is a change so you may want to increase the transition period. I don’t know how long the transition period in the 16 week program is, but I extended my transition from 8 to 12 weeks in the 24 week plan.

Hope this helps

Sofia et al:

Thanks so much for the helpful responses to Sophia’s initial posts. This exactly what Steve and hoped for when we set up the forums. It is rewarding to see the dissemination of knowledge. Clearly the other posters “get it” and have great comments……Rachel: Are you ready to quit your day job 🙂

I really do not have much (if anything) of real value to add here because the main points are so well covered. But I can’t help myself so……..

You can get good benefits running mainly on the flats outside your door. One of the professional climbers I coach, David Goettler decided he wanted to run a road marathon under 3 hours last fall so I trained him like a marathon runner and all summer he did ALL his aerobic training running on the flats. We were interested (maybe even a little worried) to see how this would transfer over to his normal mountain training after the marathon. We have 4 years of training data so we could compare to previous years. The exciting news is that his marathon training seems to have really boosted his aerobic work capacity to an entirely new level. He is fitter than he has ever been. That’s a good thing because he is headed to Everest to attempt an ascent without support or the use of supplemental oxygen.

So, run on the flats mostly and try to vet some vertical in on the weekends in the foothills nearby.

As Rachel says, don’t worry about HR dropping when you come back downhill. The downhills on foot provide a unique strength training effect.

I love biking but you need to understand that biking of any kind will not transfer well to your goal of climbing mountains. Depending on your attachment to it and the seriousness of your focus on the climbing goals I would limit the mtn biking.

What is a recording HR monitor? They’re expensive but a HR monitor/PGS watch will be a great tool for monitoring your training via TP. Be sure to use a chest strap to capture the HR data. NONE of the wrist based monitors work well enough for you purposes. I coach athletes sponsored by the big manufacturers like Garmin and Suunto who get the latest and greatest new watches. None of the wrist based HR functions are worth using even on these top end watches.

Determining Anaerobic Threshold is a wise thing to do for the reasons previously stated. You can do this test https://uphillathlete.com/diy-anaerobic-test/. I recommend doing this test as sport specifically as possible. If you are a marathoner then this should be done on the flats. Mountaineers should do this hiking/running steeply uphill.

I hope I have filled in any gaps.

Thanks again to the UA crew for chiming on here.
Scott