I recently did my first water jug ME workout last Saturday, I did 3 laps with a 65lb pack (I’m 188lbs), each lap being 1000ft of gain over 1.25 miles or so. It’s the steepest trail I know of in a reasonable driving distance, but I’m not sure if it’s really steep enough – I definitely had a good burn in my legs and glutes, but my HR (wearing chest strap) was generally mid-upper Z3 (avg for all 3 is about 165bpm). In Steve’s video on ME training, he says either add more weight and/or add steepness. I can add more weight, though 65lb is around my goal weight for my next expedition, and the only way I can do more steepness I think is to go off trail, which poses 2 challenges – I’m in southeast PA and it’s general pretty rocky terrain, so I’m a bit concerned to push hard and turn an ankle or something, and that would violate Leave No Trace to bushwack off trail. I definitely don’t want to that guy that thinks he’s the exception to rule for that stuff.

Any tips/thoughts/input? I can pull data from trainingpeaks as well if needed.