Flat AeT Test, help with data

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May 11, 2020 at 9:08 pm #41580

oliver.m.bibby
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Hello! I’m 25M with a background in skimo racing and trail running. I’ve been using 153 bpm as my AeT for quite a while. Over the past month I upped my volume quite a bit (avg 16 hour week), 95% of which was zone 1-2 and on the mountain bike so as to not overstress my muscles.

I completed a flat AeT test today for 50 minutes duration.

1/2 – 166bpm – 4’19 min/km
2/2 – 170bpm – 4-26 min/km

The pace felt quite sustainable, like I could have run another 50 min comfortably at the same pace.

Question:
Would you use 166 bpm as my AeT?
Is it possible to be above AeT with less than 5% decoupling?
– historicaly in trail/skimo races I have kept my HR up in tempo zone effort for several hours without much loss in pace, so I’m wondering if my body has adapted to drift less despite being above AeT.

Thanks so much!
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Posted In: Mountain Running

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Anonymous on May 12, 2020 at 9:03 am #41599

Would you use 166 bpm as my AeT?

Yes, but to be conservative and avoid any false precision, 165 is close enough.

Is it possible to be above AeT with less than 5% decoupling?

Yes, which is why I wondered: Have you done an anaerobic threshold test? Do you know your AnT HR?

The key differences between low decoupling at AeT versus AnT are:

* At AeT, decoupling doesn’t increase, but it could. If the intensity were increased, heart rate and decoupling would increase. Basically, there’s “room to move” if necessary.
* At AnT, decoupling doesn’t increase, because it can’t. Due to the intensity and the duration of the effort, heart rate can’t increase that much.

So it’s very important to not mistake AnT for AeT. That could lead to training disaster, going too hard too often.

Have you done an AnT test? You could do a DIY test or get an AnT estimate from a lab.

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oliver.m.bibby on May 12, 2020 at 11:52 am #41608

Thanks for the reply Scott!

I believe my AnT is around 178-182. In 1-2 hour long trail races I would average around 180 to 182, reaching 188 on hard climbs, but that was back in 2016. I’ve yet to do a full hour-long AnT test as there aren’t any hills open right now in Vancouver that would take that long. However, in some shorter efforts, I’ve been up in that range for 20-30 min and it felt fairly sustainable. I’ve just assumed my AnT would have dropped a few BPM over the 4 years and used 178 as a conservative value.

Regarding decoupling at AnT. If doing a 1hr climb at AnT heart rate, would you not expect to decouple a bit over the hour despite the same AnT Hr? Or do you mean the rate of decoupling doesn’t increase, so still a slowing pace, but it’s at a fixed %.

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Anonymous on May 12, 2020 at 1:47 pm #41613

I believe my AnT is around 178-182. In 1-2 hour long trail races I would average around 180 to 182, reaching 188 on hard climbs…

That sounds about right. So you should be fine to use ~165 and ~180 as threshold HRs.

I’ve yet to do a full hour-long AnT test as there aren’t any hills open right now in Vancouver that would take that long.

Races are ideal reference points, so I don’t think you need to do a time trial unless you’re really curious. Unless your training has changed a lot, I suspect you’ll get a similar result.

I’ve just assumed my AnT would have dropped a few BPM over the 4 years.

Not necessarily. It may if you haven’t been training, but it won’t change much if you’ve been active. (I’m 46, and my AnT HR has been the same since I first measured it at 31.)

…would you not expect to decouple a bit over the hour despite the same AnT HR?

Yes, sorry for the confusion. I shouldn’t have said that AnT HR “can’t” decouple. It’s just that it won’t drift very much if a 30-45′ effort is actually near AnT.

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