Hey Tyler, I’m certainly not a coach, but I’m on my 3rd cycle of TFNA/TFUA. I felt similarly about volume and started my volume at 4hs/wk rather than 2.5.

Also, I decided to make a concerted effort to track strength and climbing more accurately. Yes, you were climbing for 2 hours, but were you moving on the wall for 2 hours? I found I was moving about 5-10 min per pitch (I timed myself at the gym and at the crag the first few times) then I just multiplied my # pitches * 5 min (if the were easy or if I was on TR and 10 min if they were hard/I was on lead).

For strength, I found it was too variable since I would rest a lot more when lifting heavy and it didn’t quite feel right to only count the time I was moving the bar since heavy low volume days felt harder (with longer recovery) than easier high volume days so I just decided that all strength workouts (as long as I completed my whole program for the day) counted as 45 min.

I always re-start the transition period and consider it a grace period for me to actually get the right workouts in on the right day. So during my transition phase I’m just trying to hit the time goal and less bothered about hitting it with the right activity, I consider it a period where I can dial in my activity to match my training plan whereas the base period I’m more strict about how I hit the numbers.

Tyler,
Thank you for sharing the spreadsheet. I like how you are capturing workout notes/grade.

Few comments/questions:

a. Have you done your AeT/AnT tests? You are setting training intensity zones based on % of Max. HR which may or may not be accurate.

b. In the 24-Week Mountaineering Plan I follow, here is what a Transition week looks like:
Mon-Rest, Tue-Core & General Strength, Wed – Run/Hike on Hilly Terrain <=AeT, Thu-Recovery Run/Jog, Fri-Core & General Strength, Sat-Run/Hike <=AeT, Sun- Long Run/Hike on Hilly Terrain <=AeT

In your first week, I see two easy/recovery days and no rest days. I would recommend having a rest day in a week. As you add volume the rest day will be helpful.

In the training plan, there is a two-day gap between strength sessions, which has been helpful once I get into longer and more strenuous strength sessions. Just a thought to plan your strength sessions going ahead.

Your AeT/AnT will help determine which Zone you will be training in for aerobic workouts.

c. All hours – strength, climbing, recovery (Z1), etc. count towards your weekly training volume. In your spreadsheet, you have 2 hours for climbing. I would estimate the time you were actually climbing and just include this time in your total.

d. Your volume for the first week seems high if your target was 2.5 hours. Maybe this volume is right for you based on your training background, but I would be conservative.

Here is what @SWS had to say in this forum post –

It’s okay if the transition phase feels quite easy. It should feel easy. It lays the basic groundwork for more work later on.

Hope this is helpful.

One thing that I’ll add is the weight you’re carrying. I try to do a progressive increase in weight over the program so I get that you’re climbing and don’t want to be a slacker, but starting transition week 1 with 33.5lbs seems like a lot especially for a 45min approach. From your photo, you look like 33.5lbs is a rather substantial % of your bodyweight to carry.

I agree with everyone else that you did much more than 2.5 hours of training. By my estimation, you did 4.66hrs + climbing. Not sure how long you spent on each pitch, but if you were me, I’d estimate you were on the wall 1/3 of the time you were climbing. So 0.66 hrs making a total of 5.3 hrs of training this week.

The only thing I have to add is that if you have been doing Starting Strength, then you likely are squatting and deadlifting a ton, which can take a lot to recover from if you continue at that level (I have done it and was squatting 280 and Deadlifting 350 which is completely unnecessary and not sport-specific and gave me weird pains). What I have read around here is that heavy lifting is incompatible w svelt climbing. You likely have more strength than is needed for the general strength program and I would skip to the max strength focus on the one-legged step-ups and step-downs that the mountaineering and Ultrarunning plans use. In other words, I would focus your time on your running and aerobic system since Starting Strength likely has you stronger than you need to be, you could do a “Mini-Max” workout from the 24-week plan to maintain strength during the transition period.