Hi there! I’m new around here and have read through a lot of the forum, but have two questions for you all. I’ve also included my general training background below for reference.

1. I finished Training for the Uphill Athlete a couple of weeks ago. Using HR drift test (and polar h9 chest strap), determined my Aet to be about 153 and then determined LT to be about 177 so some ADS going on. It sounds like it is to my benefit to do all my (now very slow) running right up against my Aet to get the most benefit so I’ve been shooting for 150, but I do find myself going up and over a few times and having to correct to get my HR back down. I think probably the hills in my neighborhood and crossing streets are to blame. To give an example, my run this morning was 1 hour, 7 min and I spent 12 minutes up above my Aet. It wasn’t far above it, but a few bpm. My max HR was 161. Is this time detrimental/should I instead shoot for 145 to give myself more of a cushion?

2. I’m planning to run a trail marathon in late January 2022. Since I have ADS, my plan is to continue building my base (currently 35 mpw) with three build weeks/one down week and all zone 2 running until September. Then in September, start the 50k run cat 1 plan (from the book) to start formally training. Does this seem like the best use of my time or would it be more beneficial to start the plan earlier and repeat some other sections?

Training background: 31 years old, female. Have been running off and on for ten years, but over the last year have really been consistently running 5-6 times per week (2x on trails), slowly building up my base from 10 mpw to currently 35 mpw. Unfortunately I’ve realized that all that running was in the dreaded zone 3 or higher, so working to correct. Also doing strength work twice per week. Growing up, did a lot of climbing, downhill skiing, mountain biking but not much running.

Thank you very much! Super excited to see where this takes me.