Hiking – 20% BW and short vs. 5% BW and long

The hrTSS score is calculated solely off your heart rate and duration of the activity, my guess is that your HR is a lot lower on those long hikes. there are other training stimuluses that are important relating to core strength carrying weight and uphill hiking specific muscles and such.

I’ve had some good luck handicapping myself with a pack and going for long hikes with less fit friends, keeping my HR where I want it, hiking at the slower pace and adding weight so it’s difficult enough to get the right HR. I fill water bottles up and hike with my wife or kids a lot and if I’m struggling to keep my HR down while hiking at her pace I just dump some water.

If the goal is purely aerobic capacity building then you’re likely going to be better off with longer duration and lighter pack weight. As mentioned above much of it comes down to specificity for your goal. If your goal never exceeds a 5% pack weight then for sure that will be the better choice most of the time (ME workouts not withstanding) If you goal has an approach day(s) that involves significant pack weight then you’ll want to try and replicate that in the training some of the days. The reality is that a lot of mountain goals require both a big aerobic capacity (summit days) and a heavy pack carrying ability (approach to camp) so you’ll want to be training both.