I’m no uphill athlete: overweight middle aged man with joint issues. I’ve worked my way up to 1-4 hours of hiking which is z2 for me (I live at 8-10k feet). Or 1-4 hours of mountian biking on an easy grade.

My question is regarding programming: I love to dh ski and do strength and gym based ME to prepare. Should I do strength/polos/me before my z2 or after? I’d like to do a hard day (for me 2-4 hours hiking or biking and a ME type work out with some Plyo component like jump lunges + strength/muscular endurance). Then follow with a day or sometime two of rowing/fan bike/upper body/easy walking/easy bodyweight exercises.

Is it counter productive to program this way? Seems the older I get (I’m 51) the more recovery I need. I’m not preparing for events just backpacking, mountian biking, starting to x-country ski a bit, easy skinning, downhill skiing, sup boarding.

Thanks!