When building training plans and during actual workouts, the determination of appropriate intensity for the workout is an area of much confusion for mountain athletes. Some sports, such as swimming and road or track running, rely on recent competitive performances to guide intensity by using percentages of race pace. Rock climbers can use grades (though these are admittedly flawed for a variety of reasons) to monitor intensity. But mountain athletes do not have such a straightforward metric for determining intensity because the effort it takes depends on factors that vary such as terrain, conditions, altitude, etc.Training Intensity Monitoring MethodsFor mountain…
Author: Uphill Athlete
We know from decades of training and coaching that the best way to measure and regulate intensity, in order to stay under your Aerobic Threshold, is through a combination of monitoring your breathing and your heart rate. How do we apply that to training?What Is Intensity?Intensity is how hard you’re working and is a reflection of what metabolic pathways are fueling your movement. A dog walk is low intensity. An all-out sprint is high intensity. Almost all successful mountaineering is carried out at low to moderate intensity.The Two Breathing Thresholds: Real-Life ExamplesSteve has worked as a professional mountain guide since…
In this article about the physiology of intensity monitoring, we define terms and explain the underlying metabolic processes that determine the ventilatory markers of intensity. Aerobic Threshold (AeT), aka Ventilatory Threshold (VT1) When ventilation is slow and controlled to the point where the athlete can carry on a conversation without needing to catch his or her breath or can maintain breathing through the nose, then fat metabolism is providing half or more of ATP for locomotion. This ventilation threshold is often referred to as the Aerobic Threshold (AeT) or the First Ventilatory Threshold (VT1). Its upper limit corresponds to the…
Get ready for your next flat or trail marathon with this 24-week running training plan suitable for beginners and ideal for new long-distance runners.
BUY NOW FOR $69 This is a beginner to intermediate level plan for those with the goal of skiing Colorado’s Grand Traverse Race or a similar long backcountry ski race. It can also work well for those seeking a better fitness base for a multi-day Hut to Hut ski trip such as Canada’s Wapta traverse, the Oertler traverse in Italy, Austria’s Hoch Tirol Traverse, or the Haute Route.This plan does not require daily access to snow for skiing but the results will certainly be better if you can get on snow 3-4 days per week for most of the plan.…
At Uphill Athlete we rely heavily on a platform called TrainingPeaks. TrainingPeaks was originally developed by and for professional cyclists and their coaches who were faxing workouts and results between Europe and the US. Today it provides complete web, mobile, and desktop solutions to enable smart and effective endurance training. By introducing scientific tools and methods that have become the industry standard, TrainingPeaks has revolutionized the way that coaches and athletes track, analyze, and plan endurance training. Why TrainingPeaks for Uphill Athlete At Uphill Athlete we do all of our coaching on the TrainingPeaks platform. We also design, build, update,…
Ready to purchase a training plan with Uphill Athlete, but you aren’t the technical type? Don’t worry! Here is a super-easy-to-follow guide that will take you through how to purchase a training plan with us and how to create a free account with TrainingPeaks, as well as everything else you need to do to get started. Trust us, the training will be the hard part.10 Steps to Purchasing a Training Plan with Uphill Athlete and Creating an Account with TrainingPeaksTake a look through the various training plans Uphill Athlete offers: https://uphillathlete.com/training-plans/.From the Training Plans page, click on the plan you…