[Roger]

I’m 61, recently “semi-retired”, and a life-long climber. I have more time available to train and am motivated to train smarter. I’ve been moderately compliant working on self-diagnosed Aerobic Deficiency Syndrome for going on 20 weeks. After several overly ambitious treadmill HR Drift tests from 8.9 to 8.0 to 6.8% drift, I finally established my AeT at a lowly 110 (13 weeks ago). My AeT has improved to about 126 since then. My AnT is at least 152 so AnT-AeT won’t pass the 10% test for a while yet. I’ve averaged about 12 hours, 26 miles and worked up to about 7,000ft/week in the last 12 weeks. I have been doing some ME Z3 during regular winter climbing sessions carrying a pack. It seems my AeT is still too low, but I chose the intermediate plan for the Mountaineering Training Group based on the questionnaire. Would you recommend following the Intermediate Plan but with greater time emphasis still on Z2? Do you think the ME Z3 workouts are appropriate for me at this juncture? Thanks, I’d appreciate any advice.

Topic

[MarkPostle]

MarkPostle on May 12, 2022 at 5:24 pm #67080

Rodger, It is a bit goal/timing dependent. Do you have a climbing specific goal in the next 3-6 months?

[Roger]

Roger on May 12, 2022 at 9:03 pm #67091

Mark, I am planning on Curtis Ridge on Rainier in June if we get better weather and snow conditions. I have been doing a few Colorado 13ers and carrying up to 30# uphill to train for that. I’ve been trying to stay a majority in Z2 intensity but end up in Z3 for extended periods on steep terrain. Beyond that nothing specific (alpine rock climbing and long mountain runs/races in the San Juans this summer). Anything bigger would be this coming winter and next spring.
Thanks for your reply, Roger

[MarkPostle]

MarkPostle on May 14, 2022 at 12:51 pm #67165

Rodger,
I would recommend trying the ME session as prescribed in the program. Even though your aerobic capacity could use some work still probably (all of our can :)) the reality of your goals is that you also need to ready to carry a real pack in the hills. 1X weekly ME heavy pack carries will likely be worth the recovery demand. See how you are recovering from them as well. For some folks I will have them do that workout every 8-10 days if 1X per week seems to often.

[Roger]

Roger on May 15, 2022 at 6:48 am #67177

Thanks Mark, sounds good. Appreciate your input.
Roger