[cramblda]

I just started my 4th training cycle since discovering TFTNA. Currently I am working on the 20 Week Intro to Ultra Running. This cycle I decided to get a lab test done both pre and post cycle. I completed a gas exchange test (pre-cycle) last week.

For reference points:
* I’m a 41 year old male.
* Test results VT1: 140 and VT2: 165. My understanding from Uphill Athlete and the testing facility is these correlate with my AeT and AnT respectively.
* My Fuel utilization 50:50 crossover was 142.

After having read Scott’s discussions about HR Drift and Training Peaks Pa:HR measurement this year, I got interested in looking at some of my Training Peaks data over the last four training cycles. I can certainly see clearly where early in my training, my runs had a higher Pa:HR percentages then later in training.

Now for my question. In my last training cycle, 19 weeks into training, I ran an outdoor, mostly flat, “Z3” that was a little over an hour long, with an Average HR of 160. HR remained mostly flat throughout the run. My Pa:HR was 3.89%. Does that mean that my AeT had moved from around 140 to 160 in that training period? Or am I misunderstanding how that metric works?

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on September 14, 2018 at 9:45 pm #13437

It is quite possible to see the AeT move from 140 to 160 in 19 weeks. In one elite level athlete I coached I saw it go from 135 and 8:00/mile to 165 and 6:15/mile in 12 weeks. This guy was training 20 hours/week. Volume of training is the biggest stimulus to this adaptation.

Scott

[cramblda]

cramblda on September 15, 2018 at 12:58 pm #13445

Thanks Scott. I’m not in the elite category, but I was at around 13 hours a week at that time frame.

I know I have had made specific errors in planning my off seasons and handling injuries in the past. I’m hoping with a few years of experience and some coaching I’ll do better in the next few seasons. I know you and Steve have talked about how our bodies need some down time between seasons to recover. However, I would like to not slide back quite as far as I seemly have been. Is it possible with better planning/coaching to maintain some of that improvement in AeT, or is that improvement generally require that intense training to achieve, resulting in us needing to re-build each training season?

[cramblda]

cramblda on September 15, 2018 at 1:18 pm #13446

I guess your comment about volume hints that this AeT improvement will be lost when volume drops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on September 18, 2018 at 5:20 pm #13488

@cramblda: Not necessarily. It depends on how stable your aerobic capacity is and how much of a taper you do. If you’ve been training at a consistent volume for months, then it’s likely fairly stable.

I recently had a similar worry (with the kids being out of school and summer being a chaotic write off), and Scott J. mentioned that even dropping to 50% of your previous volume will still provide enough of a stimulus to slow the decline.

I hope that helps.

[cramblda]

cramblda on September 18, 2018 at 5:33 pm #13489

Yes, that’s a helpful marker in determining a volume that will give your a body a break and still maintain some of your current fitness.