[anne.o.karl]

Hi there,

For Wednesday’s aerobic workout, I did my standard uphill lap at the resort. For various reasons, it was early morning and fasted (unusual for me). My HR seemed a bit high for the pace, as it has other times I’ve done things fasted. Then today, I did the same skin but after breakfast, and it was 20%(!!) faster at the same exact HR. Both days my legs felt fresh, no illness, and a good night of sleep. I made sure to take the same exact route and used the same skis.

Does this mean fasted training is terrible for me? Or that I need to do a lot more of it? It really seems like it could be either one!

Thanks,
Anne

Topic

[anne.o.karl]

anne.o.karl on January 20, 2022 at 6:03 pm #62413

I should have added that I don’t think that I have ADS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on January 20, 2022 at 8:25 pm #62414

Hi Anne,
There are many potential variables:
Did you have black coffee or any caffeinated tea? or was it completely fasted.
How early was it? Do you typically train this early?
Did you feel stressed or rushed to say get back to get to work etc?

I can send ideas once I know a wee bit more, and what is your ultimate goal? What are you training for long term?
Carolyn

[anne.o.karl]

anne.o.karl on January 21, 2022 at 6:51 am #62423

Thanks, Carolyn!

Some more details:
– No coffee or tea. Completely fasted.
– I started around 6:45. I get up at 6 every day. I haven’t been doing aerobic training in the morning recently.
– I didn’t feel stressed or rushed. I was enjoying some alone time on a beautiful morning.

Only other variable is that I am just wrapping up breastfeeding my almost 1 year old. I’m pretty much done, but hormones are not totally back to normal. Not sure if that makes a difference.

As for goals, (1) generally, I want to feel strong and awesome like I could go forever when I am out recreating in the mountains, be it ski touring, mtn running, or hiking and (2) more specifically, on a planned ski mountaineering trip to Europe in March, I’d like to be able to do 5-6 days in a row of 5-6k and still have a smile on my face.

Thanks for any help!
Anne

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on January 21, 2022 at 8:27 am #62429

Hi Anne,

Ok well that rules out a few thoughts. Caffeine (on an empty stomach), stress, rushing etc, can drive the HR higher than expected, or needed for output.

It is possible that you don’t tolerate fasted training well, and that breast feeding and hormones could definitely have an increased effect on that. Especially the physiologic demands of breastfeeding. Unfortunately there’s no hard science to show that of course because it falls under the category of women’s health. However, your body does have increased fuel/energy demands to support breast feeding as you are all too familiar with.

The reason I asked about goals, which sound fabulous by the way! Was how important fasted training would be for you, since you do not have ADS. Having done numerous hut trips in Europe I can guarantee you will be fed some sort of breakfast every morning at the huts, can carry plenty of food since packs are light for those trips, you can get snacks and sandwiches or buy candy bars if needed and as you know dinner is served to you (oh so fun!!). You are not going to be in a position for this trip that being that metabolically efficient to push for extended time with limited caloric resources is an issue so it’s not a huge deal.

Here’s what you could try if interested. I am assuming this was done with a chest strap, forgot to ask that as well. Wrist data as we have expressed is not accurate.
If you’d want to try again –
1) wash your chest strap and see if that makes a difference, also change the battery. If chest strap is not new or you’ve used it a lot, that can give bad data readings.
2) Soft fasted, which is four hours after you last ate. Up at 6 with breakfast at 7 try training at 11am with no additional food. That’s still considered fasted to some degree, see if you get a different result.
3) don’t worry about the fasted training until you’re a good 4-5months out from tapering off breastfeeding and see what happens.

Based on everything I’m guessing it has something to do with breast feeding and go with #3, but rule everything else out above and then maybe you do just need to adapt to it and then that would be based on bigger picture goal of really needing to be able to manage big efforts with little food/fuel. It’s not always necessary ( :

I hope this helps!
C

[anne.o.karl]

anne.o.karl on January 22, 2022 at 1:39 pm #62461

Amazing! Thank you! I’m not worried about being food limited on any upcoming adventures, so good to know that I shouldn’t be too worried about fasted training at this stage. Sounds like I’ll continue to keep an eye on it a bit and try again in a few months.