I read the February 12,2018 post by “Jason” about Aerobic Deficiency and I thought I’d share some personal observations. To summarize Jason’s post, his HR quickly exceeded his aerobic threshold when running, and he was forced to do walk/jogging intervals for his aerobic training. The coaches at UA describe this sensitivity to aerobic stimulus as “aerobic deficiency syndrome” (ADS).
I find that I also experience the same ADS symptoms, but only when I’m fatigued from longer aerobic work the day before. Fortunately, this hasn’t been a problem on my “primary” training days when I’m comparatively better rested. Some observations:
• It takes surprisingly little aerobic work on Day 1 for me to experience the ADS symptoms on Day 2. For instance, last Saturday I ski-toured for 3.5 hours (by no means a “big” day), and on Sunday I ran and struggled to keep my HR in zone. Monday was a rest day, and on Tuesday I ran with a low, consistent HR (no ADS symptoms).
• When I experience this symptoms, my HR gets really high (sometimes 160-180+ BPM), really quickly, without any increase in perceived exertion or change in ventilation. Basically, I feel like I’m doing a Zone 1-2 run despite my heart rate telling me otherwise. The first time I observed this happening, I wrote it off as being an error in my wrist-based HR monitor. However, I have observed the same thing on subsequent runs with a chest-strap HR monitor.
• As the Base Period progresses, it takes a bigger effort on Day 1 to induce the ADS symptoms on Day 2. This is probably the single clearest metric of progress I’ve observed during the Base Period.
• Anecdotally, the more the “primary” aerobic training day has a weight/muscle endurance component the more aerobically fatigued I am the next day. For instance, ski touring (with heavy boots and a pack) will leave me feeling much more aerobically fatigued than, say, hiking uphill or jogging, even if the average HR and duration are similar.
I hope this contributes something useful to the collective knowledge. Best, Jake
