[Mariner_9]

I’m wondering how best to adapt my training to allow for trips. E.g. I have a week splitboarding in March and four days hiking in April, both of which fall in my Max Strength phase. I presume these kinds of trips are less of an issue in the Muscular Endurance or Sports Specific phase of the training where the touring/hiking will effectively just replace whatever I’d do in the flatlands (running, stair climbs, etc.).

Volumes during the trips will be way higher than those in the plan and obviously the focus will be much different (i.e. mostly aerobic endurance rather than Max Strength).

Is it best to do a lighter week before and after a trip where you do high volumes and then pick up where you left off in terms of volume and stage of training? Or is there a better way to do it?

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 18, 2017 at 6:07 pm #4102

For trips that fall within training schedules, I usually just schedule a couple easy/rest days before and after.

Beforehand, my priority would be to be recovered for the trip, especially the longer one. For afterward, I’d want to be recovered enough in order to resume the max strength workouts and reap the biggest benefits.

For scheduling, I would just shift workouts forward to accommodate the trips if you can or, if you have a definite deadline that your training for, abbreviate the training periods as necessary.

I hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 19, 2017 at 11:14 am #4106

A well designed training plan will include some smaller events (trips) as it builds toward a main goal event at its end. The secret to managing these intermediate events is to ensure that they are not far exceeding your current capacity for this type of work. That way you can handle them in the manner that Scott Semple mentions above. A couple of easy or rest days leading into the trip and 1-2 easy days after and the over all training plan is minimally disturbed. If on the other hand the over all work load imposed by these “B” priority events wipe you out for a week and derail training then they will actually lessen your preparedness for the big “A” event you are training for. Doing this once a month may not be a big no-no but taking an extended road trip and having day upon day of massive overload can prove very detrimental to the overall plan’s goal.
Including “B” and “C” priority trips can be really helpful for evaluation of your gear, your fitness, logistics etc. But, for optimal results, they need to be PLANNED and not just randomly inserted because some buds want to go ski some mondo line or climb some great objective just because it is in shape. Then you are no longer training. Training will usually entail a good bit of sacrifice of your need for immediate gratification so that you can hopefully, execute when your main goal arrives.

Now, if your main goal is to execute many “B” events over the course of a season that requires a BIG base best built over a time range of years. When we watch a Steve House or a Kilian, or and Ueli pull off what appears to be many back to back major climbs/skis what we witnessing is this very thing. Over many years they have built up such enormous capacity for this sort of work that they can string together multiple days of what for them really are “B” level events.

Pay your dues and build a massive balance in your “work capacity” bank account and you too will begin to experience what they do.
Hope this helps.
Scott

[Mariner_9]

Mariner_9 on February 20, 2017 at 1:18 am #4117

Thank you both for your replies.

[Mariner_9]

Mariner_9 on April 21, 2017 at 6:12 am #4581

In case it’s of use to others, the way I’ve handled these trips is as follows:

For short trips (e.g. long weekends, which are mostly hiking), the hiking I’ve done has simply covered the Z1 / Z2 workouts I would have done at home as part of my normal training. In general, I end up doing more volume while I’m away hiking than I would training, but not enough to result in over-training.

For longer trips (e.g. a week or more, which is mostly snowboarding/splitboarding), I’ve done 50% of my normal volume in the week before and after the trip to allow for sufficient recovery. This is because the volume of exercise on the trip is typically way higher than a normal training week.

So far, this seems to be working for me.

[EDIT: Perhaps I should have added that my ‘overall objective’ is simply a higher level of fitness to be able to do more days and longer days in the mountains. Mostly for splitboarding, but also for hiking.]