[derekosborne22]

Hi Guys,

Simple question, maybe not answer.

Goal: Maximise fitness for a hard 10 day ski mountaineering hut-to-hut trip in about 8 months

Background: I’ve ADS so have created a 6 month dedicated base capacity plan along UA ethos with 5-6 days aerobic training per week all in Z2 close to AeT. Weekly volume starting at 6 hours and slowly ramping to 14 hours. Lighter week every 4th week. I’m coming off a fairly “fit” base, albeit mostly from traditional Z3/Z4 training, hence the ADS. I plan to add one ME session per week in month 2, and will maintain one indoor climbing session every week, but will not drop below 5xZ2 aerobic sessions per week which will be approx 10:10:15:25:40 in duration, although that may change a bit were to week. Final 2 months training will be set dependent upon the results of first 6.

Question: My AeT is 110, my LT is 148 – what improvement can I realistically expect in my AeT over the 5 months, and how often should I retest (HR drift method). I’m 63 years young!!!

Many thanks, Derek

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on September 12, 2019 at 1:08 pm #28333

Great job doing the research and figuring out the direction you need to take.

I have a few ideas that may help. In the interest of your long-term fitness:

* Training plans never go according to plan. Never. So be prepared to adjust as required. Being willing to back off is more helpful than being willing to push through.
* If you’re talking about an average weekly volume, going from six hours to 14 is a very steep ramp rate. It’s an average of +13% each week, including rest weeks. I would back that off to a target of ~10 hours.
* It’ll be much more of a confidence builder to underestimate what you can do than overestimate. If the ramp rate building to a 10-hour average is too conservative (after trying it for a few months), you can always get more aggressive. If you overshoot too early, you may not have time to correct. (It’s easier to adjust undertraining than overtraining.)
* With ADS, I would avoid all ME training for now. After six months, if your ADS has been corrected, you may be able to add some ME then.
* What does “10:10:15:25:40 in duration” mean?

Question: My AeT is 110, my LT is 148 – what improvement can I realistically expect in my AeT over the 5 months, and how often should I retest (HR drift method)

It’s hard to say. It depends on a lot of variables. A ~35% spread is large, but if you’re patient, ramp up slowly, and avoid ME for now, you should see some steady gains.

For the drift test, if your training is consistent, every six weeks should be a good test interval.

[derekosborne22]

derekosborne22 on September 12, 2019 at 1:32 pm #28338

Hi Scott,

Thanks for quick reply. Understand your point on plans – right now I constantly tweaking as it beds in. Point noted on the ramp – right now I’m finding the training load pretty easy as it’s a lot less intense than I’m used to, but will bring it back at first signs of fatigue.

Interesting point on ME – I had wondered about including but will drop and stick to aerobic – I can add to last two months however, as I have experienced legs tiring on long days before the rest of me – they’re strong, but could do with a bit of endurance work – last two months should suffice.

10:10:15:25:40 is simply the weekly training profile as a % of planned weekly volume – 10% on day 1, 10% on day 2, 15% on day 3, 25% on Day 4 and 40% on day 5 ….. most likely change will be reversing the day 4 and day 5 loads.

6 weeks is good for me for retest.

Thanks for the advice – much appreciated.

Derek

[derekosborne22]

derekosborne22 on September 12, 2019 at 3:32 pm #28348

Hi Scott,

Re your ramp point, I revisited and maybe there is a misunderstanding. The first week in my base level 6 month plan has a total of 6 hours training (and that’s a light week) – the longest week is at the end of month 6 – 14 hours duration. That an 8 hour increase across 26 weeks – avg of 3% per week ignoring “light” weeks. Increasing to 10hours per week would be equivalent to 1 longish ski mountaineering day or two very short days – doesn’t sound enough to me.

Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Derek

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on September 12, 2019 at 5:53 pm #28353

Okay, thanks for the follow-up. Maybe I misunderstood. It sounded aggressive at first, but your second email has me less worried… 🙂 I’ve made the too-much-too-soon mistake more times than I’d like to admit. My fitness only really took off, and stayed decent, after I backed off and played better defense. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.