[Anonymous]

Hi guys!
I’m training for skimo and the vast majority of my training consist of uphill efforts with poles.
I’d like to do the lab test, however the closest laboratory has only treadmill without any incline. So this test will be based on flat running.
Will this type of test give a reliable result of my AT and LT thresholds? Or maybe there will be a large margin of error comparing to AT and LT thresholds during uphill efforts?
I saw that professional athletest do the lab testing on incline treadmills with poles, sometimes even with the skis on.

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on November 15, 2019 at 8:37 am #32040

It is ideal to do these tests in as sport specific a manner as possible. Do you have access to a treadmill (not in a lab but in a gym) that can go at least to 15%? If so then do our HR Drift test to determine AeT to find you AeT

The do our Anaerobic threshold test to find AnT.

No expensive lab needed.

Scott

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on November 15, 2019 at 3:50 pm #32074

Yes I have an access to the treadmill with 15% incline. In your opinion I will get more accurate results doing it by myself on 15% grade treadmill rather than at the lab while running on flat treadmill?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on November 16, 2019 at 8:31 am #32098

We prefer to test with as specific a modality as possible. Even using rubber tipped poles on the treadmill if possible. The closer you can mimic the demands of your event the more accurate will be the test results.

Scott

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on November 29, 2019 at 2:48 pm #33267

In the end I did both, lab test and drift test – both on incline treadmill (15%).

During the drift test I estimated my AeT at about 156-157, while AnT at 170-171.
Five days later I did similar test at the lab with blood samples. Results are Aet – 153, AnT 172.

But the weirdest part is that one year ago I did similar lab test, the only difference was I was running on flat treadmill and my Aet was 155, AnT 171.

So now after a whole year of low intensity trainig 5-6 days a week (95% of workouts under AeT) my Aet dropped from 155 to 153?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on December 3, 2019 at 6:46 am #33533

Any ideas why do I get opposite results?

During the whole summer I trained based on the guidelines from TftUA book. During last 13 weeks I was using the Uphill Athlete 16 Week Advanced SkiMo Training Plan, I’ll complete it in 3 weeks. By now my AeT should increase or at least be the same as year before, while it dropped by 3 beats…

[alisonG]

alisonG on December 7, 2019 at 3:45 pm #33894

First thought- your test a year ago was running on a flat treadmill. The test this year was at 15% grade and you didn’t specify whether you used poles- but the tests were performed under different conditions and the demand on your body is different. It might be hard to directly compare them.

For instance- My husband and I compared values for each of us for these two conditions (flat run vs steep uphill hike) and no big surprise- he has a much larger capacity for steep uphills in terms of AeT and much less for running on flat ground, and I’m the opposite. Guess which one of us has been a runner forever and which one of use hikes uphill for a living?

Second thought- if you repeated the drift test under the same condition as the first test (flat, running)- what do you get? And if your zones are the same as the year before, are you faster at that heart rate? Are you more durable, handle a higher volume, etc after a year of base work? Look at the whole picture 🙂

You aren’t that far apart in terms of AeT and AnT- 16bpm. And I wouldn’t sweat a 2 beat test difference in terms of AeT at 155 vs 153- that is well within variance for any given day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on December 13, 2019 at 6:13 am #34301

Thanks for answer!
I haven’t used the poles, just mainly walked at 15% grade instead of running on flat like the last year. First competition next week so I suppose the field test will show most accurately if I actually made any progress 🙂
One more weird thing I noticed is that last year my lowest noted lactate result was 1.44, while this year 0.76. Almost twice lower, does it mean anything?