[Robert Arnott]

Hi All!

I am seeing some surprising results and was hoping to just get some reassurance and maybe context?

Physical Context:
Male, 27 years old
No max heart rate test but call it 193 based on the 220-age rule

Training Background: I have been primarily climbing, and occasionally downhill skiing and hiking for several years. I have trained for climbing (I do route climbing, so perhaps more aerobically fit than a boulderer), and have weightrained for close to 8 years minus a brief hiatus during the COVID lockdown. I have NEVER trained aerobically to the degree that I have been for the last month or so, but have logged say 6-8 hours a week for the last 2 years on average through these other activities.

Fast forward to my AeT and AnT results. I am training for Ski touring.

AeT: took several drift tests over a couple of weeks. Got just under 3% decoupling at 145bpm, negative (i.e. second half HR average lower than first) at 150bpm, and 2.5% at 155bpm. All walking 15% incline treadmill. The last test (155bpm) felt moderately difficult but was still easy nasal breathing, could keep up a conversation with pauses for breath. I know from recent experience that working over 160bpm feels reasonably difficult.

AnT: Got an average of 172bpm on a stair master for 30min. Felt challenging but not absolutely desperate, although when I tried bumping the pace by one about 15min into the test, it quickly became clear that I would crash and burn at the higher pace (HR spiked to >180), so I feel like I was at least near the fastest pace I could do the test at.

At face value, it looks like I do not have ADS, and a seemingly high AeT, despite having essentially no history of dedicated aerobic training. Am I missing something here?

Topic

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on January 30, 2024 at 12:54 am #84330

Hi Robert, it looks like you probably don’t have ADS. Congratulations! 😉 It sounds like you’ve been aerobically active for a number of years. If you have typically done that activity at an “aerobic” pace as opposed to a “this needs to be hard-out to feel like training” pace, then you could well not have ADS. ADS in people who have a history of being active typically occurs because they have trained/hiked/run/done CrossFit etc. at an intensity that was more anaerobic than aerobic.

I’d say to take those numbers, train with them as your guideline for a month or so, and then retest AeT and see what you get. For AeT you could split the difference and use 150 for now. Again, this is not a precise science; these numbers are guidelines so that we can be fairly sure we’re training the metabolic system (aerobic or anaerobic) that we want to train in that training session.

Hope this helps,
Jane