[Chet]

For the “undertrained”/just getting back to consistent training athlete (who obviously has a lower aerobic threshold heart rate) trying to focus on endurance/aerobic threshold training…but doing a longer aerobic day on the weekend ski touring with buddies as part of training versus how much is too much of a day…how counterproductive/destructive in the scheme of aerobic training is a bigger day? Could a Sunday bigger day with rest day Monday be “OK” in the training plan? How much should I “not go over” aerobic threshold on a longer day, how much does it set me back in the big scheme of training? Any practical advice in this area? I suspect this is too vague of a question, but looking for more specific advice. How big is too big? How hard is too hard? Should I be paying paranoid attention to heart rate on those bigger weekend days? Thanks, Chet

Topic

[Mariner_9]

Mariner_9 on November 20, 2016 at 11:55 am #3503

I think that the proportion of your total training time that you spend in Zone 1 is way more important than simply staying under your aerobic threshold. IIRC from TFNA, the idea is that ~70% of your volume should be in Zone 1 and that’s what I aim for on average over time. Does that help?

[Aaron]

Aaron on November 27, 2016 at 9:21 am #3519

If a backcountry day trip is not a special mission I try to pay attention to recommend ratios of intensity but don’t worry about the overall volume of the day. In addition to the training effect from the day I find these good mental practice for pacing. Hard part is finding like minded partners who are understanding of pacing and intensity goals for training.

I find following skin track on low to moderate terrain I can comfortably stay below Aet, but trailbreaking on the same ground requires pacing, breathing and form focus.

Moving into steeper ground bumps this up a level. Focus needed to stay Aet following skin track and breaking trail pushes into z3. That is why you switch out and also is a good way to enforce lower angle skin tracks that work the terrain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on November 29, 2016 at 8:33 pm #3550

Chet;

Aaron and Mariner are both right. You can go above your AeT (top of Z2) from time to time for a few minutes with doing any big damage to the aerobic base building. But extensive periods that often occur when you go out with buddies for that weekend tour that turns into 2 hours of uphill skiing in Z3 will set you back.
As for volume: In general more is better if the intensity is below your AeT. Of course there are limits based on glycogen depletion. A huge (relative to your fitness level) day that takes 3+ days to recover from is not a good idea as a regular thing. The way to tell if you are within your capacity to absorb the training is that an easy aerobic day (HR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on December 12, 2016 at 9:44 pm #3676

All:
Chet just brought to my attention that the last part of me post above was not included. Sorry. I don’t know what would have caused the. Perhaps the sheer verbosity of my comment exceeded the word limit!!

Anyway here is what I was trying to say:

The way to tell if you within your aerobic capacity for a give day’s outing is to see how you feel the next day. If you feel like you could do another day just like the last one then then you are for sure not exceeding your current work capacity. Easy to moderate aerobic work should allow full recovery within 24 hours. If you are dragging yourself around the next day and still tired 48 hours out from a long ski touring day given workout then it was probably excessive for your current training status. This is not to say you have to avoid this kind of day out in the mountains. But if this is what makes up the bulk of your training volume, then, over time you will see a plateau and then a lowering of your aerobic work capacity. Remember that the aerobic system responds best to frequent gentle nudges better than to infrequently bludgeoning. Be consistent and gradual in your long term approach to building this base and you will ultimately be rewarded with what you seek. Try to take short cuts and fool mother nature and you will get short term gratification (mostly of the feel good, ego assuaging variety that tell you you how tough you are) but at the detriment of the long term development.

Scott