[huntermiles3353]

I have started the 24 week mountaineering plan and am just finishing the base period. I started this with no specific goal in mind, I’d like to climb rainier but I haven’t planned any trip for this season. I am curious what your thoughts are on training without a specific goal in mind. I’ve read the Capacity vs Utilization article and understand that you cannot build capacity while climbing big mountains, so I know I need to periodize my training. Would you recommend training in the winter to prepare for the summer season and just climb throughout the summer, thing like mt Hood, Sister’s, or other smaller mountains around where I’m from?

Hopefully this makes sense. I am just not really looking to go on a single large objective, but more so training for a season of intermediate climbs. Also it seems like I could use some of these smaller mountains for training, at least just going part way up. Would that be a good method to combine hikes in new places while not pulling from the utilization bank?

I appreciate all the info I have gotten for training so far, thanks!

Topic

[Reed]

Reed on January 13, 2021 at 11:53 am #49250

One way to look at this might be – what would it take for your summer climbing plans to be mostly capacity-building? Like you said, using smaller mountains and shorter climbs. If you aren’t looking to build up to one peak (one major event or window of peak fitness), then periodization becomes a bit less important.

What would a typical summer week look like for you? If you’re training 15 hours per week, as an example, and the smaller hikes / climbs that you’re thinking about are half-day endeavors, then you could perhaps just think of those as your long aerobic workout for the week, 20-30% of total volume.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on January 25, 2021 at 6:20 am #49700

What Reed said.

In addition:

Would you recommend training in the winter to prepare for the summer season…

I can’t remember where I heard it, but in reference to the Tour de France: “The tour is won in the winter.” The idea applies to all sports. (Training timelines are much longer than what the popular rags like to sell.)