[RhiannaSC15]

Hi everyone, currently working through the 24week beginner marathon training program and plan to do the wonderland 3-day training program after that. Goals are to move quickly and efficiently through the mountains in my backyard (washington state) including a trip up Rainier either this climbing season or next, a 50k trail race this summer, and just generally trying to have fun and climb mountains and trails quickly.

Questions: Does it make more sense to start increasing speed or elevation first? or do I do both concurrently? A lot of my training takes place on a treadmill due to weather/life and I’m wondering if I should prioritize upping my speed as my HR plateaus or if I should not care how fast I go, and crank the elevation and then work on speed once I’m hiking up steep stuff. My gut says to work on elevation first going as slowly as needed to stay within HR zones and then the speed will come with time. I’m not in a rush to achieve these goals (and am severely underconditioned right now anyways) so looking for the best thing to remain injury free with my eyes on the prize.

Thanks for your consideration!

Topic

[Dada]

Dada on December 19, 2022 at 1:26 am #73820

Hm, I would mix. The steeper it gets the more it becomes a muscular endurance workout.

[pedro]

pedro on December 19, 2022 at 11:51 am #73832

Questions: Does it make more sense to start increasing speed or elevation first? or do I do both concurrently?
Both speed or and elevation are intensity parameters of training periodisation and so raising both it will be hard on the cardio respiratory system and muscularskeletical system ( joints , muscles , bones tendons, etc )

A lot of my training takes place on a treadmill due to weather/life and I’m wondering if I should prioritize upping my speed as my HR plateaus or if I should not care how fast I go, and crank the elevation and then work on speed once I’m hiking up steep stuff. My gut says to work on elevation first going as slowly as needed to stay within HR zones and then the speed will come with time. I’m not in a rush to achieve these goals (and am severely underconditioned right now anyways) so looking for the best thing to remain injury free with my eyes on the prize.

First , create a good aerobic base , using the 10% rule, there is an article about that in our website, while creating a good aerobic base you can already add incline and still stay on zone 2.
After the aerobic base with incline or flat( depending if your goals are running , mountain running or mountaineering ) then start doing your muscular endurance sessions that will work in speed and more intensity.

I hope I answered your questions

Cheers,

Pedro Carvalho

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 20, 2022 at 2:44 am #73839

Hi Rhianna,
Adding on to Pedro’s guidance, here are a couple of podcasts that you might find useful:
All about aerobic base: https://uphillathlete.com/podcast/coach-scott-johnston-discusses-all-about-aerobic-base/
A really interesting discussion with Phil Maffetone, aka “the prophet of Zone 2”: https://uphillathlete.com/podcast/talking-health-training-aerobic-deficiency-with-dr-phil-maffetone/

And this article: https://uphillathlete.com/aerobic-training/aerobic-deficiency-syndrome/
“If you’re training for an event over 3 to 4 hours in length, then the basic aerobic training is the event-specific training and the base training all rolled into one.”

[RhiannaSC15]

RhiannaSC15 on January 2, 2023 at 9:27 am #74223

Thank you! I appreciate y’all taking the time for thoughtful responses!