Transition period programming | Uphill Athlete

Transition period programming

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    Topic
  • #22474
    NotOnEiger
    Participant

    It has been asked many times but I still have a problem with aerobic hour programming for the transition period.

    I understand to use aerobic exercise only (not the 2 strength days). Let’s say I aim for 120 minutes aerobic weekly to start. If I use 25% for the “long” Zone 1, that would be 30 minutes. 90 minutes left. One Zone 2 day at 10%, so 12 minutes. 78 minutes left. If I want to have one rest day, I only have 2 days left for 78 minutes. You see where I am going with this? So I would do another Zone 1 for let’s say 15 minutes and then a recovery day of 63 minutes walking below AeT?

    Long story short, the 25% long !! Zone 1 does not make sense to me.

    Any help appreciated!

  • Inactive
    Anonymous on #22529

    Not every day has to target a unique intensity. You can combine them. Also, with less than three hours per week, I think you can have more than one day at 30′.

    You could try something like this:

    1: Strength
    2: 30′ including: 10′ Z1, 12′ Z2, 8′ Z1
    3: 30′ Z1
    4: Strength
    5: 40′ Z1
    6: 20′ Z1
    7: Rest

    What you proposed (with some walking) could also work.

    Participant
    NotOnEiger on #22534

    Thanks Scott, that makes sense.

    Participant
    anram_87 on #50750

    Hello everyone!

    I will take profit from this question, because the answer Scott provided was pretty clarifying for me.

    I am preparing my transition program, to begin with I would like to do 4 hours of aerobic work per week, which means 60 minutes in the long Z1, and 3 hours to split among the other days.

    A couple of question arised to my mind, on the one hand, warm up and cool down are included within this time? (I mean for those 60′ in the long Z1, should I consider 10-15 minutes of warm up and 5 minutes of cool down?)
    On the hoter hand, for the other 3 hours, it is better to concentrate them within a few days, or spread them? (I am asking because if I remembmer properly it is better to do more workouts with less time rather than few workouts with more time – Weekend warrior)

    Thank you very much!

    Participant
    TerryLui on #50834

    I mean for those 60? in the long Z1, should I consider 10-15 minutes of warm up and 5 minutes of cool down?

    I’d say for Z1 sessions, yes since it’s mostly volume centric and recovery. But for Z2 sessions, I’d do my best to keep the 60′ in Z2 with the warm up/cool down in addition to the 60′ (so…75-80min total for Z2 sessions).

    it is better to do more workouts with less time rather than few workouts with more time

    Your workout lengths need to be long enough to illicit a training effect. If they are too short you won’t be demanding enough of your body to challenge/train it. An extreme example would be imagine doing 180 workouts, each workout being 1 min long (180 minutes cumulative = 3 hours). Probably not too effective.

    If you’re just starting out using a formal training program, follow a similar model as what Scott has in his post (short-medium length workout sessions, dispersed across the week with rest days incorporated within the week). This will give your body a more gradual transition (aerobically and physically).
    Pay attention to how you feel and adjust accordingly.

    If you’re familiar with training programs and have some aerobic/physical base, you can have 1 “longer” aerobic session in the week (~1-2hr).

    Over time it will come down to a matter of how much time a person can dedicate to training (i.e. volume). If we have a large objective/goal that requires a lot of training time/volume…the only real solution is to spend more time training or change your objective/goal to something that can be achieved based on the amount of time you can dedicate to training.

    Participant
    anram_87 on #51003

    Hello!

    First of all, thank you very much for your comprehensive answer! Many good hints and things to keep in mind!

    I’d say for Z1 sessions, yes since it’s mostly volume centric and recovery. But for Z2 sessions, I’d do my best to keep the 60? in Z2 with the warm up/cool down in addition to the 60? (so…75-80min total for Z2 sessions).

    Now this remains more clear for me, and it have lot of sense!

    To be honest I have been training, but following the wrong idea of allways try to beat myself (this might be the reason why right now I am injured so I have to take a break and rest), hence it is the first time I am going to follow a formal training program. I will have in mind the approach proposed by Scott to organize my trainings along the weeks. My doubt arose because of the idea of the weekend warriors that has been discussed somewhere around this forums. But to start I think I can follow the Scott proposal and in the future worry about how to handle my trainning time or objectives!

    Thank you very much!

    Inactive
    Anonymous on #51530

    The Weakened Weekend Warrior

    Participant
    anram_87 on #51579

    Good morning to everyone!

    Thank you very much @Scott, that was the article I was talking about. It is a perfect example of how difficult is to balance “real” life with our sport objectives.

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