[siflower]

Hi all

I had a search around, but couldn’t see that this has been asked before – apologies if it has.

I’m doing the Big Vert plan and had my first Z3 uphill training session a couple of days ago, aiming for about 20mins uphill. Disappointingly I ran out of hill after 12mins, on what is probably the longest / steepest hill around here. Prior to this week, I’d done 12 weeks of ME work.

As I don’t have access to a treadmill, the options for me seem to be:

1. Extend the run (but the elevation remains the same) – this would likely incorporate sections of flat or easy ground. To me, this seems less likely to build on the ME work.

2. Run up and down the hill a few times – I guess this risks losing the Z3 aerobic benefit.

3. Continue the ME work instead – I’m quite reluctant to do this, as I don’t recover very well from it, which limits the running I can do in the week.

4. Do the Z3 uphill work out in a weight vest.

Number 4 makes mosts sense to me in terms of training ME and Z3, but wonder what others would go for.

Cheers

Simon

Topic

[rita]

rita on March 26, 2021 at 9:24 am #52424

Following (in the same boat)

[Dada]

Dada on March 27, 2021 at 3:15 am #52441

I would do 2). What matters is time @ intensity. As long as you gather 20 minutes of Z3, you are totally fine.

I would not mix Z3 and ME because this could be too much intensity. And you have a very solid base trom the 12 weeks of ME.

Dada

[siflower]

siflower on March 27, 2021 at 3:28 am #52442

Thanks for the reply Dada. I’m unsure though. My understanding of the Z3 being an uphill workout, rather than say a tempo run on the flat, was that it IS a form of ME and builds on the ME benefit of previous weeks…? Still, this is more preferable to me than more routine ME work.
Simon

[Dada]

Dada on March 27, 2021 at 9:35 am #52447

Sure, ME is a byproduct of Z3 intervals but the main goal of Z3 training is to improve the utilization of lactate and not ME. When you want to improve ME then do specific ME training, when you want to improve lactate utilization then train specifically Z3 uphill runs.

ME makes you more resilient, Z3 faster. You need to decide what to concentrate on in your training cycle.

Dada

[siflower]

siflower on March 28, 2021 at 5:59 am #52469

Great, thank you. Having thought about your first answer more, it makes sense not to combine the weight vest with Z3. I’ll stick to Z3 training and incorporate as much uphill as I can squeeze in over the interval.
Cheers again
Simon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on May 1, 2021 at 4:31 pm #53580

I agree with Dada. If your goal is 1x 20m, then 2x 12m will be pretty close to the same stimulus.