[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on January 8, 2022 at 10:12 am · in reply to: Reasons for a sudden hike in HR? #61778

Dave, do you moisten the strap (spittle works better than water) before putting it on? In cold, dry weather my Wahoo strap shows that same pattern of working ok at Z1 heart rates but then spiking ridiculously high when the heart starts to work a bit harder. It seems to be because it takes a while before moisture reaches the surface of my skin from the exertion and so early on in the workout there isn’t enough moisture there to accurately conduct the electrical signal of the HR. My Polar H10 is more accurate (the working part of the strap has a much larger surface area) but I moisten it anyway in dry cold weather because it will also sometimes go haywire.

However, if your strap is giving wacky readings for more than ten minutes or so, this might not be the problem. Have you also tried changing the battery in the monitor? It’ll be interesting to see what results you get with the new strap.

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on January 6, 2022 at 7:42 am · in reply to: Shoes for skyraces #61648

I too have looked at the X-Talon Ultras!

A couple of years ago I bought a pair of Dynafits that were marketed as being for ultrarunning but the midsole was so deep compared to what I was used to that I never felt stable in them.

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on January 6, 2022 at 5:57 am · in reply to: Shoes for skyraces #61643

Kevin, have you tried Inov8s? They’re a UK firm. I now have 4 pairs (diff models) and just replaced my original pair of Terraultra G270s with another pair of the same. The grip on all models I have is awesome. One thing to note though is that they are all (I think) low-drop and many models, e.g. the Terraultras, are zero drop, and most or all models have a lot of ground feel. Those are two qualities I look for in a shoe, but if you want heavy cushioning and big drop, Inov8s won’t do.

As for VJs, I’ve seen them raved about by skyrace runners, with the VJ Maxx mentioned by several people as their favourite all-round, and the grip is supposed to be excellent. I’m planning to try a pair of VJs as my next purchase. VJs again are low-drop and not heavily cushioned.

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on January 2, 2022 at 1:25 pm · in reply to: Discount purchase code #61428

Thanks, Carolyn. I’ll connect with Steve.

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on January 2, 2022 at 10:20 am · in reply to: Discount purchase code #61405

Carolyn, has Steve had a chance to create the new discount code? I haven’t seen anything in my email.
Thanks!!

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 31, 2021 at 6:24 am · in reply to: Looking forward to the New Year! #61338

ps. Obviously I mean 2022. Apparently I’m ready for 2023 already!

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 31, 2021 at 6:21 am · in reply to: Choosing a training plan for FUA 4 #61337

Melanie,
You might also try modifying the plan to a 3-week instead of 4-week cycle. That’s what I did in this last round and it worked well. In a 3-week cycle you build for 2 weeks and then have the recovery week. So over 12 weeks you have 8 build weeks and 4 recovery weeks, which is one less build week.

Here’s how I modified the plan this past three months. The week numbers refer to the week numbers in the ORIGINAL plan.
1 2 4
3 5 4
7 9 8
10 11 12

The build week that I eliiminated was week 6, and you can see that I repeated week 4 as the additional recovery week.

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 31, 2021 at 3:37 am · in reply to: Looking forward to the New Year! #61333

Thank you, Carolyn and Maya, this has been an amazing year, truly transformative. Not only physically, but even more so mentally in my perception of myself and of what I can do.

The learning has been incredible, and one of the most important things I’ve learnt is how to read the body’s signals that it’s time to curb my enthusiasm and dial back or even stop completely for a bit to allow for the needed recovery.

At age 50-51 this has been my first ever year of training and of actually pushing my body in any way. I’m going to take January off from structured training to step back both mentally and physically and assess how and what I want to do in terms of training and goals in 2023. Not least because this past year peri/menopause greatly clouded the signals and affected what I could do. I’ve started hormone therapy, so I’m going to give that time to kick in (which I fervently hope it will!) and then try out my new-old body (and psychological state).

Thanks again. I expect to be back at some point!

Happy New Year! May it be a much better one for all of us.

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 31, 2021 at 1:30 am · in reply to: only audio of last Zoom in Drive folder #61331

Ah, ok! Thanks, Maya!

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 28, 2021 at 7:35 am · in reply to: Can I Keep Doing ME Gym Based Workouts…Long term goals. #61220

Thanks, Erin. I just emailed you.

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 24, 2021 at 1:45 am · in reply to: Discount purchase code #61112

Carolyn, the code FUA2 doesn’t work either, probably because I used it in round 2, when changes were made to the intermediate plan compared to round 1. This time I want to “buy” the advanced plan for future reference and use 🙂

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 23, 2021 at 11:06 pm · in reply to: Wrap up Zoom for FUA Group #3 Tuesday the 21st #61106

I just realised I completely missed the final Zoom call :(( Blame perimenopause. This month I’ve been plagued with deep fatigue and brain fog (and two migraines). I’ve got hormone pills now … we’ll see if that helps.
I’ll post this as a question in the forum.

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 23, 2021 at 1:41 am · in reply to: Wrap up Zoom for FUA Group #3 Tuesday the 21st #61081

One more question in addtion to the ones I posted in a separate thread:

Can you please clarify whether the TSS fudge factor takes into account both uphill and downhill vert or only uphill vert?

I asked this in the forum a few weeks ago in response to a reply Shashi had made to someone’s question because he seemed to be saying that *total* (gain + loss) vert was used for the fudge factor. Shashi said that yes, he adds both together, so e.g. 1000m up + 1000m down = 2000m total for a fudge factor (hike with less than 10% body weight) of 60-65, rather than 30ish if you only use gain.

The article on here though seems to very clearly state that you only take into account the gain. (https://uphillathlete.com/trainingpeaks-metrics-ctl-tss/)

Here’s his exact reply to me:

Shashi on November 10, 2021 at 9:06 am
#59106

Jane – 10 TSS only when you have 300 m (1000 ft.) of elevation gain and drop.

For some reason (taking gondola/lift down) you are not walking down then use 5 TSS for just the 300 m (1000 ft.) elevation gain.

A trail close to my place has an elevation gain of around 900 m and I have an option to take the gondola back down. Here is how I count the fudge factors –

No backpack, hike up, gondola down – TSS of 15

No backpack, hike up and down – TSS of 30

Backpack with 10% of body weight, hike up, gondola down – TSS of 30

Backpack with 10% of body weight, hike up and down – TSS of 60

Hope this is helpful.

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 23, 2021 at 1:36 am · in reply to: when will we lose access to this forum? #61080

Thanks, Carolyn!

[Jane Mackay]

Jane Mackay on December 21, 2021 at 11:38 am · in reply to: High nutrition pancake recipie #61031

This sounds great, Aaron, thanks! I’ve saved it.