Thanks for the update, Miriam. It does sound like you could safely use 124 as the top of your Zone 2 for now.
Regarding feeling like you were getting going only right at the end, your physiology might be like mine. It typically takes my body a good 30 minutes-plus — usuallly more — to ‘click into gear’. How long was your warmup for this test? The instructions say to do a 15 min warmup, but I usually do 20 mins. The only thing is to strike a balance between warming up well and not fatiguing yourself too much before starting the test. Something to keep in mind for next time.
Happy training!! And make the most of the recovery weeks. It’s during recovery that the body makes the adaptations to the training stress, so that decrease in load is essential, also for injury prevention.
Jane
Jane Mackay
Forum Replies Created
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KeymasterJane Mackay on February 5, 2024 at 1:35 am · in reply to: Another aerobic threshold test done #84686Keymaster
Hi Melissa, how recently have you retested your AeT? It is supposed to increase, as you say.
JaneKeymasterHi saigpeesapati,
Aerobic training trains the metabolic system, and strength training trains the neuromuscular system, so they are in a sense apples and oranges. I think what you’re getting at would fall under muscular endurance, which is the capacity of the muscles to keep firing when fatigued.
This article explains muscular endurance: https://uphillathlete.com/aerobic-training/vertical-beast-mode-what-is-muscular-endurance-why-it-is-important-for-any-alpinist-or-mountaineer-and-how-do-you-train-it/
Does that help?
JaneKeymasterHi Harison,
Sorry for the delay. Coach Pedro Carvalho offers this reply to your question:
No , you should not use the 10% difference. You will need to work more on zones 3 and 4. You have a good aerobic base , but at an anaerobic level your heart rate is going too high, because your system is not trained at that level, and heart rate goes higher in order to compensate for that lack of adaptation.I hope this helps. Let us know.
JaneKeymasterHi fishlicker,
Sorry for the delay. Here is a reply from coach Pedro Carvalho:
If the goal is to achieve the 9000 meters, you should do it no matter how much time it takes , but there should be a progression to achieve that goal…. For example : aim for 1500, then 2500, then 3500, then 5000, etc .
And how much time should be spent on the big day in the~ mountain vs z3 hill climb?
Your weekly volume should be bigger than the bigger day, and in most events the bigger day goes until 50% of the event day, especially if we are talking about a 100k race, 100 miles , or 10/12 hour hike. Zone 3 has specific times and rest periods for trainingI hope this helps.
JaneKeymasterHi MHT,
Here are answers from coach Pedro Carvalho:
a) In general preparation phase 3 workouts per week, in specific phase reduce to two times.
b) Yes , general phase short time/distance to enhance speed skills , specific phase for muscular endurance , work on the anaerobic resistance
In Specific phase , one max strength training.
c) Yes , depending on the goal you are aiming for.I hope this helps.
JaneKeymasterJane Mackay on January 30, 2024 at 1:00 am · in reply to: Heart rate drift test on stationary bike #84332Btw, you mentioned that you bought TfNA – the alpinism book. Have you seen that there is a more recent book specifically for people who run and hike (and ski) in the mountains, called Training for the Uphill Athlete? Some of the science has been updated in that book too.
JaneKeymasterJane Mackay on January 30, 2024 at 12:58 am · in reply to: Heart rate drift test on stationary bike #84331Hi Miriam,
Welcome! I know what you mean about finding your people 😉 I had a similar experience to you in discovering the book and then this website at the age of 49 a few years ago.
Yes, you definitely need to redo the test on a treadmill. For now, 121 is probably safe to use as your AeT until you can redo the test on a treadmill next week.
Jane
KeymasterHi Robert, it looks like you probably don’t have ADS. Congratulations! 😉 It sounds like you’ve been aerobically active for a number of years. If you have typically done that activity at an “aerobic” pace as opposed to a “this needs to be hard-out to feel like training” pace, then you could well not have ADS. ADS in people who have a history of being active typically occurs because they have trained/hiked/run/done CrossFit etc. at an intensity that was more anaerobic than aerobic.
I’d say to take those numbers, train with them as your guideline for a month or so, and then retest AeT and see what you get. For AeT you could split the difference and use 150 for now. Again, this is not a precise science; these numbers are guidelines so that we can be fairly sure we’re training the metabolic system (aerobic or anaerobic) that we want to train in that training session.
Hope this helps,
JaneKeymasterJane Mackay on January 30, 2024 at 12:41 am · in reply to: Correct method to determine the AeT / Zone 2 #84329Hi Mori,
The UA method uses its own zone system, so I can’t advise you about Garmin and Karvonen. This article explains the UA zones and also includes a calculator: https://uphillathlete.com/aerobic-training/uphill-athlete-training-zones-heart-rate-calculator/
We try to answer every question in this forum, but you have some really good questions that are very specific to your training, so a half-hour consultation with one of our coaches would allow you to ask all your questions and get guidance that is specific to you: https://uphillathlete.com/schedule-phone-consultation/
Regarding the HR going into Z3 when running, this happened to me a lot in the beginning, and I got really frustrated because half of every run was a walk. The slightest gradient would send my HR up into Z3 and I would have to walk and then start running slowly again once I got on ground that was level or downhill. Also, towards the end of every run the HR would go higher and I would end the run at a walk. But now, 3 years on (I was almost 50 when I began), I run easily up moderate gradients and my HR stays in Z2. And likewise for long runs. (Strength training has played a part in this too.) So I can say that this method does work, but it takes patience and persistence. And more patience 😉
Jane
KeymasterJane Mackay on January 25, 2024 at 6:56 am · in reply to: Correct method to determine the AeT / Zone 2 #84243Hi Mori,
First, welcome!
Using the ventilatory thresholds to gauge effort level tends to be most accurate for well-trained athletes, so it would be best at this point to use HR as your guide. Over time, as you work with the AeT method of training, you’ll start to ‘know’ instinctively when you’re in Z2 and when you’re in Z3. If your heart’s working hard, then your heart is working hard, and you need to pay attention to that.
Hope this helps,
JaneKeymasterHi Lou,
Apologies for the delay in replying. Here is a reply from UA director of coaching Chantelle Robitaille to your questions:There will be an article coming out about RPE.
Don’t think of this so much as a shift, but an alternate way to guide training.
Our mountaineering plans are available in both formats.Our running plans are in RPE because it’s a better fit to guide intensity for runners on varied terrain at varying elevations.
Re. HRV, nothing new has been published and there is no plan for that. HRV is one among many metrics that athletes can use to gain information about their training readiness and level of recovery. They should consider all metrics available to them to make good decisions for themselves- but that means BOTH subjective AND objective data. For anyone keen to learn more about HRV and how to use it, the foremost expert in this area is Marco Altini, PhD. https://marcoaltini.substack.com/
Let us know if you have other questions,
JaneKeymasterJane Mackay on January 22, 2024 at 2:10 am · in reply to: Using Training Peaks to Analyse AeT Test #84191ShastaQueenB,
Unfortunately, you do need a TP premium account to do the analysis.
However, if you have an iPhone, a fellow forum participant has made an app that will analyze the data for you. The link is in this forum post:
JaneKeymasterJane Mackay on January 6, 2024 at 6:55 am · in reply to: Which Week To Restart At? 24 Week Mountaineering Plan #83862I would be inclined to start early in the plan. It’s much better to find you can do more than you think and to ramp up, than to have to dial back and mess with the consistency.
KeymasterJane Mackay on January 6, 2024 at 6:49 am · in reply to: Which Week To Restart At? 24 Week Mountaineering Plan #83860Hi Rachel,
Since you’ve had a fairly long break, it would be good to do a transition period of 2-3 weeks to see how your body responds. That could then guide you as to which week to restart at.