Fritz- Concur with Umer above. For the aerobic threshold test since you’re interested in specific averages for the first 30 minutes and last 30 minutes I just let the data run for the entire work out including the warm-up and then go into training peaks and highlight the approximate 30 minute selection in the data that I am interested in we can cover this analysis method in the next zoom meeting if that is helpful.
MarkPostle
Forum Replies Created
-
ModeratorModerator
Just posted the recording link above. Good to see everyone again
ModeratorOptions abound for sure with this Matt. If you’re dragging a tire or sled with a “normal” Denali sled amount of resistance then I will commonly have athletes rig their Denali backpack as if they were on the mountain and then use that sled haul webbing to pull the tire or sled. This allows them to carry a bit of weight in the pack and a slide at the same time and also gets them used to the exact way that the sled will be pulling on them in the field. Alternatively, I definitely have had folks use a climbing harness but the pack makes more sense in my mind. In general, the backpack has a loop of webbing and the tire or sled has a pull cord tied to it with the two joined via locking carabiner when you’re doing the sled drag. This is a good visual for what I mean
If you’re tire dragging then sometimes its best to drill a couple of holes in the tire and pass an 8-10′ piece of cord through the holes for the attachment. Hope that helps get you started!
ModeratorMatt, Sorry didn’t see this earlier. Advanced plans will be applied (tomorrow) Tues PM Feb 8th. We have to wait until everyone is registered and paid as they are all loaded at once since they are “Dynamic” plans in TrainingPeaks. We will then have the intro Zoom on Wednesday. See you there!
ModeratorMatt- This is a really good question actually and I think there’s a ton of misinformation (and outright lack of info out there about it) which makes it hard. In my experience on Denali (and other US public lands) the reality of needing to be rescued from the mountain AND being charged for it is incredibly remote. The vast vast majority of “evacs” are affected by your own team and in the rare event the Park rangers etc get involved they use their own resources and no one gets charged unless someone was being criminally negligent. If it were me I would make sure I had good travel and trip cancellation insurance in place but not worry about the rescue insurance to get you off the mountain. I would dig into what your individual situation might be for medical a bit as each person/nationality is a little different. (I can’t help at all there, our medical insurance system is so complicated I don’t have any idea how it would look for me even). Hope that helps and happy to chat more if you need.
ModeratorDon, Glad you’re finding value in the information and in the community here, the issue described is a very common one in our community where folks are trying to guide for a living but have bigger aspirations on the personal side. The majority of guiding work (not all) is such that the time and the effort have a global drain that prevents effective training (due to fatigue) in a lot of instances but isn’t actually hard enough to BE the training. The three of us have all certainly struggled with this personally but also have coached guides regularly and have found them to be among the most difficult of all clients to program! I recall Steve talking about profoundly over training himself early on trying to carry a big guiding workload and daily training sessions in addition. There’s certainly no easy or obvious solution to this outside of winning the lottery but here are a couple of things that I have found helpful.
-prioritize rest! No matter how well or poorly the training is fitting into your work schedule if you’re not resting adequately you’ll end up in a horribly overtrained state. This is always a struggle for guides but just try and remember arriving at a climbing goal injured or horribly overtrained is likely the worst scenario.
-don’t automatically assume your one day off per week is the ideal time to go huge in personal training. You may well need this day as an actual rest day more than you need the time for a big personal training session, see point number one above.
-Wear your heart rate monitor during different types of work events and try and get a better feel for how hard you’re actually working. For active things like ski touring or big Alpine days you may find a good chunk of the day actually pushes you into zone one or even in the lower zone two on rare occasions and checks the box for some of that volume that would normally be in the training plan.
-commonly training works best in the morning while you’re relatively fresh before your work cycle whereas it’s less effective after work and also occasionally just less likely to happen due to inertia once you get home from work.
-if appropriate for the particular training cycle you can always fit in short bouts of intensity assuming you’re getting the bulk of your low intensity worked on already. Sometimes this works best in the morning of your first workday after a rest day.
-Break your core strength and body weight strength sessions into smaller chunks that might be achievable over the course of a couple evenings instead of trying to do one big chunk that might be too much. Also some things like hand boarding can help maintain specific fitness but use quite small muscle groups and total amount of energy so they can easily be done in season even if your work schedule is heavy.
-Lastly, and this may be the hardest one, prioritize your personal training and goals when possible and many times this means taking time off work to rest or get in very sports specific training that’s going to help you with your personal goals. Sometimes this means thinking really critically about what seasons makes sense for personal goals knowing that effective training is just almost impossible certain times of the year.As mentioned guides can be some of the most problematic when it comes to training but prioritizing rest and getting creative with work cycles can help hurdle the problems. One good thing about folks who work outdoors like this regularly is they tend to have a huge huge base and really good movement skills which transfer well to big goals in terms of efficiency of movement and familiarity with the technical end. Hope this helps and glad to have you aboard for the next round!
ModeratorThankyou for the kind words Krish and Bill, stoked that the group is working for folks and everyone is finding some value and take aways here. Looking forward to the next round!!
ModeratorIf its the width/shape of the wire bail that’s the primary issue you can swap out the bail with a wide or narrow one that BD sells separately. Its a bummer but not all combinations of crampons and boots work great together so a little modification isn’t super unusual. There is also some variance depending on boot size so what worked great for one person that has small feet might not be great for another person that has big feet but is trying the same brand of boot and crampon. Yet another thing I am going to standardize when I’m in charge, right after I make all USB/data/phone charging cables the same and symmetrical.
ModeratorKazu, Great to hear you’re doing a Denali prep seminar, your will only come out of that better off with the skills that are inevitable from the winter environment on rainier! As for the timing with your training I would do two fairly normal build weeks and then a mini taper the week of the seminar. I would repeat the week of January 10 and the week of January 17 the only exceptions being I would reduce the volume of the weekend before you leave by about 30 to 40%. Then the five days before you leave for the seminar I would make look much like a consolidation week. Then the five days before you leave for the seminar I would make look much like a consolidation week. One rest day, one mobility day, a chamfit work out and probably a single 60 minute low intensity outing. This should have you rested and ready to roll for whatever the seminar throws at you. If you think of it report back on the forum on this thread afterwards and let us know how it went!
ModeratorMarkPostle on January 15, 2022 at 3:20 pm · in reply to: ALL Zoom call Recordings posted here #62177Anna, Try looking at this thread on computer if you’re currently looking at it on mobile. Some of these links don’t show up on mobile browsers
ModeratorMarkPostle on January 14, 2022 at 12:23 pm · in reply to: Returning to training after mild frostbite on big toe #62133Elliot, Just one voice here but I have seen my share of frostbite and recovery over the years. Looking at the pic it does seem like you nipped it pretty good and will probably take a bit to tell the full recovery timeline as you mention. I would avoid much direct pressure or certainly any further cold exposure until the healing is much farther along. We know that repeat injury to frost bitten tissue is quite harmful and tissue with a history of frostbite is at higher risk for injury than uninjured tissue. As time progresses this will likely get less so but can take months or sometimes years until its fully resolved. You’ll know more as it progresses but this is one instance where you can really do yourself a favor in being conservative during the initial healing. Hope this helps.
ModeratorMarkPostle on January 13, 2022 at 10:34 am · in reply to: Training peaks fitness numbers to events #62073Anna, lots of variables here but we like to use 100 as a goal for big expeditions like a Denali for instance. Here are some thoughts from the UA website that Scott wrote:
Here at Uphill Athlete we have hundreds if not thousands of TSS data points. While trends are visible, the accuracy of our predictive model—predicting fitness levels for objectives—is probably below 75 percent. Having coached many dozens of athletes over many years, I am able to say that 100 is pretty much the price of admission for an O2-assisted ascent of an 8,000-meter peak. And those with a CTL of 40–50 are not ready for big mountain adventures. But whether you need 120 or 130 for success on Everest, I can’t say with much certainty.
As we accumulate more data and experience, we hope to improve our predictive model. However, there are some big hurdles we may never overcome in terms of developing a more accurate predictive tool, namely our reliance on hrTSS, the least accurate way of calculating the overall stress of training. When you layer on the fudge factors, our TSS numbers need to be taken with a big grain of salt. They are rough estimates and only work when comparing apples to apples. They are an imperfect solution—and also the best possible one.
I think speaking for something like Ecuador ideally you would have a CTL of 75-80 minimum. The reality is that you’re going to prepare as thoroughly as possible given your time constraints and recovery ability. A couple of additional thoughts, for expedition type mountaineering I think it’s just as important to have your CTL fairly high for a period of time (I.e. Hovering 85-90 for 6-8 weeks) than to have it hit 100 for a single weekend.
The other thing that is vital to this discussion is that you’re using hrTSS and adjustment factors so we’re comparing apples to apples.Hope that helps!
ModeratorMarkPostle on January 12, 2022 at 6:26 pm · in reply to: Large increase in my Aerobic Threshold. Is this normal? #62050Justin- sorry I missed this post earlier so just getting back to it. My guess is the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and that you have probably increased your aerobic threshold a bit over the training and you also probably under shot it a little initially if it was right at 3%. 158 is definitely higher than we see with most folks but depending on your physiology and training history is a believable number. My advice moving forward based on your new aerobic threshold test is to try the zone 2 training between 150 and 155 bpm and see how that affects you. If it feels very sustainable day to day and you’re recovering well then carry on. If you were feeling a bit beat down after some of those sessions then you might wanna ratchet it back into the 140s for the zone 2 work. One important thing to remember is you don’t have to train right up against the ceiling of your zone 2 in order to get the desired effect. For most folks it’s better to under shoot it just a bit than to overshoot it and be training in the ZIP Code that is primarily carb burning and not going to be that useful to them at altitude. Hope that helps and feel free to hit me up with any additional questions!
ModeratorMarkPostle on January 12, 2022 at 6:15 pm · in reply to: Protein shakes after strength workout #62047Michal, this is a bit of a complex one but certainly there’s a bit of evidence that consuming protein immediately after a strength workout is helpful. Part of the issue is that not everyone enters the training in the same state of nutrition. That is to say in an intervention that is done after the training is different for those that might be entering in a fasted state versus those that eat before training. Personally my take on it is to make sure to eat before strength training then whether or not you can eat directly afterwards is not as big of concern. The benefit to taking in protein directly after training is probably small and somewhat debatable but the effort involved is also quite small so I feel like why not maximize the potential results. Here is a very thorough study that discusses basically exactly what we’re trying to figure out here.
https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-5
Understandable if you don’t want to wade through that here is a short excerpt from the conclusion.
Practical nutrient timing applications for the goal of muscle hypertrophy inevitably must be tempered with field observations and experience in order to bridge gaps in the scientific literature. With that said, high-quality protein dosed at 0.4–0.5 g/kg of LBM at both pre- and post-exercise is a simple, relatively fail-safe general guideline that reflects the current evidence showing a maximal acute anabolic effect of 20–40 g [53, 84, 85]. For example, someone with 70 kg of LBM would consume roughly 28–35 g protein in both the pre- and post exercise meal. Exceeding this would be have minimal detriment if any, whereas significantly under-shooting or neglecting it altogether would not maximize the anabolic response.
ModeratorYes as long as its Steve. Kidding, yes you can select a coach subject to availability. Probably easiest just to email directly. Mark@uphillathlete.com just sub nate or steve for mark if you want to chat with them. ??