[Melanie Hunter]

Melanie Hunter on December 18, 2021 at 5:15 pm · in reply to: Making your own plan after the program ends #60953

Jane, your quote really sums it up for me, too. As with you and Lauren, I’ve been doing this since we started way back in February and could not be happier with the whole experience. I’ve just learned so much!

[Melanie Hunter]

Melanie Hunter on December 5, 2021 at 8:40 pm · in reply to: Tuesday December 7th Coaches Zoom Topic #60295

Hi Carolyn and Maya,

I have a question about TSS “fudge” factors for hiking, if you end up going over that aspect of Training Peaks numbers on our call this week.

We’ve discussed adding ~10 for every thousand feet hiked uphill (did I get that right?), as well as adding for extra weight. I have two more that have come up recently: cold, and hiking in fresh/deeper snow.

Cold–Last weekend it was between -10 and -15 F for my 2+ hour hike. I very seldom get cold on hikes, but I was chilled by the time I got back to the car and I was pretty tired for a few days afterwards, like the cold really took if out of me.

Fresh snow–today’s hike was on packed trails that grew progressively softer as I got higher. By the time I turned around I was on 3-5 inches of fresh snow over semi-hard packed trail. I was never post-holing or anything-it was like walking in beach sand.

Is there a metric for either of these factors? Or do you just go more by overall feel rather than try to specifically parse things out like that?

Thanks!
Melanie

[Melanie Hunter]

Melanie Hunter on November 21, 2021 at 2:20 pm · in reply to: Suggestions for Altitude Training? #59595

Hi Amanda,

I grew up in Colorado Springs but have lived at sea level for the last 10 years with frequent trips home to do 14ers. One purely personal/anecdoctal idea that you might try is heat acclimation through either sauna use or hot yoga 2-3x/week for a couple weeks before your trip. I believe there might even be some research out there on this now, but my experience with it comes from just noticing that I seem to do better at altitude when I’m more heat acclimated. I mean, obviously a heavy sweat is one more stress on your body when you’re already training, but just an idea!

Melanie

[Melanie Hunter]

Melanie Hunter on November 17, 2021 at 10:22 am · in reply to: Timing for PT–before or after a run? #59426

Thanks, Carolyn, that does help! I’ll give your suggestions a try.

[Melanie Hunter]

Melanie Hunter on November 8, 2021 at 2:21 pm · in reply to: Adjusting training for a slow-to-go aerobic system #58994

Hi Amy,

I’ll yammer on about this for a bit and hope some of this might be useful to you.

My personal “clues” about whether I’m online or not: in addition to just not feeling all that “with it” for the first few minutes after I get going, my heart rate takes a while to go anywhere. For example, when I’m hiking, there is a short steep section that if I’m doing a longer loop, I hit at about 30 minutes. On shorter days, I start at that point. When I start cold with the steep hill, I can get all the way up to the top without my heart rate moving much at all–it usually stays below 110, whereas if I’m fully warmed up, (and moving at the same pace) my heart rate on that hill usually hits about 118-120. My heart rate is also much more stable when I’m warm. Otherwise it likes to dip down.

I’m 48 now and I definitely notice the changes Carolyn is talking about, but interestingly, this slow-to-go thing has always been the case for me. My dad used to take us up mountains in Colorado when I was a kid and I remember having that same feeling of just being a little out of it for the first hour or so. Once I came online, I felt great.

I started training with a HR monitor in my early 20’s and noticed the same thing–even when I was very young and very fit, if I’m doing anything endurance wise my HR just takes a while to go anywhere. AND I do not feel too wonderful at first. I also figured out back then that if I tried to get my HR up too quickly (like if I had some target training HR I was trying to hit), I ended up never feeling good for the whole workout. Or even for the rest of the day.

I’m not sure if it’s related, but genetically I am very much in the “sprinter” category and endurance did not come naturally to me.

So that’s my 2 cents! Good luck with the sleep stuff. That can be tough.

[Melanie Hunter]

Melanie Hunter on October 30, 2021 at 5:29 pm · in reply to: When your hike doesn’t quite go as planned #58602

Ah-no picture, the file is too big.

[Melanie Hunter]

Melanie Hunter on October 24, 2021 at 4:51 pm · in reply to: Adjusting training for a slow-to-go aerobic system #58441

Hi Jane–right? My experience sounds just like yours-I often feel most ready to go at the end of my workout. And when I’m warming up, I can feel it when my system finally decides to click on; there’s that little “aha yes, now I’m plugged in!” moment.

Thanks for your answer, Carolyn. It will be interesting to see how implementing a slightly longer warm-up will influence things. As a survivor of the “let’s overdo everything all the time” mentality, I will proceed with caution!