Thanks Scott S. and Scott J.. Makes a lot of sense and easy to adjust. Sorry about the avalanche of questions – I should have probably broken these down in multiple threads.
I’ll dial my easy weeks back a bit more. The Achilles strain was a light warning. I’ll stick with spaced out A races.
On max strength. Could be an interesting topic for the people where training is really competing for time. The endurance stuff I can more easily fit into my life (“walking” the hyper-active dog? no, it’s 1.5h of Z1 training; taking a long uphill hike with my daughter on my shoulders? that’s ME right there). The strength stuff requires very intense focus while at home and that is harder to come by ..
“Convict conditioning” is just a marketing name for max strength by body weight exercises (calisthenics). Don’t get hung on the name and background story bullshit, there are a bunch of programs out there, just happened to run into this first. It relies on 5-6 core exercises like squats pushups pullups etc. and gives you a progression for each (change technique to make them harder without adding weight). It worked for me because I could install a pullup bar at work and I have a bunch of colleagues that are into this. Because you can do series spaced up through the day, you are well restored for giving your best (side benefit – in 2-3 minutes you don’t break a sweat either :D). Modulation comes from cycling the exercises.
It’s a compromise because it lacks specificity (e.g. in the mountains we carry packs). And it does need complementary ME and technique for climbing ofcourse. Am dit probably doesn’t hit all the muscles we care about. But you do see constant gains and significant applicability. I was recently in the mountains with big packs and the forest had 4-6″ of spring snow (melted, frozen etc.) that would only collapse when fully loaded. A lot of opportunity for one legged squats and core engagement there :D.
My biggest concern about it is central nervous system fatigue. But I can’t say that I felt an impact yet, it’s just something I’m monitoring in the back of my head.
Example of “beginner” schedule:
https://i2.wp.com/www.factorfad.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Good-Behavior-Training-Schedule.jpg?ssl=1
and of advanced: https://i1.wp.com/www.factorfad.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Solitary-confinement-convict-conditioning.jpg?ssl=1
Progression of exercises from CC: https://i2.wp.com/www.factorfad.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Convict-Conditioning-Progressions-Wall-Chart.jpg?ssl=1
Thanks again,
Mihai