[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on January 2, 2022 at 8:19 pm · in reply to: Advice needed for protecting heals in new boots #61462

Hi Justin, that’s a really common problem when switching from flexible footwear to a more rigid mountaineering boot. I wrote some comments in the following thread:

Denali 2022

Some of the peeling could be due to technique and some could be due to the footwear. It’s hard to “break in” footwear like this. You might have a lot more luck looking at technique/mobility, fit/lacing, and socks.
You raise a great point about wearing them around each week. In some cases, it could be helpful to wear them around the house. Our bodies are pretty creative at adapting, and more time in the boots – even outside of exercise – might be helpful.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on January 2, 2022 at 8:04 pm · in reply to: Electrically heated gloves #61459

Hi Anna, In addition to the clothing choices, I think it’s also important to consider the following points. I apologize if some are obvious, but many of my clients have found some of these points to be game-changers.
1. Consider your core temperature and clothing systems. Being fed, hydrated, and warm enough will help with circulation at extremities. Consider all possible contributing factors. While some athletes prefer *feeling* cooler during exercise, staying a little warmer with your layers may help quite a bit with temperature at your extremities/digits. It takes practice refining clothing systems so that you can be warm enough without sweating. Consider your average temperature for the day, not the extremes. Some people avoid getting too hot at all costs, but then they never get warm enough to have warm fingers. Be aware of the effect of strong wind on your clothing systems. Some climbers swear by liner gloves for tasks requiring more dexterity, but this is a personal preference – one solution that I won’t recommend for everyone. Resort skiing is really challenging with all the downtime on the lift getting cold, and all the temptation to hold metal or remove gloves. Many resort skiers don’t practice adjusting clothing or boots with gloves or mittens, but it’s surprising how many tasks skiers can do without removing them. Cell phones and other electronics provide a temptation to remove gloves. If you need to check your phone often or consult your phone/gps, you could use the touchscreen friendly glove liners. Try not to check phones or tech in a place where the wind is strong.
2. Consider your behaviors. Holding a bare ice axe, grabbing carabiners/screws or the shaft of aluminum ski poles or chairlift bars, or overgripping your axe/poles/handholds could quickly increase heat transfer and make your hands colder. It’s easier to keep your hands warm by putting ski poles under your thigh on the lift, not grabbing any metal on the chairlift, reducing a tight grip (sometimes a tight grip feels necessary with bulky mitts or gloves) on your axe/poles/holds, or avoiding removing gloves or mittens (especially when handling metal like crampons, axes, poles, carabiners, etc.). Long breaks in the backcountry, less vigorous exercise, and not protecting yourself from strong wind/weather will also make you colder. Being aware and vigilant can go a long ways to manage your temperature. It’s easier to be ahead of potential problems (e.g. adding layers immediately when you take a break before you feel cold, or adding a shell mitt on top of a glove while skinning on a windy ridge).
3. Your activity. Your pace and your activity level can affect your temperature at your extremities. Increasing your exercise intensity will increase metabolic heat which can increase core temperature, and increase the temperature at your extremities. Skiing longer pitches, going 5% faster on your uphills, or skiing steeper or more physical terrain can make you warmer. Going a little harder/faster can really change the temps in your fingers. Doing some of the dynamic warm up and movement prep from the Cham Mtn Fit will really warm you up if you are out skiing, especially after a long chairlift ride or a break.

There is some liability in relying on heated gloves, socks, or handwarmers/toewarmers. There is additional planning and then there is the reliance on the batteries or activated carbon. Ice climbers, mountaineers, and backcountry skiers often use vigorous arm circles, flapping motions, or arm whips to quickly increase circulation in their digits. Some of this can even be done while walking on simple glaciers. While it might look a little ridiculous in front of your ski friends, doing 30 seconds of really vigorous arm movements will have a much more pronounced effect than the 15 minutes waiting for activated carbon to get warm enough to start warming your fingers. I vouch for the ridiculous arm circles for immediate help with cold digits. You can use this on your high peaks and alpine climbs anytime you are on simple terrain or at a belay.

I have poor circulation but because I’m considering the methods above, I’m often wearing much lighter gloves or mitts than most of my clients and my peers.

I hope that this helps!

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on December 20, 2021 at 8:02 pm · in reply to: TftNA zones and Z1/Z2 #61009

Bill, Sorry I misunderstood your original question. For the most part, you can follow the TftNA training suggestions using your AeT/AnT-based zones. Zones 1-4 should line up, with Zone 5 hopefully easy to understand.

Before deciding to implement the TftNA training guidance, please note that TftNA was written prior to understanding just how many athletes had a large gap between AeT and AnT. Each athlete needs to understand their personal allocation between Zone 1 and Zone 2 training time in order to optimize their training. Most athletes will need to do more Zone 2 than is suggested in TftNA’s guidance. In my response to your original question, I tried to give some background to explain this key point. TftNA doesn’t quite capture this issue. Scott explained the challenges in presenting zone information to a wide variety of athletes in TftNA in this forum thread:

How to Set Up Your Training Intensity Zones

Because of the reasons explained in Scotts forum response, TftNA zones were presented in the more conventional % Max HR. Please note the explanation (pg. 55) that % Max HR is often used in situations where athletes have not found their thresholds/zones through more precise testing. While % Max HR is a traditional and effective method of setting training zones, don’t use it to set your zones if you can instead use your AeT and AnT. The AeT and AnT field tests we describe are easy to replicate, so they can be used periodically to check for changes over a long training cycle and adjust zones as needed. There are valid methods to further divide zones, but these methods quickly risk getting too granular to provide meaningful benefit to the athlete. Most athletes will reap much more benefit by using a simple zone system and putting more attention into managing lifestyle factors and improving training decisions involving specificity.

The TftNA descriptions of “ventilation” and “feeling” are valid, and it’s very helpful to be aware of these factors (think mountain situations where you can’t check your wearable tech – mountain weather, cold weather clothing, technical situations, beacon interference, etc.). Spend time increasing awareness of these factors, as they can eventually be quite accurate informing you of your training intensity.

TP Zones:
If you haven’t already, set up your TrainingPeaks HR zones using the AeT/AnT-defined 4 zone system. Please refer to the link that was included in the notes with your AeT and AnT tests:

How to Set Up Your Training Intensity Zones

Make sure that your “threshold” is entered correctly, as this is the most important factor in the TrainingPeaks impulse-response calculations.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on December 19, 2021 at 8:39 pm · in reply to: TftNA zones and Z1/Z2 #60983

Bill, the answer depends on each athletes training history. It’s helpful to understand the differences between TftNA and TftUA. The HR Zone guidance in TftNA is more relevant for elite and very highly-trained athletes, while the guidance in TftUA gives more consideration to a broader range of training backgrounds. The HR-based training guidance in TftUA is probably more appropriate for a majority of amateur athletes.

In this forum thread, Scott explains how he arrived with the TftNA HR-based Zones and associated training guidance:

Confusion – Zone 1 + 2: TftNA vs TrainingPeaks

For anyone else using TftNA, it’s worth understanding the difference. You can refer to the guidance in the training plan and numerous articles and forum discussions on the Zone 1 / Zone 2 allocation. Here are the comments from the Anaerobic Threshold Test:
{If the difference is 10% or less of the AnT HR then you will need to reduce the amount of Z2 training and substitute more Z1 for your aerobic base training or you will run the risk of overtraining by running too fast (Z2) too much of the time. If the spread between AeT and AnT is more than 10% then do all of your aerobic base training in Z2. Redo the AeT test that you did on day 1 each month if this is the case. As your aerobic base improves and your AeT HR and pace move upward you will need to adjust the volume of Z2 down.}

Here’s one example of what this looks like on the highly-trained end of the spectrum:
For highly-trained athletes who have spent years/decades optimizing their aerobic engine, substantial training in Zone 2 will be too fatiguing and unsustainable. To put this in perspective, AeT Pace for a world class marathoner (sub 2:10) is essentially race pace. The musculoskeletal demand is simply too high to do too many workouts at this intensity on a regular basis. For these types of athletes, Zone 2 training volume has to be carefully titrated. Zone 1 is more appropriate for most/many of their low intensity sessions. This is just one explanation why TftNA advises to train mostly in Z1.

For athletes who have not spent years or decades deliberately working on improving true aerobic fitness, much or all of their low intensity training can be done in Zone 2.

Each athlete is different, and the allocation between Zone 1 and Zone 2 will vary. The more training history you have, the more you will know what you can tolerate and what will be too much.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on December 8, 2021 at 2:17 pm · in reply to: Down Jacket for Denali #60464

I second that. The Neutrino is a great jacket and I’ve used it on Denali. But I prefer it more for really cold mid-winter ski touring. It’s best attributes are packability and value. I’ve used the Positron on Denali and Vinson. I’d recommend the Positron over the Neutrino – the zone baffled construction makes a difference. It looks like the Positron Pro is similar to the original.
There are many great products out there. Mark’s video explains the criteria to help with your pick.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on December 6, 2021 at 7:09 pm · in reply to: Upcoming Dec 8th Zoom Topics #60339

@Anurag: We’re careful not to make too specific of a recommendation for CTL.
If you have a longer history in TrainingPeaks comprised of similar style workouts, then you should try to get to a sustained CTL of 75-80 to feel ready for Rainier.
If you are new to TrainingPeaks or an organized plan for mountaineering, then trust in the trajectory of the training. Do your best with your Drift Test and AnT Test so that your metrics are as accurate as possible. Trust in the plan even if your CTL looks like it will end up a little lower. CTL is individualized, and one athlete’s 70 is another athlete’s 90.
CTL is very important, but make sure to do workouts consistently as prescribed. It can be possible to have a high CTL built off the wrong parameters.
Some athletes succeed with a lower CTL. Some still struggle despite a higher CTL. Factors in that situation might include:
*lack of specificity in training (TSS achieved in less-specific activities or terrain)
*lack of specificity with environment (not enough training in early mornings, darkness, cold, altitude, hills, trails, etc)
*being too generous with TSS (recording long breaks during a long hiking day; recording very easy activity and considering it a training session)
*less skill in crampons/boots/snow travel
*challenge adapting to the pace of the rope team (not enough variability in pace/terrain in training)
*experience, attitude, grit, determination, fear, etc.
I would rather see an athlete show up on Rainier with a CTL of 70 who has considered the factors above, then see an athlete show up with a CTL of 100 who achieved that using a bike and weight machines.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on December 6, 2021 at 6:39 pm · in reply to: Upcoming Dec 8th Zoom Topics #60337

@Edgar: We’ll try to cover ADS and AeT/AnT comparison on the call.

HR is the best tool we have to measure work/load/intensity. It’s not perfect, but there are too many variables when training for mountaineering to use another measure.

We’ll try to cover the fat adapted question in more detail on the call.

There are different ways to become fat adapted, and not all will be correlated to optimal performance.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on December 5, 2021 at 6:04 am · in reply to: Denali 2022 #60270

Andrew, we can bring this up on the Zoom call and discuss further.
But the simplistic answer is that you’ll progress over time with the pack carries, and the overall theme will transition from general to specific. You’ll see this clearly when you look at the 24 week plan from start to finish.
The general training supports the specific training. General training prepares athletes to do more with their specific training. Specific training by itself is critical before a goal or event, but without a big base of support gained through general training, an athlete can’t expect to get the same benefit from the specific period. There is a limit to how much we’ll adapt to a cycle of similar programming, which is why we’ll cycle through and progress from general to specific.
Currently, the training is general, not specific. So it won’t resemble the “event” too much right now.
Heavy carries will definitely be part of the programming. They’re planned to start when we are converting from general training to specific training, just like the 24 week plan. We see the most benefit for mountaineers when these are performed in the specific period, in the final few months leading up to the climb. The general training will allow you to perform these at a higher intensity and carry a heavier load, which you’ll appreciate when it comes time to put on the heavy pack on the Kahiltna.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on December 2, 2021 at 12:13 pm · in reply to: Anaerobic Threshold Test Instructions #60196

Hi Matt, It’s preferred to do this event-specific / training-specific, so mountaineers might be best served doing it as a long uphill hike. If you have the means to train with a lot of hiking on hills, it would make the most sense to test on a long hill.
If you’ll be doing a lot of running for training, or don’t have a huge hill for an uphill hiking test, then I would lean towards a run outdoors. If you can do it as a track run, it can also give you AnT pace for rTSS.
The Anaerobic Threshold Test should be based off of RPE. You might need to adjust pace to maintain the hard, sustained 30-45+ min effort. Doing this on a treadmill usually requires some pace adjustments, and the delay in adjustment can make it more challenging to maintain a sustainable intensity.
For a lot of runners, this test is at 10k pace. If you are unsure of your pace/effort start conservatively, as it’s really common to start out too hard.
A lot of athletes look forward to this test! When done correctly, this test will be an actual demonstration of your anaerobic threshold, as opposed to an estimate determined through a graded exercise test protocol that you’d do with a GET/metabolic/lactate test. And it’s free and counts as a workout session.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on December 1, 2021 at 12:16 pm · in reply to: Zone 3 Exercise #60165

Umer, It sounds like you’re going to have some great options for training at home.
As Scott said, your priority is to get the fat pad impingement issue resolved. Make sure that you are following your physio’s guidance. The Cham Mtn Fit could be a great adjunct to PT exercises, and might even contain some version of them. Biomechanics often plays a major role with these overuse injuries, and cleaning up your movement via the Cham Mtn Fit could improve biomechanics to the point where you symptoms resolve.
Don’t do any workouts that are considered contraindicated by your ortho or PT. The gym equipment can give you a more controlled environment which could be less aggravating for knee inflammation, but will also be more repetitive with less variance – which could be more aggravating if your mechanics still provoke inflammation. Doing aerobic sessions differently each time might avoid some overuse issues.
ArcTrainer is less specific, but if your goals are in the spring/summer that shouldn’t be a problem. The current general aerobic training doesn’t require too much specificity.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on November 30, 2021 at 10:20 am · in reply to: Fasted Workout(s) #60105

That’s a great topic Don. There’s a lot to consider here. We can certainly touch on this in the next Zoom call. Rebecca Dent will be on the 12/22 Zoom call, and she’ll be a great resource.

Your experience of needing to go slower in a fasted state is an example of why we need to strike a balance between fasting and desired training volume. This is really a personalized decision.

Rebecca has already contributed articles, forum responses, and has been featured on our podcasts:

Talking Fasted Training With Staff Performance Dietitian Rebecca Dent

The Uphill Athlete Podcast: Nutrition and the Aging Athlete

This collection of articles can give more background on fat adaptation, how fasting could be employed, and what liabilities you need to consider with these strategies.

Main Home

While we encourage most athletes to tend to nutrition and consider fasted workouts, it’s important to consider nutrition periodization – certain workouts need caloric support to train to the workouts intention, and high training volumes simply require higher weekly caloric intake. Nutrition periodization can be considered on different time scales and applied differently during the phases of a training program. There is individual variance to consider in this process.
Placing a large emphasis on fasting may create great conditions for fat adaptation and long fasts are associated with many health benefits, but regular intermittent fasting will likely interfere with reaching an effectively high training load, not to mention it likely wouldn’t resemble how you would take care of yourself on an expedition.
High endurance-oriented training volume will put athletes in a general state of lower glycogen reserves, which is what you would be striving for in fat adaptation. So you can manipulate your glycogen reserves through training and through nutrition, and it’s important to consider the individual variance when combining these two approaches. This is why most elite/pro athletes won’t need to follow a severe fasted diet (or even be fully compliant on a nutrition plan) during their high volume training phases.

Again, we can expand upon this topic during the next Zoom Call and Rebecca could elaborate in the 12/22 Zoom Call.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on November 30, 2021 at 9:43 am · in reply to: Moving workouts in TrainingPeaks #60100

Michal,
To move a whole week in your TrainingPeaks calendar, hover your cursor over the vertical three dots menu to the right of all of your weekdays. It should say “Week Controls”. You’ll see options to cut, copy, paste and more. From a workflow perspective, if you are intending to repeat a week and need to move everything forward, I suggest starting with the last programmed week – moving that week to a future week and then repeat the process working your way back to the present. If you start working from the current week to the future, it will get very confusing with workouts on top of each other.

For specific questions about your TrainingPeaks calendar, check the Help Center on the TrainingPeaks website. The webapp is always getting updates, and you’ll generally find the most current information in the Help Center.

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on November 29, 2021 at 1:12 pm · in reply to: Delay in training schedule due to illness/fatigue #60044

Emanuel, I hear your concern.
First I want to address that it’s normal to have a few days where we are feeling overly fatigued, just as it’s normal to occasionally feel great – like the workouts are too easy and you could do much more than the prescribed load.

saulj’s recommendation is great: start back in as prescribed, but be cognizant of how your body responds. I would add: When you have a bout of extra fatigue it’s important to consider “under recovering” just as much as “over training”. For many athletes, their gains might be more affected by their ability to manage their recovery more than their ability to do the workouts. Try the sessions as planned, but pay attention to how you are feeling and moving in these workouts. An organized endurance training program is characterized by feelings of low level fatigue. Try not to let it get beyond that right now.

Like saulj said – if you only missed a few days, you can continue as planned on the schedule and see how it’s feeling. In a transition period or early base period, there’s no need to “make up” days. But once an athlete has missed several workouts, maybe a week, they can’t pretend that they did the workouts and jump right back in the program. Once it’s a week or more, the athlete should be thinking about how they might step back to a previous week in the program.

A rough guideline for athletes that train consistently is to not worry about a missed day here and there if the total *monthly* load isn’t diminished by more than 5%. That assumes that the program is well-calibrated to you and that there aren’t too many extra sessions or extra sources of stress like a major business trip or project completion.
If monthly volume is diminished by more than 5%, it’s wise to start thinking about stepping back and making sure that the training volume is being layered on at a reasonable rate from that point.

Since this program design is pretty new to most of the participants and we are in a transition period, it’s probably ok to allow for up to 10% diminished load. Your subjective interpretation of how the training is affecting you is probably more relevant than a specific metric at this point. With months (or better yet years) of training logged in TrainingPeaks, you could give stronger consideration to the training metrics to guide your decision.

I suggest jumping back in, and paying attention to how you are tolerating everything. Most likely, you responded appropriately with the extra rest and your body will be happy resuming the training. Good luck!

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on November 29, 2021 at 12:36 pm · in reply to: Zone 3 Exercise #60038

A stepmill is more sport specific than a stairstepper.

A steep treadmill is also more sport specific than the stepper, if only because you’ll have a normal walking gait. While 15% isn’t very steep, it should suffice for now for your low-intensity workouts, where the primary goal for now is working on your aerobic base. Doing some workouts with less steepness would be helpful to regulate the total weekly load on the musculature around your knee joint.

I couldn’t tell if you meant “looking” to purchase a machine, or just to use at a fitness facility. If a stepmill is within your budget, that’s a better choice than a stairstepper. If you’re considering a purchase, be aware that there are big differences in quality from one manufacturer to another, and you tend to get what you pay for.

You don’t need all of your workouts to be on stairs. But it’s helpful to modulate your training so that some of the sessions are on stairs or a machine simulating stairs. That way you’ll be on a 75-90% grade. Clearly that will involve your muscle mass in a much different way. 15% seems pretty low angled when you make that comparison.

Good luck with the search!

[Nate Emerson]

Nate Emerson on November 27, 2021 at 9:43 pm · in reply to: Recovery and purposefully detraining #59950

Edgar,
Yes, so many variables to pinpoint one, so just do your best. Getting a grip on sleep hygiene is great. If you are doing all the recommended steps to have great sleep and it’s still sub-optimal, that could be an indicator of too much stress.
Treating TrainingPeaks as your workout journal will be really helpful moving forward. The subjective interpretation is really important. Simply using the built-in RPE and feeling notes in TP will help you build a more complete picture. A couple of short notes are even more helpful. Some athletes “grade” their workouts (TFTUA, pg 128).
Good luck with this step and hope that you feeling ready for more in the weeks to come!