[Pete]

Pete on March 31, 2020 at 2:19 am · in reply to: TSS for alpine days #40010

Dan, as I understand it, you use only 10 for 1000 feet of ascent and descent. So you do not adjust TSS for ascent and then again for descent.

Pete

[Pete]

Pete on March 27, 2020 at 12:05 am · in reply to: No AeT improvment #39899

Thanks Reed for your thoughts.

Scott, I use a heart rate monitor watch with a chest strap. Been using one for the past 15 years or so 🙂

Yes, there was a typo. My first half was done at an average of 134 BPM, the second half at 132 BPM. TP calculated the Pa:Hr ratio of 5,82%.

But a weird thing happened yesterday. I went for a Z1 run (in the training plan it says to run at Aet minus 15 bpm for 30 min) and I tried to stay in the 115 BPM range. I used a nearby walking path which is flat. Came home, downloaded the data and in the first half my average HR was 114, in the second half it was 113 and TP calculated Pa:Hr ratio of 11,79%, duration of the run was 32 min. Is the calculation wrong or does this ratio only works for exercises longer than 1 hour? Can you see my confusion with this heart rate drift thing? Or am I just so stupid and don’t get the point of it all?

Any help with this would be very, very helpful.

Anyways I will try to find a gym with a treadmill but only after we get through this covid shit as everything is in lockdown at the moment and we only allowed to go out for a run, one by one.

Thanks again.

Stay healthy.

Pete

[Pete]

Pete on March 26, 2020 at 7:22 am · in reply to: No AeT improvment #39852

Hi Reed,

in the past 5 weeks I managed to squeeze in 5-6 hours of aerobic activity per week (running and uphill hiking, all done at or under AeT). I usually do 3 runs per week and 1 uphill hike per week. Two times per week I do strength training (SKCW and some general strength routines) in my living room. Occasionally I go on my bike, but only as a means of recovery which totals approximately 1-2 hours per week.

I adjusted my zones according to AeT being at 130 BPM.

That’s basically what my workouts look like.

Pete

[Pete]

Pete on March 26, 2020 at 4:39 am · in reply to: No AeT improvment #39846

Hi,

I did a flat run yesterday and set my AeT at 135. Did a 45 min run and the results are as following:
time = 0:46:36
distance = 6,05 km
Pa:Hr = 5,82%
min HR = 127 BPM
max HR = 146 BPM
avg HR = 133 BPM
1st lap avg HR = 136 BPM, avg pace = 7:27 min/km
2st lap avg HR = 132 BPM, avg pace = 7:57 min/km

According to the results will set my AeT at 130 BPM and see what happens in the following month. Do you think that this is to ambitious?

I’am using a chest HR strap with Sunto HR watch.

Any thoughts and insights still welcome 🙂

Stay healthy.

Pete

[Pete]

Pete on March 25, 2020 at 3:41 am · in reply to: No AeT improvment #39822

Hi all,

as there are no suitable lab around my town to do a lab test in order to determine my AeT and Ant I am left to DIY tests. And here comes the problem. I am 40 years old and have been training for months now with upper limit of AeT set at 120 BP. Over the months I haven’t seen much improvement in AeT (guess that it will change less and less as I get older) but last week 3 strange things happened:
1. did a run on a rolling terrain and got back Pa:Hr result of 1,04%. It took me 1:07:33 to ran 6,98 km (so it was a slow run). My average HR was 116 BPM and max was 129 BPM.
2. next day did a recovery run on flat terrain and got back Pa:Hr result 6,95%. It took me 0:41:37 to ran 4,16 km (so extra slow). My average HR was 107 BPM and max was 118 BPM.
3. Two days later did another AeT run on rolling terrain and got back Pa:Hr result of 1,27%. It took me 1:03:57 to ran 6,95 km. My average HR was 116 BPM and max was 145 BPM (during my run I did 4 x 10 sec sprints (not full speed) as recommended in training plan).

After all the runs I felt fresh, not tired, my legs were not feeling the runs. I could easily do another run right after I was finished as Noakes puts it in his book in regards to the appropriate intensity for building aerobic capacity.

What can I learn from these results? Why did I do so poorly on the flat run? Do I really suck so much? Or was I training at to low intensity and this was the reason for not improving as much? As I was reading through MAF method (by which my top AeT limit would be around 135-140, way higher than my current limits) I was wondering if I am training at to low intensity. Do MAF method and HR drift test correspond well to each other at all? I know that this is very individual but would like to know in general? What can an athlete do if it has no access to a proper lab testing?

Anyways, today will do another flat run with my zones adjusted to MAF method (upper limit of AeT set to 135) just to see what happens with Pa:Hr ratio. I would really like to find proper HR zone limits as I don’t have an abundance available time for training and would like to make the best out of every minute of it.

Thanks for any insights and thoughts on this issues.

Many thanks and stay healthy!

Pete

[Pete]

Pete on November 7, 2019 at 2:32 am · in reply to: Do you drink to thirst or drink to a plan? #31428

Hi,

after reading Noakes’s book Waterlogged I changed my view to hydration. Usually I would drink in regular intervals, taking a sip or two and usually ending up overhydrated. Now I usually already start well hydrated (drinking in the morning straight out of bed one cup of water or herbal tea – depending on the time of year), then I drink during my drive to the hills and just before I start from the car park – another sip or two. I rarely have more than 1 liter of fluid for the whole day. However, I have some gels with me that are very fluid and are more of a shoot of juice than a mushy gel. And of course, at the end of the workout (back at the car) I have some additional fluid available – if I need it. I also like to drink some chocolate milk immediately after the workout or some cola especially in warmer months of the year.

Regarding the fluid I take with me – just plain water. If the duration is longer or I stay in the mountains for a couple of days then I take with me also one or two tablets to make a proper sports drink (something like Isostar and similar) that I usually make at the end of the day or in the second part of the workout (late afternoon) when my energy levels are somewhat depleted but not yet totally empty.

Oh, and yeah, I tend to drink to thirst with no plan for drinking in certain pre-set intervals. I found out that this works very well for me as far as the intensity is low – aerobic. If I am doing hill sprints than I sip on a sports drink – mix of water, sugar and some salt.

Pete

[Pete]

Pete on August 7, 2019 at 6:09 am · in reply to: AeT Test #26384

Just to elaborate about my foot injury. I was off training for about 2,5 months and I started training again in the beginning of November last year. I started lightly, just to get my aerobic capacity back, later I added strength training. So all in all I again regularly train for the past 7-8 months. Before my injury I was regularly training in one way or another for the past 6 years with different UA training plans.

Pete

[Pete]

Pete on August 6, 2019 at 7:48 am · in reply to: AeT Test #26291

Hi Scott & Scott 🙂

I have one issue with Pa:Hr ration in TP. I usually run on flat circuit (returning after injury) and the duration is also pretty much the same – around one hour. But my Pa:Hr rates differ drastically. Example: 28th July, afternoon run, 1 h, avg HR is 106, Pa:Hr is 0.81%. 29th July, afternoon run, 1 h, avg HR is 119, Pa:Hr is 10.49% (I went quicker as my Pa:Hr ration was so low the day before. Through entire run I was able to easily breath through my nose). 30th July, morning run, 47 minutes, avg HR is 112, Pa:Hr is 9.72%. You can see that there is quite a difference in results. I can take into account that maybe I was a bit tired, but I didn’t feel like tired. Each day I was fresh and also I try to run with intensity that dr. Noakes suggests in his book “Lore of running” where he says that the run should be so easy that you could do the same circuit again right after you finished it. And it certainly feels like I can do it again. Note: I always run the same circuit.

When searching for answers I came to a conclusion that I might be suffering from ADS as this would explain a lot of my questions and irregularities described. My current CTL is 80. On the other hand I just might be in a very bad shape and should do huge amounts of running bellow 110 BPM in order to be within 5% of Pa:Hr ratio.

I also conducted a test to determine my AnT. I was going as hard as I could uphill for an hour. My average HR was 163 bpm and at the end I felt that I could have gone a bit faster – I was not dead tired and the following day I could continue with normal training (no sore legs).

I would appreciate if you could give me any insights into this issue as I would really like to resolve this mistery and start training with he confidence that I am doing it right.

Thanks,

Pete

[Pete]

Pete on August 6, 2019 at 12:55 am · in reply to: TSS for alpine days #26277

Hi,

in terms of “I add the vertical fudge factor of 10TSS/1000ft (300m) elevation gain/loss.” I am wondering if you add 10TSS/1000 ft of elevation gain and then another 10TSS for 1000 ft of elevation loss? Or you count just the elevation gain?

Thanks!

Pete

[Pete]

Pete on April 26, 2019 at 1:09 am · in reply to: Heart Rate for Uphill Weighted Muscular Endurance #21004

Thanks guys, your answers are very helpful.

I watched your video Scott again and it seems that my hill (the grade of it) is more or less the same as yours is in the video, but will check it anyway. Just to make sure. It is a path of some sort and also used by downhill MTB riders, so I guess is steep :). But I can also walk on the terrain beside the track. It is steep. Will try it next time, with the same weight in my pack (approximately 54 lbs) and see if my legs will be the limiting factor or still my breathing. Guessing that it will be the legs, because of the roughness of the terrain. Elevation will keep more or less the same, around 500 meters tops. From the last workout I felt some “heavyness” in my legs the next day, but today I feel that they are back to normal so I’m guessing that the effort was just about what I can handle at the moment.

I am aware that is crucial for me to improve my AeT, so I will be even more vigilent about my aerobic training and it seems I have a long road ahaed of me to improve my aerobic engine.

The AnT test will have to wait for a while, cause my leg only allows me to walk at the moment. Running is out of the question for now (still need one more surgery). In regards of my max HR I haven’t even thought about it, cause I learned through UA that all you need is basically your AeT and AnT HR and I am still playing around with AeT especially, cause it keeps changing so much. It really depends wether I do a workout in the morning or in the late afternoon after work.

Enough talking, gotta do some walking 🙂

Thanks again!

Best, Pete

[Pete]

Pete on April 25, 2019 at 2:16 am · in reply to: Heart Rate for Uphill Weighted Muscular Endurance #20969

Hi all,

yesterday was my first Z3 weighted climb in my 16 week programme for summer alpine climbing. I started with around 24,5 kg in my pack and going up a steep hill as hard as I could (as laid out in the plan). I felt that the legs were not burning all the time, so I’m guessing that the weight could be a bit higher (probably 1-2 kg more) cause at times it felt like my breathing was the limiting factor. The plan says to do at least 450 vertical meters and go as hard as you can for 1 hour. I went for 47 minutes, did 521 meters and my average HR was 162, my max was 176.

Ma questions are:
1) I can do more then 450 meters in 1 hour, so I guess that I should aim for 1 hour regardless if I do more than 450 meters. Yes or no?
2) Can I use my average HR as my AnT? Do you think that this was a valid test, despite that it didn’t last for 1 hour? Yes or no?
3) As my AeT is very low, around 116-118 BPM on a flat terrain (with this HR I usally get Pa:Hr ratio at or bellow 5% – what is suggested in the plan) I am certain that I suffer from severe ADS (returning from a leg injury, 6 months of doing practicaly nothing, just some biking on flat terrain). I wonder if I should rather do Z3 weigthed climbs in Z1/Z2 in order to get as much aerobic traning as possible as this seems to be my crucial week point?

I would answer yes to all of these questions, but would still be glad to get some more insights and thougths from other more experienced uphill athletes up here. I love to train and see how can I improve, but don’t have all the time in the world for this, so I really have to spent my available time wisely and that is the reason for asking these maybe very basic questions.

Many thanks and stay safe!

Pete

[Pete]

Pete on May 8, 2018 at 12:44 am · in reply to: How unfit am I? #9730

Hi guys, thanks a lot for your thoughts. Realized that my question was a bit stupid 🙂 My goal is not so specific, no expedition or anything, just mountain climbing this summer in the Alps. Doing as much climbing as time permits me. According to your feedback, I guess my current fitness will allow me do that.

Steve, thanks for the additional reading and will try to keep it more positive 🙂 Will be a tough cookie to swallow, I must say 🙂

Best and stay safe you all.

Peter

[Pete]

Pete on February 21, 2018 at 1:26 am · in reply to: Training effects on aerobic threshold #8190

Hi,

I was wondering what your suggestion is for repeating the Treshold HR test, so the new value could be used in Training Peaks? Every month? Every two months? Before the start of a new phase of training?

Would appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thanks!

Best, Peter

[Pete]

Pete on January 23, 2018 at 2:53 am · in reply to: Training Peaks Tweaks #7734

Hi Geltzeiler,

I think that this post might help you – https://uphillathlete.com/forums/topic/ctltrainingpeaks-and-tfna/

Best, Peter

[Pete]

Pete on May 19, 2017 at 12:38 am · in reply to: Bike vs. Run as a method of aerobic training #4942

Thanks guys! Tons of good advice to go through and try in my future training.

Peter