[pshyvers]

pshyvers on April 29, 2019 at 5:19 pm · in reply to: Training Calf Strength/Endurance #21128

Just one thing to add, it’s my experience that calves are like forearms. They recover from load very quickly. As a result to grow quickly they need to be heavily overloaded, and quite often- unlike the big muscle groups like the quads. That being said, the simple change of training in stiff boots will probably resolve the specific issue you’re wanting to hit.

@psathyrella If you live somewhere that does not have readily accessible crampon climbing, how are you frequently training with crampons on? Is this something like, doing box stepups on scrap wood with an old pair of crampons and stepping onto the front points?

[pshyvers]

pshyvers on April 25, 2019 at 1:22 pm · in reply to: Heart Rate for Uphill Weighted Muscular Endurance #20990

Pete, I exhibited ADS & couldn’t keep my HR down while trying to do ME workouts. I found nothing helped- changing the weight, or the slope, or whatever. Now after lots of work on my AeT, I have occasionally noticed heavy legs slowing me down before my heart rate takes off, and I will be working on ME this summer.

I don’t have any data to support the best course of action, but based on my experience I feel the most productive thing to do is focus all your aerobic efforts on developing your AeT. (Still doing core & general strength, of course) Knowing how it felt then, and how it feels now, I just don’t think you can fudge your way to a valuable & productive ME session if you don’t have the cardio to support it.

[pshyvers]

pshyvers on April 17, 2019 at 12:17 pm · in reply to: ADS: slow uphill running vs. slow walking #20598

I’ll echo Scott. I’ve been in your shoes. Just focus on breaking through ADS. Do whatever it takes to stay in your target HR zone. If you have to walk up the hill, walk. Walk slowly, walk fast, jog slowly, just target that HR zone. Worry about specificity for your training later.

I started out doing a lot of my work on a stationary bike because I was in an awkward spot where it was difficult to walk fast enough to get my HR up, but even the slowest possible running pace got my HR too high. (16:00-17:00 mile pace) Just do what it takes to hit those zones.

You’ll get through it, and you’ll be glad you did.

[pshyvers]

pshyvers on February 28, 2019 at 5:26 pm · in reply to: Training vs Commuting & Travel Without Cars #17193

Wanted to revisit this briefly- Ultimately, I got an e-bike and it has been great. Riding around town, to work & so forth, becomes solidly recovery level. Things are moving, heart is pumping, breath is coming warm, but I could do it every waking minute. One day biking unassisted might be like that for me, but for now the electric helps biking instead of driving fit into the picture.

[pshyvers]

pshyvers on January 10, 2018 at 12:39 pm · in reply to: GPS watch #7531

I switched from a 920XT to a Fenix 3 a year or two ago. I can’t remember details, but I recall being much happier with the Fenix 3. I recall feeling that, despite the extremely similar feature list on paper, it seemed clear after using both that runners & triathletes would be happier with the 920XT and outdoors people would prefer the Fenix 3. Unfortunately, I really can’t remember much of why.

Now that the 935XT has a body like the Fenix, the differences are probably narrowing even more, but I’d still personally be inclined towards a Fenix 5 instead of a 935XT if I was to upgrade.

Either will certainly be a solid choice though, and overall I’m happy with the Garmin watches. My wife wears a Forerunner 230, and is happy with it, except for accidentally pressing buttons with her wrist sometimes.

[pshyvers]

pshyvers on January 10, 2018 at 12:31 pm · in reply to: Resting Heart Rate Improvement Rate – Length and Volume of Heart Stroke #7530

You describe it as a cocktail party metric, but are changes in RHR still meaningful? I’ve always been irritated that when I go up in altitude, my RHR quickly jumps up from ~65bpm to ~100bpm, relative to several friends whose RHR does not change much. Is that a sign of any particular gap in training?

[pshyvers]

pshyvers on December 6, 2016 at 1:56 pm · in reply to: ME workouts – getting all the factors right #3626

Mariner_9, I like the box step idea to boost the steepness. Boulder-hopping is more like a box step than a stair step anyway. I do sometimes set an alarm on my watch for my “estimated” Zone 1 or Zone 2 ranges, and that’s what I’ll do for future ME workouts.

Scott, that’s not a bad idea. Closest lab is probably an hour’s drive to Boulder though, so I think I will still start with the decongestant route for the moment. Can you recommend a specific lab, for later?

[pshyvers]

pshyvers on November 29, 2016 at 9:23 pm · in reply to: ME workouts – getting all the factors right #3552

Hah, I was afraid you’d say something like that.

I’ve been working heavily on my aerobic capacity since July-ish, and have seen a lot of progress, but the fact of the matter is I was “aerobically deficient” at the start. Then on the other hand, while I’m no strongman, I do have many years of barbell squats under my belt. So, your explanation makes sense- simply, legs muscles are (still) stronger than aerobic system.

As for the 10% spread between AeT & AnT, I’ve never known for sure what my AeT is. I have chronic unresolved allergies that render my nose nigh-inoperable most of the time. But it would probably be worthwhile to take a spritz of nasal decongestant and try to find out for real.

Maybe for the ME work I can focus more on upper body ME, and perhaps do a few very long lower body ME workouts at a very easy pace. Several thousand feet ought to still get some response.

Thank you for all of your thoughtful replies Scott.

[pshyvers]

pshyvers on November 7, 2016 at 1:38 pm · in reply to: Recommendation for a food tracking app #3395

MyFitnessPal is pretty good, it integrates with many other services (TrainingPeaks, Garmin Connect, etc) and has a large database of food. Most importantly for me, it also has a barcode scanner, which makes entering homemade food significantly easier & more accurate (when combined with a scale)