[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on April 26, 2018 at 1:22 pm · in reply to: How unfit am I? #9552

I think it doesn’t matter if you fulfill any objective criteria of being fit, it depends on what your goal is. For example my short term goal endurance-wise is climbing Mont Blanc via the Gouter Route in one push from Tete Rousse. Which looks like it will give or take be about 1700m of elevation gain and loss in a day. So for me to be fit, I have to go up and down the hills here in my home town and get to a bit more than 1700m with a bit heavier pack than I will on the summit day, to have some margin.

But for other goals they would need less or more than that.

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on April 24, 2018 at 12:00 pm · in reply to: Confusion – Zone 1 + 2: TftNA vs TrainingPeaks #9510

I just realized what I thought was 75% of my max HR going by age is way less than I thought it was (142 BPM) and my AeT is around 155.

I’m wondering Scott, at what point should someone who’s “new” (been training endurance for 1.5 years but still consider myself pretty bad at it) transition from training near AeT as you say, to staying at 55% to 75% of max HR like you prescribe in the book, if those two values are different?

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on April 18, 2018 at 3:53 pm · in reply to: Fasted workouts, how long is too long? #9428

@cnikirk

The energy systems the body uses aren’t like a switch where one is turned on and the other is turned off. They’re working at the same time but at different levels for different intensities. I don’t have a citation for it, but it might be the case that by having some quick carbohydrates the energy system that metabolizes carbohydrates recovers a bit and can take up the slack for a while and relieve the other systems, making you feel a bit better? It’s just speculation on my part.

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on April 18, 2018 at 12:56 am · in reply to: Variations on the lunge #9419

Walking lunges are great, they are harder particularly on the hip muscles because they work to stabilize you longer during the exercise. Also your grip gets worked.

Step ups are also a good variation of the same movement that I’ve started doing after seeing it in the book.

My best mountaineering performance gains were during a period I did a lot of lunges. I had trouble with leg fatigue, but during a 6 hour and 1000m vertical trip after 3 months of lunges once a week (a lot of volume though), I never felt any burn in my thighs. The trip before that when I just did barbell squats my thighs burned so bad I was really struggling.

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on March 18, 2018 at 9:53 am · in reply to: Blood test, performance and health #8720

What do you think about the Queens College step test for VO2max testing Scott?

https://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/step-queens.htm

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on March 9, 2018 at 1:25 pm · in reply to: What has the most pronounced effect of frequency, duration and intensity for end #8600

*endurance btw

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on March 8, 2018 at 2:35 pm · in reply to: Constant hours of training #8556

If you can’t progress the training volume beyond 10 hours, is there no hope for progress beyond that point or can you start playing around with intensities to progress further?

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on January 18, 2018 at 12:30 pm · in reply to: Performance metrics for 8000m without supplemental oxygen #7686

It does make mountaineering a bit interesting that there’s the challenge part of it. But I also just like being in the mountains and taking in the nature, and alpinism is more a way to both get an athletic challenge while enjoying all the wild nature and sights as well. So I just like the idea of being so well prepared that I suffer as little as possible due to poor fitness and I can enjoy being there more.

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on December 16, 2017 at 1:47 pm · in reply to: Performance metrics for 8000m without supplemental oxygen #7179

Wow that’s interesting that you did so much training and still fitness was a factor in turning around. I guess there’s a bit of luck element to how you respond to the training too I guess. Hard to get much over 20 000 feet a week (Jornet does like 33 000 but he’s Kilian Jornet)

Yeah I figured it probably isn’t one of those things where you can say “if you can do x, y, z, you have the base fitness you need”, but still an interesting topic for me.

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on December 12, 2017 at 4:32 pm · in reply to: TSS and max heart rate percentage #7135

Thankfully I can still keep my regular training up after work since the duration is shorter than for the guides.

That confirms my suspicions, thanks. At least I might get to eat more though, depending on if I start shrinking from the extra work.

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on November 29, 2017 at 7:08 am · in reply to: Length of the long run #6905

Yeah I typically do the longest run each week by going both up- and downhill (either hiking, skiing or stairs). The others I do in the stairwell and take the elevator down to not trash my legs for the other training I do during the week (strength, climbing).

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on November 29, 2017 at 7:05 am · in reply to: Training for no-O2 Everest #6904

Those 20 hours, are those all endurance training, or do they also include strength/core/climbing skill? Because 5000m vertical at 500m/h would be just 10 hours of pretty “easy” endurance training.

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on November 28, 2017 at 9:40 am · in reply to: Length of the long run #6891

Not really the stair climber either, but the stairwell in my apartment.

I can go on hikes here but nothing steep enough compared to the stairs. However, this is a bit of an in between period. Any other time of year then I can go on hikes or ski. Right now there isn’t quite enough snow, but the hikes are icy. I think this weekend I can start doing laps in the ski slopes of a ski resort here though. Go up the hill with skins, take them off and go down again. Rinse + repeat for 5 hours.

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on November 27, 2017 at 12:37 pm · in reply to: Length of the long run #6863

I was hoping you wouldn’t say that Scott… Probably back to the 5 hour stair climbs then.

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on November 7, 2017 at 2:56 am · in reply to: Leg fatigue #6598

I’ve modified our training after your suggestion this spring Scott J, so before I was doing about equal amounts of strength training and endurance training. Now I do 3 hours of strength training per week, and 10 hours of endurance training. With about 4-6 hours of climbing as well.

I can’t squat 125 kg for 10 reps anymore because of an injury I had where I pretty much had to start from scratch after. But I’ve thought about the training I’ve done and I remember the easiest 1000m vertical day I ever had in the mountains was during the period where I got those PRs. But I got them because I was on a new powerlifting program where I did lots and lots of volume, 5 sets of 15 for many different exercises. So maybe high reps, high volume coupled with the endurance training would work? Could switch out lunges for box steps if my gym has a box.

Scott S, it’s true that I often forget to eat enough in the mountains (last time I went 24 hours on a fistful of nuts, which even I knew was dumb). I never eat during training sessions, and try to do them fasted but that doesn’t always work out schedule-wise. Could be something there.