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AET assesment Flat vs Uphill
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I’ve been structured training per the TftUA model since 2019, and I’ve done multiple AeT tests over the years. I will do this on a track, and run at AeT for an hour and calculate drift in Training Peaks. Flat AeT HR tests have been rather consistent over the years, even though I’m now 54 years old. Compared to previous years, the last track test (about a year ago) was about the same AeT HR with a drift around 2.5%. Perhaps my pace has dropped a bit, but not by much. I also try to train consistently in the gym for strength and ME work-outs, and I do my best to do some harder intervals during skimo season and when preparing for a running race. My main competitive sports are skimo, nordic skiing and sky distance running races. Lots of both high and low vert. I also BC ski and bike quite a bit. I have found over the last couple years that while my flat/track AeT tests have not changed much, my RPE is much higher than my HR would suggest when skiing or running uphills. I can’t seem to get my HR as high as my flat AeT would suggest that I can. For example, on the track I can run at HR around 150 for an hour without much pace drift ( about 2-3%). I have set this conservatively as my AeT. But if I run or skimo uphill hard for 30 minutes uphill, I feel I can’t get much above 145 comfortably for very long, and RPE would suggest my AeT is closer to 135-140. When I do high intensity (Z3) steep uphill intervals, I can maintain 150-155 for 5-10 minutes, suggesting this is closer to my AnT ( rather than AeT) when exerting uphill. I feel my race performances have worsened a bit, in comparison to some of my other serious master competition. I’m trying to figure out if I should be slowing down my training, speeding up my training, doing more ME intervals, strength?? It seems to me that the flat AeT test is not representative of the ME stresses of uphill, equipment, etc. One idea I have is to get on a treadmill ( my gym has one that can get to 15%) and do a 1 hour AeT on the steepest incline possible. I live in a hilly mountain town, and my background has been years of running/skiing/biking uphills. In fact, I have traditionally considered this one of my strengths, not weakness ( ie my all sport vertical last year was almost 500K, and I don’t feel like I’m generally lollygagging). Any suggestions to figure this out and how to modify my training? Thanks.
JDT,
Quite a few potential ways you may want to alter the training but as a start I would definitely encourage you to do an AeT drift test on the inclined treadmill. I commonly use this method for my coached mountain oriented athletes with good results and as you theorize here you can definitely see a bit different results than flat track based test. I have even occasionally done both tread and stair stepper test to compare. Once you have a better handle on your AeT you can make some more informed decisions about training intensities!
JDT,
Quite a few potential ways you may want to alter the training but as a start I would definitely encourage you to do an AeT drift test on the inclined treadmill. I commonly use this method for my coached mountain oriented athletes with good results and as you theorize here you can definitely see a bit different results than flat track based test. I have even occasionally done both tread and stair stepper test to compare. Once you have a better handle on your AeT you can make some more informed decisions about training intensities!
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