[Karen]

Hi, I’m a hiker and believe I have ADS based on reading The Uphill Athlete and listening to Evoke Endurance podcasts (thank you so much!). I’ve spent the past 6.5 weeks training in Zone 2 for 7 hours per week. According to the

Question 1: Is the top of my Zone 2 or AeT about 143? I did a treadmill AeT drift test just over a week ago. My starting heart rate (after warm up and stabilisation) was 135 and finishing heart rate was 137. So no drift. I figured this means I needed a higher starting heart rate and have guessed that my AeT (or top of Zone 2) is something like 143. I have since trained accordingly. Does that sound right?

Question 2: I did a 30 minute AnT test today on a steep hiking track. My average heart rate was 176. But that is the same as my formula-calculated Max Heart Rate. Can that be so? What does it mean for me in terms of training, ADS, etc?

Also: I saw my heart rate go into the 180s at times and felt amazed that I could just keep going. As recently as several months ago, I would absolutely have to stop if my heart rate went that high and would be gasping for breath, heart pounding, possibly even feeling a bit sick. Yet today I could keep going. Does it mean that I am improving somehow? Or have I done something wrong with the test?

thank you in advance for any help understanding what is going on.

Karen, in New Zealand

 

[Karen]

Sorry I somehow lost part of my post. My resting heart rate (just after waking) is 63. My max heart rate is 176 according to one of the formulas you can use. I am 55 years old.

[Seth Keena]

Hi Karen,

Thanks for writing in. Happy to hear you’re gleaning training tidbits from the ‘cast and progressing your training. To your questions:

1) Seems plausible 143bpm is AeT/top of Z2. Whenever you have the time and the legs feel relatively fresh do another test this time targeting 143bpm near the end of the warm-up period. Treadmill based AeT tests are free and having more data will be helpful for you at this point.

2) It is very unlikely so. What’s going on is you don’t fit the formula as neatly as others and have higher AnT and max HR values than the formula predicts. Those formula are based on a bell-curve like data set but heart physiology can differ enough between individuals that you may not fit the formula exactly. Max HR is relatively easy to determine (basically, start by running fairly hard then increase effort every ~2min until you are forced to stop) but you don’t need to do one necessarily. Keep your threshold data simple and use the results of the tests as you have done them.

Likely you’ve improved movement economy and metabolic tolerance for hard efforts by way of training! For better or worse, most beginner and intermediate athletes find their hard effort performance the quickest to improve with the practice of training. The development of aerobic capacity tends to be slower. Signaling response and the associated metabolic support for hard efforts seem to positively adapt to stimuli quickly for most (not all.) Small movement efficiencies reduce the cost of moving as well. This is why intensity training is so fun! Like all adaptations, diminishing returns will eventually come, and interestingly it’s often the humble aerobic system that need growing to move the upper end level once again.

Hope this helps.

Seth

[Karen]

Thank you, Seth, for such a helpful response.

It is good to understand that not everyone fits the Bell curve. I’ll re-do the AeT drift test when I can. I get what you’re saying about how important that particular piece of data is so I can make the most of my training.

What fascinates me is that my top end can improve without having done any interval training lately. I have done nothing but 7 hours of Zone 2 walking/hiking or cycling each week for the past 7 weeks. That seems amazing to me.

Incidentally, I thought I’d struggle with the discipline of Zone 2 training but it has turned out to be easy and enjoyable, especially when there’s no recovery time needed. It does also help that I am starting to notice some small, positive changes that will help with my specific hiking goals.

thanks, Karen.

 

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