[Josh Gray]

Just conducted my first HR drift test on a treadmill. I had a mediocre gas exchange test 5 years ago where I was just within 10% of AeT and AnT. I’ve had pretty large lapse in consistent training but this year have been training 6-11 hours a week over the last several months all at an easy HR around 136 bpm. I settled on some of those old numbers of that gas test for this drift test. Used a treadmill set at 18% and 3.3 mph targeting a HR of 150. Ended up only having a 1% drift even though the effort felt pretty darn hard for me. Should I retake the test or just estimate a few beats up and go ahead and test AnT and compare?

[Josh Gray]

I may have been wrong on the 1%. First 30 min I averaged 150 Bpm and second have averaged 153 Bpm so a 2% drift. Again this felt like a really hard effort for me, I’ve only drifted into 150ish a few time the last 3 years

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Josh Gray.

[dominicpnw]

I’ve had this experience too, high perceived effort and low % drift. Were you nose breathing all the way throughout the test?

[Josh Gray]

Hi Dominic, yes I was able to nose breath for the whole test. Yesterday I did 20 minutes steep uphill at 160-163 and had to mouth breath for the duration.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Josh Gray.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Josh Gray.

[Scott Johnston]

Josh:

Here are a few thoughts on your test procedure.  Could it be that the 18% grade made the test muscularly more demanding than your training has prepared you for?  Saying this another way: maybe muscular endurance was causing the high RPE??  With a 2% drift, I’d suggest that your AeT is likely around 155ish.

Was the 20 min steep uphill at 160-163 pretty much “all out”?  If so, that would indicate an AnT of 163ish.

With such a small spread between thresholds, you probably need to do most of your aerobic base training down in Z1, which for you is probably below 140.  As a further verification of that, think about whether you could train daily in the 150-155 range and recover enough to repeat the same workout the next day, and the next, and the next.  Probably not, based on your comments.  So Z2 training is just too close to your AnT to allow training their too often.

I hope this helps.
Scott

 

[Josh Gray]

Hey Scott!

My last month of aerobic training has either been hiking up a 30-40% grade or jogging on very runnable trails. That length of grade and cadence/stride is not something I’ve encountered much at all this year.

For that 20 minutes I may have been able to eek out 165 for the duration at most I believe.

 

I know for sure I couldn’t train daily at 150, maybe for a few seconds each day but not steady. When I have trained Ive definitely trained at an “ultra-shuffle” for most of the past decade  no speed work whatsoever. Should I start including some Zone 3 or ME in my weeks going forward? I ended up purchasing the 24 week mountaineering plan to give me some better limits/structure and am starting in week 13 which looking at the previous weeks works out perfect for my previous 13 weeks of progression.

 

thank again for your help!

 

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Josh Gray.

[Scott Johnston]

Josh:

To get yourself used to faster paces, you need to start incorporating more fast training.  Start by adding “strides” or “pick-ups” (TftUA pages 168-169) into 1-2 of your runs.   After you have completed 4 of these sessions to help you access some faster twitch fibers, add on a session of hill sprints (TftUA pages 179-183) per week and drop to 1 stride/pick-up run per week.

This will help you add another gear to your running and build some running-specific leg strength.

You might find this post helpful and motivating https://evokeendurance.com/forums/topic/aet-and-ant-too-close-together/

Scott

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Scott Johnston.

[Josh Gray]

Ok I will start fitting some of those workouts in. And thanks for that link! Very inspiring! Thanks again for everything.

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