[drmike]

Newish runner. I’ve spent the past 5 months successfully curing my ADS (AeT improved from 128 to 140, AnT 155). I’m planning to shift my zone 2 runs to zone 1 but I’m unsure how to manage the duration and distance.

I’ll be running at a slower pace to keep my heart rate lower. This raises 2 possibilities:

1. Keep the duration of the workouts the same, which means I don’t run as far

2. Keep the distance the same, which means the runs take longer

Any suggestions of which is better?

[Scott Johnston]

Ahhhh:  The age old question of whether to measure training load by distance or time.  There is no “correct” answer.  This same problem arrises when you run on variable terrain.  A 1 hour run that gains and looses 2000ft is not going to cover nearly as much distance as one that gains and looses 300ft.  That is why most mountain athletes use time/duration and time.  By using Training Peaks TSS and the altitude fudge factor to adjust TSS for vertical gain and loss you end up with a training load that is comparing apples to apples (or at lest coming very close).

hrTSS (heart rate based Training Stress Score) on flats for an hour at AeT will normally be 60.

Add 10TSS for each 1000ft/300m gain and loss in the workout

Add 10TSS for every 10% of body weight you are carrying for that workout.

This way you are calculating the training load or training stress of the workout and you can compare running flat, running hills, hiking or ski touring.

I hope this helps.

scott

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