[Yvonne]

Hi, I am currently using the 24- weeks mountaineering plan as prep for the Himalayas. I noticed that doing any uphill base training workouts running or hiking (AeT sessions )increase my HR immediately to a great extend and wonder if this is an indicator for Aerobic Deficiancy ( apart from the AeT test showing > 10%) Does it make sense to do a longer transition or/and base phase in this case?

[Brian Bauer]

Hi,

in your uphill sessions, how steep are you going uphill?  and are you at the same altitude where you established your HR Zones?  I’m also curious about you saying that Uphill AeT sessions increase your HR immediately.  AeT is a HR Zone that would be the same whether you are on flat ground or going uphill.  Are you meaning that when you try to train uphill you can’t stay in your AeT Zone because your HR goes up quickly?

[Yvonne]

Yes very hard to stay in my AeT HR zone when going uphill. Usually these are done on a stairclimber and Treadmill with at least 15% incline. So have to slow done significantly when training uphill.

[Brian Bauer]

the muscular demands of running uphill are different than they are on flat ground.  on flat ground, your muscles need to propel you in only one direction, when running uphill, you are moving in two dimensions: Up and Across.  To move your body across two dimensions requires that your muscles do more work…more work requires more oxygen, more oxygen results in a higher HR.  the good news is that you can train your uphill economy to become more efficient at consuming oxygen and creating velocity.   if you are just starting to introduce uphill work to your training plan, and you are not sure how good your aerobic base is, you should be doing the uphill work in Z1…after a period of Z1 volume, you can then think about moving to AeT.  If you are not sure if you have ADS, perform a 1hr drift test on the treadmill. Instructions for doing that are here in the forum.

[Andrew Bollard]

Hi Yvonne, I was in this exact situation 6 months ago when I started training using TftNA/TftUA principles. It’s worth pointing out that very few people can run uphill and stay below their AeT because it’s so muscularly demanding, so there’s absolutely nothing wrong with walking the uphill sections of a run. Many people who are aerobically deficient also struggle to hike uphill and stay below AeT when they start this kind of training, so it’s also perfectly normal to take short pauses as you hike uphill when your heart rate goes above AeT in order to keep it under control.

[Yvonne]

@ Andrew, thanks for sharing your experiences. Will try to improve my aerobic base over the next few months with Z2 workouts.

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