[Seth Keena]

Hi Keith,

Thanks for writing in.

Sounds like the stimulus is definitely ME (not Maximal/Strength or Capacity). ME should be specific to the event you’re training for. Sounds like the tire drags simulate going uphill with and without boots, weight and snow. So, if you are facing forward for these drags than you’re achieving as much of the specificity as you can without the potentially harmful downhill action that would otherwise happen if you were going uphill.

Forward step-down from a low (6-8inch) box might help the knees and give you controlled stimulus missing from not descending, if you’re looking for that stimulus.

-Seth

[Seth Keena]

Hi  Stephen,

Thanks for writing in.

Week 16 of the 24-week Mountaineering plan is when the training is almost entirely ‘specific’ in ME/strength modality. Here is when the infamous heavy-weight hikes start where your legs burn. Otherwise, the strength is not quite specific enough to warrant calling the previous periods ‘specific’. All the while though, the aerobic volume is suggested as specific (hiking) in modality and elements of strength workouts (ie box step-ups) are specific in nature.

Best of luck,

-Seth

[Seth Keena]

That is actually not too bad for a visitor and such stormy/snowy conditions. There were very limited ‘good weather’ windows for climbers last winter…skier were psyched!

Good luck whenever you go back!

[Seth Keena]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for writing in. The list of TP clunkiness seems nearly endless… A few weeks ago TP solicited feedback from coaches and listed TSS planned/completed as something they’re going to fix. For now, I create a blank strength workout below the new strength workout and input TSS into that workout. Annoying , but hopefully short-term. If watch data is relevant to the strength WO, it can go in that WO too.

-Seth

[Seth Keena]

Hi, rbj7787

Thanks for writing in.  The ME workouts are obviously excellent for mimicking and training for vertical and general running events. If possible, bring a small backpack to add some liters of water  making more challenge. You can also do a lot of sets (like 10 or more) in a workout, aiming to maintain high-velocity throughout.

A workout I and Scott have used is ‘water intervals,’ or whatever you want to call them: Basically, pick an interval length, eg. 3min of hard with 2min easy, and run in shin+ deep water for the hard period; wet sand for the easy rest interval. The sticky and heavy water is very effective resistance training. The intensity can be adjusted with velocity and water depth. Beware of running in sand as it can cause soft tissue damage under high load or long duration running – be conservative to start!

Hope the trip is fun and fitness-productive.

-Seth

[Seth Keena]

Read this article, namely the parts about drift test; https://evokeendurance.com/our-latest-thinking-on-aerobic-assessment-for-the-mountain-athlete/

It will do 10x better job of explaining your question than I would 🙂

[Seth Keena]

I suggest going with the drift test and only the drift test – we have a lot of data correlating it tightly to GET and lactate, but it tends to be more ‘functional’ and is definitely easy to repeat. The above article has all the guidance for the treadmill test and it sounds like you are already seeing it closely track your lactate tests of past. Negative drift usually means the beginning HR was significantly below AeT.

Some folks take more than 15min to warm-up for aerobic workouts, strength, etc. Do what you need to in terms of warm-up.

[Seth Keena]

Hi Training_for_something,

Thanks for writing in. I understand your frustration.

To get to the point: There is probably not one easy answer for what’s going on here and I urge you to have a short phone call with us so we can get more details and get you pointed in a helpful direction; doing so will probably be rather efficient for you. I don’t typically advise such things on our forum, but your situation is a bit unique. Perhaps the below questions can help… https://evokeendurance.com/talk-to-a-coach/

What age were you 4years ago? After a certain age our AeT and max HR decline with time no matter what training we do, sadly…

Were you doing any intensity (Z3 / Z4) during these several years and if so, how much?

I do not know if the stimulants have an affect on the test or now. Lightheadedness with high-efforts/high-resistance can be from a multitude of causes and might be related to the declining AeT or might not.

-Seth

[Seth Keena]

Hi SlowAndSteady,

Thanks for writing in. Firstly, great job improving your AeT and by so many beats!

Did you also do a drift test around the time you found 2mmol/L at 145bpm?

Were you especially fatigued the day of this high-drift walk?

If this high-drift walk was anomalous I would ignore it as just that; an anomaly. It seems that way to me from where I sit. Even with clean, fresh battery chest straps and excellent GPS data I see HR in places it otherwise ‘shouldn’t be’ on not too rare occasions.  Perhaps do another drift test on a treadmill at 115bpm and see what happens.

Drift tests, lactate test and gas exchange tests are all proxies for aerobic threshold and fitness. We have come to prefer the drift test over the other testing means for its excellent specificity and reproducibility. Nose breathing is also a fine method for observation and control. If you’ve not read our most updated article on this subject area : https://evokeendurance.com/our-latest-thinking-on-aerobic-assessment-for-the-mountain-athlete/

-Seth

[Seth Keena]

Hi SlowAndSteady,

Thanks for writing in. Firstly, great job improving your AeT and by so many beats!

Did you also do a drift test around the time you found 2mmol/L at 145bpm?

Were you especially fatigued the day of this high-drift walk?

If this high-drift walk was anomalous I would ignore it as just that; an anomaly. It seems that way to me from where I sit. Even with clean, fresh battery chest straps and excellent GPS data I see HR in places it otherwise ‘shouldn’t be’ on not too rare occasions.  Perhaps do another drift test on a treadmill at 115bpm and see what happens.

Drift tests, lactate test and gas exchange tests are all proxies for aerobic threshold and fitness. We have come to prefer the drift test over the other testing means for its excellent specificity and reproducibility. Nose breathing is also a fine method for observation and control. If you’ve not read our most updated article on this subject area : https://evokeendurance.com/our-latest-thinking-on-aerobic-assessment-for-the-mountain-athlete/

-Seth

[Seth Keena]

Hi, AdamasPR

Thanks for writing in. I have used a bike for low-imapct ME (as have many cyclists and impact avoiders) and it works pretty well. Something around 3-5min seated and pushing a big gear with 1min rest, or long and continuous efforts; whatever it is, leg burn  should be felt and ultimately the limited wile cardio system should be working but not be a limiter.

I have not used an elliptical for ME, but if you could get it to resist your movement it could be used as well.

Best,

-Seth Keena

[Seth Keena]

Hi Josh,

Thanks for writing in. Achilles flair-ups suck. It would seem worth a try at least to get ready for this hunt. At the least you assess the week before and decide, and be in a better place for the hunt in 4mo. and the ones after that. You can reuse the last 8weeks of the mountaineering plan as that is a pretty good plan for heavy loads. Of course, your footwear needs to be right for the training and hunting.

Do not sprint uphill, obviously. Consider using a bike for some of the Base/Aerobic hiking volume. May use a stairs or stairmachine rather than steep slope, as this will reduce Achilles stretch. In the final weeks you’ll need to carefully test the Achilles. You can do a lot of training without a lot of Achilles pressure, perhaps giving more time to be OK, but eventually need to be 100% specific with training (ie stretching it).

Hip and core strength are important for maintaining Achilles-friendly gate during endurance events (hunting, etc.) Glute med and transverse abdomen are key areas to focus on.

Get training, test things and go from there.

Best,

-Seth Keena

[Seth Keena]

Hi,  Beemer2012

Thanks for writing in. I have seen some people with AeT much higher than MAF would suggest. Per your qualitative data from running at 160, it would not surprise me if your AeT is close to this. A resting HR of 50 seems low-ish for such potentially high AeT. But, you can do a few things to eliminate some noise and to otherwise consider.

-Try washing the HRM strap and sensor with soap water. Lick the sensor before applying to your chest (saliva is a good conductor.) Maybe change the battery if off. Also, borrow a friend’s HRM and compare.

-Do the test on a treadmill rather than outside. And, do it first thing in the morning without food (caffeine is ok.)

-If you’ve not already, do and AnT test. Likely 60min at sustainable-hard. This gives you a threshold that is going to be at the least your AeT(extremely unlikely unless you’re elite already!) and likely above it.

Lastly, consider that if your AeT is 165bpm and you AnT is 175bpm, for example, you’re not too concerned that AeT is so high and probably pretty hard to sustain; it’s time to polarize base training to upper Z-1/low-Z2 and Z4, without much volume between, generally speaking. This is the reality of an aerobic threshold high enough that muscular effort to sustain it become heavy and degrades intensity workout quality and limits your overall base volume. Basically, running at AeT becomes intensity (and you can do AeT intervals.)

Do the actions above and consider the above as well. Also, consider what you’re training for – do you need to focus on upping  AeT and by how much and in what modality?

Hope this helps,

-Seth Keena

[Seth Keena]

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for writing in.

Indeed, the ME and sprint combination is fantastic metabolic and signaling training that lays such a robust foundation for the greater volume of training and racing to come.

 

Have a look at page 292 in Training for the UA, and the pages around it, for discussion on amount and type of specific ME in these final weeks. The workouts you mention all are proven specific ME workouts and will compliment the gym ME workouts of past. Be cautious with how much ME you’re planning around what should otherwise be a lot of running/hiking volume. These final 7weeks comprise of 2 or 3weeks of ‘taper’ weeks, so you are looking to emphasize the long runs, which have an ‘incidental’ ME component anyway. Consider planning 1 or maybe 2weeks to have ME running workouts instead of having them in each week.

I recall Scott telling me about Luke Nelson’s unbelievably long ‘gains’ from the gym ME. They were seeing benefits in fatigue resistance for at least as long as he had done the gym ME block, which was 8weeks I believe. Scott will probably chime in with more…

-Seth

[Seth Keena]

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for writing in.  1) HR TSS is not such a good measure for the way we/you are using TP, beyond a simple flat-ish run or cycle. The reasons why, simply put, is HR indicates only a small aspect of effort for strength work, including ME as well as anything involving vertical gain. So, to ‘calibrate’ your TP metrics to produce a meaningful fitness model we suggest some TSS scores for certain workouts,  hence the 150.

2) There are 8sets of sprints, so take the 5min between the 5. On the whole, the workout should feel like more resting than working! To be clear, each set has one, 12second rep.

 

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