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Seth Keena
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Yes, the procedure is the same. Stairmachines have fewer speeds to choose from relative to treadmills so finding the correct starting speed may be more of a challenge.
Hi MountAire,
Thanks for writing in.
I’ll almost literally throw you a manual on how to train rather than tell you exactly what to do here – Training for the Uphill Athlete. From the sounds of it, you will get a lot of use out of this book now and in the future. It has step-wise instructions on how to plan your volume and intensity for such events, plus will answer more of the inevitable questions.
Other point of advice, that trail race is steep enough and at high enough elevation that you will almost certainly be power hiking most of the uphill portions. I suggest focusing on both running and hiking modality in your training. Also, take very seriously the descending portion as that is a lot of concentric loading on legs otherwise not so accustomed to it. This is where the muscular endurance protocol (outlined in the book) is key to incorporate.
Happy training!
-Seth
Hi Betsy,
Thanks for writing in.
I can offer some imperfect advice and experience, but there is no one solution here.
It is entirely possible that your AeT per the drift test is 117bpm. Your legs clearly have the muscular endurance to handle a lot of volume above this threshold. It’s common to have the legs ‘above’ the cardio like this. I have seen many folks ‘feel’ AeT to be 10-15beats, sometimes more, above their metabolic AeT, proven from both MET and Lactate tests. OK, your metabolic AeT is relatively low. Here’s some ides for the way forward.
Count backwards from this OLY hike.
For all but the final 3weeks: Aim to do nearly 100% of your volume at 117, and do a lot of volume. Supplement low-/no-impact machines to avoid injury. There will be some slow uphill walking here. Do not add weight to uphill unless it’s for strength workouts. Consider doing some workouts fasted https://evokeendurance.com/fasted-training-a-nuanced-view/ During this period, train specific strength (hiking ME) and let this count as your AnT volume as well.
For the final 3weeks: Do about 50% of your volume at 117bpm (or, if you retest and find a higher AeT, whatever your AeT is) and the remainder of the volume by feel. Keep the ME volume going.
After your trip, go back to the goal of lifting AeT (ie 100% volume at AeT, retesting every ~4weeks, maximal strength workouts, ~5% volume in Z3) This is the ‘at a certain point’ method; at a certain point the training needs to pivot from addressing aerobic deficiency and point towards the reality of the event.
Again, this is one way to approach this situation. I think you will have good odds of success going this way.
Best of luck and stick with it!
-Seth
You can redo but don’t target pace, target HR. Due to your human-ness, pace and HR are not reliably matched such that you can automatically use a pace. Yet. Possibly after many months of consistent training on the same treadmill, you might be able to bet 95%
If you redo, try 120bpm as the settled HR.
Hi Doug,
Thank you for writing in.
1)Use the HR you settled at the end of 15min warm-up and before the first 30min of the test, not the average of the first 30min.
2) Not a problem. The total duration HR is above AeT is very small relatively speaking. And, for almost everyone, a little bit of volume above AeT is OK, even if you are very aerobically deficient.
Thanks, and happy training.
-Seth
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for writing in.
With 14weeks you have a lot of time and options for your ME work.
I don’t suggest 14weeks of continuous upper body ME workouts. You may try 2weeks of ME, then 2weeks Max, with a rest week between and after. After this, you could consider going into the ME block of training.
Concurrent upper and lower ME is very hard to manage from a fatigue perspective. Often, I suggest 3-4 workouts with both upper and lower ME in a workout in the 2weeks leading up to the objective; these are ‘simulation’ workouts and are tiring. Around them the load is otherwise relatively light. This is a good time to climb lot of 5c granite with a heavy pack and the intended footwear, as a specific workout idea.
Blocking off upper and lower ME in 1-2week chunks works well. While you’re doing upper ME, for example, you could do a short max lower workout, like half-dose of hill sprints. Same for the lower ME period.
Hope this helps!
-Seth
Using the same cadence (running on the treadmill) as the outdoors test, and conditions (temp, % humidity, altitude) as similar as possible you should get the same AeT HR value as the outdoors. That is the ‘magic’ and beauty of these tests.
Indoors; you don’t look at Pa:HR decoupling in the same way as outdoors, mostly because pace does not change and GPS is not used. You might get more than 5% drift depending on how different your AeT is from the HR you started the test with – Drift as a % is the variable you are determining rather than choosing. Remember that with the drift test to accurately tell you AeT you have to go into Z3. Any HR above AeT is in Z3; therefore, if you find 5% drift for example, your HR was in Z3 for some time during the test.
Depending on the ME status of your legs and the pace you choose, the test might feel easy, medium or hard. There is more nuance to what the test ‘should’ feel like than I am writing here, but often the test feels on the harder side of things if you start at AeT and you have been doing proper endurance training for a couple years.
For more on the AeT and AnT testing here is our collection of knowledge and guidance, plus how to adjust zones in TP. https://evokeendurance.com/our-latest-thinking-on-aerobic-assessment-for-the-mountain-athlete/
All the best, Seth
Hi Willem,
Luckily, you don’t need to factor the amsl numbers into training as far as adjusting weekly vert gain. The ME durations/prescriptions in the plan remain the same irrespective of the height you plan to climb at. You don’t need to apply any factors to vertical gain per workout on account of the height you plan to do the climbing. Simply put, building a big aerobic base and doing some specific ME is what helps climbers at altitude. Outside of training, stuff like acclimatization tactics and expedition hygiene are very importance as well.
Happy training.
-Seth
Hi Peter,
That is a good approach, I think. You can experiment with different holds and moves for those mobility exercises. Folks should find what works best for them.
Thanks,
Seth
Joe,
DOMS can happen for almost any resistance, and some ‘free’, exercises if your muscles have not been exposed to them before or if it’s been long time since exposure. Likely all is OK interns of the sprint WO effort. Aim to stop these ‘pure power’ workouts when your top-end power is depleted, or no more than about 10, 8-10sec efforts. Less is more when it comes to volume of power workouts.
If easy effort made you feel better it was probably the right choice. Low- to no-impact modality is the safest choice in the midst of DOMS.
Hey Christian,
Thanks for writing in – we really appreciate the participation and feedback…
I see the issue, and it’s a wording one. The 20% more time you are referring to: The plan meant to add 20% duration to the individual workouts’ planned duration based on the modality one chooses, not to week-to-week duration. So, for example, in week 1; Base workout with a planned duration of 30min, one would do 35min (..ok, technically 36min.) on trails/outdoors. Same logic goes for the base workout of week 2…week 7. The rational is outdoor tends* to be less sustained effort than indoor machines, thus a bit more duration is warranted.
Aside from the above, I reflect Scott’s comment as well – very few should be adding 20% more volume of running per week, and if so they should be very intentional about why and be able to handle that increase.
Hope this helps!
-Seth
*not always.
