Athlete Login
Scott Johnston
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
sounds like you have a decent aerobic base so adding intensity is a good plan. If you are not already add in 1x/wk hill sprints 10-15sec and 1x/wk strides during an easy run.
For the aerobic intensity use mile reps. Start with 8min pace for these and do 5 with no more than 3min rest. When this is is easy drop pace by 15 sec/mile. When you can do 5x1mil at 7:30 start reducing the recover interval by 15sec. When you can work this down to 1min you are ready to run a PR.
This process will probably take 10-12 weeks.
Scott
Thanks for writing in with your question.
Ideally you will would not start the ME till you were no longer aerobically deficient. But this plan is not designed to cure ADS. It is designed to prepare you for your first ultra run. Improving ME before you do that race is critical if you hope to have any kind of a race. So a person who does have ADS will still need this ME training. If you have ADS and do nothing but very slow training and then try to race off that program you will be disappointed.
If your goal is to just cure ADS then I would modify that plan to doing the Z2 work, hill sprints and replace the ME with a strength building program.
Scott
While I have great respect for Phil Mafetone (the originator of the MAF formula) it is after all just a formula that does not consider anyone’s personal response to exercise. That is why we recommend something like our simple drift test. However, your field test is a good alternative. The question to ask yourself is: “how wrecked were you from this run?” This run was very long but on shorter runs you can use this rule of thumb: If you are training within your aerobic capacity and the run was not overly musically demanding, could you do it again today and then again for day’s afterward without struggling? Can you recovery within 24 hours? Then you are training below AeT.
Scott
especially since you did this out doors for such a long run where heat and dehydration would normally increase drift your AeT is no doubt higher than 158.
Scott
Jack:
Thanks for writing in with your questions. Hope the following helps.
I would recommend that you do the AeT and AnT using the same modality rather than one running and one skinning uphill. I also recommend that you use the starting HR not the avg of the first half as the denominator. Since you didn’t have much drift this will probably only result in change of a a couple of bpm.
1)You are correct that these are insignificantly small differences between tests and could be due to fatigue or even differences in treadmills. But you can probably count these results as valid on the day.
2) Yes, I would have expected that in 9 weeks of 6.5hrs/wk of Z2 training you would have seen a change in HR drift. Was the speed of the belt the same? If you were moving faster that in itself is the actual goal and would indicate the even with the same drift your aerobic capacity ha increased.
3) if the answer to 32 is that the speed was the same then your suggestion to increase Z2 volume/week is direction I would recommend you take. 4 months lay off is a long time and it may just take more time to move the aerobic needle. However it seems like you are experiencing good results in the mountains. A 20 mile run is nothing to sneeze at. Were you able to recover pretty quickly from that? Real world performance and your perception counts for a lot in assessing fitness gains.
I know this is not a black and white answer but I wish you luck. Clearly something you have been doing has been working. So don’t loose faith.
Scott
There are many ways to develop muscular endurance. The program we use has proven itself to be effective but yours will work too.
Scott
So sorry we missed your forum post. This is all too late for you now but it sounds like this an on-going problem that may re-occur in the future.
1.) Am I crazy still holding out hope for my expedition in 2 weeks, given a month of being ill with sub-optimal training (no ME), and not improving? I am thinking of one last ditch effort to rest completely for 4-7 days, and then try to nudge fitness back together in the last week. I don’t think going on an expedition after a lengthy illness with no training will be a great move. The total rest is a good idea but should be done when you first get ill.
2.) I am afraid if I stop my easy hikes I’ll lose all my fitness. Or alternatively, at this point should I just go all-in and rest completely? Illness that lasts for a month or more is unusual but it definitely requires that you put the brakes on training. At that time your body is telling you it can’t handle the stress it is dealing with. Piling more stress on just because you have trip planned and are afraid of losing fitness is not going to get you well.
If I cancel my Tajikistan expedition I have hope for Nepal in the Fall. 2025 is THE year for me to take a month off from work and family obligations – I am getting older, not sure I’ll get this window again so I am very motivated to kick this and do something big. It is great that you are motivated but health is the base upon which fitness is built. You must get healthy first and then gradually begin to layer on training stress. With your training history you will be surprised at how quickly your fitness returns.
Good luck,
ScottSorry to be slow responding.
Not sure where you read 80%. Here is the recovery run instruction copied from the first ultra plan. It says 90%. That might allow you to run a bit more of these.
Successful training requires modulation, which means workouts must be completed at differing intensities and durations to elicit the desired response in your body. Recovery workouts are often overlooked because they feel easy, but don’t be fooled; they are as important as any other part of a training regimen. As an athlete gets stronger, recovery workouts become essential to counterbalance the strain placed on the body by more challenging efforts.
Recovery workouts should be performed in Zone 1 or below. As a rule of thumb, the top of Zone 1 can be calculated as 10% below your aerobic threshold (AeT). Take your AeT and multiply by 0.9 to find the top of your Zone 1.
I hope this helps,
Scott
Sounds like you do have a strength deficiency. Strength is the base for developing muscular endurance. With insufficient strength you will be limited in ME development. The simplest thing will be to include a dedicated strength training block into your program. Winter is the normal time to include this as so it won’t have too much of an impact on high intensity training. If you are not racing in the new future you can begin to add this in now. 1-2x/wk using a simple max strength training protocol (2-3 warm up sets leading into 4sets of 4 reps @ 90% of 1RM) will help. Exercises we recommend are: Box Step up 75% of knee height, Single Leg Romanian Dead Lift, Bulgarian Split Squat. It will take you a few sessions to figure out the correct weight to use for these. You can also do 1/wk stair bounding sessions. after a good warm up bound as high as you can till the power drops (sounds like 3-4 bounds for you right now). When you can no longer reach that high point the workout is over. Take 3 min rest between reps. This will seem very long and boring but to develop power you must be able to recruit the fast twitch fibers and they are slow to recover.
I hope the helps,
Scott
Hi and welcome to the forum.
If this is your first event like this I recommend you just plan to do this as part of your training and do not alter the overall plan too much.
Plan to walk on many of the steeper/longer hills to keep your HR in Z2. Otherwise the recovery time you need after the race will be long and negatively affect the overall plan.
If you HR does get above Z2 for some bits that is to be expected when racing but if you spend 23km with you HR in Z3 it will take longer to recover and upset your aerobic development. If you need a target, try to limit the total time above AeT to 20% of the race time.
I hope this helps,
Scott
Karimirak
As is explained in both books your HR will always be lower going down hill. Going uphill you are having to lift your body against the pull of gravity so are doing more work then when going down hill. Similarly, you should not attempt to hold your HR to the same level on down hill as when going up hill when doing a simple aerobic base run. The downhill running has its own special value intuit it builds strength and muscular endurance as you resist the pull of gravity.
Yes, when it is hot your HR will drift higher. That is because in an attempt to maintain your body’s core temperature at its normal level, the capillaries in your skin dilate allowing more blood to flow to the skin and dump heat via evaporative cooling. This means there is less blood for the working muscles. To compensate the heart must increase its output so the HR goes up.
Scott
Mav
Thanks for writing in with your questions. I will try to answer them in the order you have asked them:
1) 2 strength sessions/week is ideal but not mandatory. If it is taking you too long to get through these and you need to break them up I would suggest one general strength and one core workout. Or consider eliminating some of the easier core exercises. Or, do as you suggest split the strength into 2 general days and 2 core days.
2) There is no one way to do this. You can do it circuit style where you move from one exercise to the next or you can stick with one exercise to completion. Just get the work done.
3) When it comes to progression only the aerobic volume is included. But for recording purposes you should record the total time spent training.
4) When you begin to shake the isometric hold is finished.
A more careful reading of the book will reveal that all these questions are addressed in the text.
I hope this helps,
Scott
So sorry your question slipped down the forum and I didn’t see it. Disregard HR in these weighted carry workouts.
Scott
Polsen:
In general I prefer an actual field test like a race for setting zones because it is a true measure of your performance. Marathon pace will be a bit above AeT typically. I could see your AeT being in the high 160s-170. The 1/2 marathon HR is probably close to your AnT given that you ran it in 1:15. So maybe high 170s-180. Something that jumps out to me is the disparity between you 1/2 and full marathon times. That might indicate that you are slowing in the longer race due to local muscular fatigue in the propelling muscles. The remedy can be doing some muscular endurance work. For a road runner this can be done using hill work.
I hope this helps,
Scott
Ali:
With a near term goal you do need to include the stair and even weighted carries on the stairs 1-2x/week max (one of each). Do any unweighed Z2 sessions on the incline treadmill and reserve the stairs for higher intensity where you allow your HR to get up into Z3. In your case maybe hold HR to 145. For the weighted sessions disregard HR completely. Improving AeT is super important. However you need the higher intensity and specificity of the stairs or you will struggle on your climb. In cases like yours you will be going on this climb with an underdeveloped aerobic capacity but that will just take more time to improve but you need to specificity of the stairs.
I hope this helps
Scott
