October 9, 2022
We have been having beautiful fall weather here in Bozeman. That prodded me to get out in the mountains to try and apply my new training regimen on steep, ragged mountain trails. For the first ¼ mile or so, it went great, I stayed in Zone 1 as I jogged uphill at a comfortable pace. Then, as the trail steepened, I looked down at my watch only to find I was in Zone 3. I slowed my pace slightly, but on a trail this steep that wasn’t going to get me back in Zone 1 or 2. I realized that short of slowing down to Everest climbing pace—3 breaths, 1 step—I wasn’t going to hike or jog up this mountain in the lower zones. I kept a modest pace, which kept my heart rate in the 120-130 range, above where I think Zones 1 and 2 are—more on that below—but far below my usual climbing pace.
A key long-term goal of this training regimen is to be able to move quickly in the mountains, for long distances without becoming exhausted. I didn’t exhaust myself yesterday, at least not to the degree I usually do, but I didn’t move quickly either, and my pace left me feeling exposed. I hiked/jogged 11.4 miles and climbed 3200 feet, but my slow pace translated into 4.5 hours out trekking with minimal gear. I exited the mountains as darkness engulfed me. This is going to get more and more difficult as winter approaches. I’m used to being out running trails in the snow as darkness falls, but I am moving quickly, racing darkness, not plodding along as it consumes me.
Part of the issue may be that I don’t know exactly where Zones 1 and 2 are for me. I’m learning that all this stuff is very individualized. It depends not only on your age, but your overall fitness level, your training approach and even how you feel that day. Us humans are not robots, sleep, stress, recent training efforts all play a role. But my Garmin comes with preset zones. They are what I have been using and after a week of slow training I decided to search the internet this morning for information on training zones that may allow me to alter the Garmin presets for settings that are more suited for me.
I found an article by Dr. Phil Maffetone (https://philmaffetone.com/180-formula/) that contains a zone formula suggests my Garmin zones are too conservative. Zone 2 tops out at 110 on my Garmin. Dr. Phil’s MAF 180 Formula uses 180 minus age as the baseline. For me that’s 115. It then suggests that those over 65 can add 10 more heartbeats to Zone 2 if they satisfy a set of criteria listed, including training for more that 2 years, improved competitively and are without injury. I definitely have been training for more than 2 years, but my so-so results in competition are the reason for me changing my training approach, and I have an ankle ligament issue, but I have continued to run anyway. I gave myself 5 of the 10 points, pushing Zone 2 up to a maximum of 120 heartbeats. The article doesn’t provide guidance as to how to adjust Zone 1 but I pushed it up by 5 beats, half of the change to Zone 2. That seemed reasonable.
This will definitely speed up my training runs. I expect that 10 more heartbeats will feel like freedom, for at least the first few days of training, though it still won’t be quite enough when I’m climbing steep trails. In my first week in this training regimen, when I’ve run on the hilly roads in my neighborhood, I have not pushed up to my maximum Zone 2 heartbeat very often; I have been trying to run uphill near the bottom of Zone 2 and downhill in Zone 1. Assuming I keep this up, even if I am overstating my aerobic fitness by a few heartbeats per minute I won’t be in the upper range of Zone 2 very often.
This training is definitely less fun than going out and running fast, so I really want it to work. I don’t want to end up deluding myself and having all this work be ineffective.
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