Latest / The Endurance Athlete Journey / Highway to HYROX Episode 3: Why Threshold Training Matters

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Highway to HYROX Episode 3: Why Threshold Training Matters · The Endurance Athlete Journey

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, and welcome to the Endurance Athlete Journey Podcast.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Katie, and I am one of the co-hosts of the podcast, and I'm coming at you today with another Highway to High Rocks episode.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is my third episode in the series, and just to review the format of how I'm doing these episodes is for the first 20 minutes or so, I will be talking about my update of my training for the past few weeks.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second half of the episode will be my talking about a specific topic related to HIROX and some of the research and things I've been thinking about in terms of training or nutrition.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Last week I talked a bit about nutrition and how I was thinking about fueling HIROX.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: This discussion today will be about threshold training and a little bit about how I'm thinking about the run portion of the HIROCs and uh how I'm trying to train specifically for that run portion of HYROX.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So just as a review, HYROX involves eight stations and there's eight uh 1,000 meter runs.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: It starts with a run and then there's eight um stations and the file.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: The first station is a ski erg, and the very final uh thing you complete is the bought wall balls.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's uh just a pretty demanding um race.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of stuff different stuff going on, and so I've been giving a lot of thought to how I'm uh going to pace the race, what I'm kind of thinking about in terms of training.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I have about I think five weeks until high rocks.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I could double check here on my training peaks because that's where I put all of my workouts.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna throw that up here and check.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it is five weeks until the event.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so I you know, maybe to go through a review of my training because there were there's some couple things kind of going on the past few weeks.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think the big one is that I initially when I started my training process, kind of at the end of maybe like mid-August, beginning of August, I had I really wanted to do a 5K.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then I was gonna do high rocks in November, and the 5K was uh, well, it just happened this last weekend.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: It was early October.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the problem with that is I kind of realized early into it that training for a 5K was gonna be extremely challenging because it involves a lot of speed and very like a lot of specificity, I'll say, to kind of really try to get a fast 5K time.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: You have to spend some time at 5K pace or faster.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And threshold stuff is is important, but it's it's kind of more about being specific to the 5K.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was trying to do these 5K workouts and then also trying to do high ROX workouts, and then I was also trying to kind of work in some threshold workouts, and I realized early on that if I was trying to do all of these different things, I was gonna be not able to recover from it.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: It was just too much load, especially the 5K workouts are a lot on the body.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had to kind of make this decision of am I going to focus on the 5K or am I gonna focus on high ROX?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so I sort of decided, well, I'm gonna focus on high ROX training and kind of let the 5K be what it is.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do some speed, but I'm not gonna be able to overload my body.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like last year when I did this 5K, I was able to do specific training for the 5K.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if I had a really hard 5K workout, I would have a couple of days of recovery in between.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: But because I was trying to fit into high ROX workouts, this 5K workout and a threshold workout, it was like basically four workouts in a week.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I wasn't able to sort of do everything I was wanting to do.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was just too much to try to recover from.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I just knew that I probably wasn't gonna go into this 5K being able to complete it or or as fast as I was last year.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, I I just ended up sort of doing a little bit of this, these 5k workouts, but kind of scaling them back so that they weren't taking out so much.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't so hard on my body that it wasn't recoverable from, and that I was still able to kind of get these other workouts in.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think I've kind of figured it out.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was struggling a little bit early on on with this, trying to trying to balance it all.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And now I feel like I'd figured it out.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: I got the 5k done, and now I can kind of focus a little bit more on the the high rocks training portion and the run around that, you know, the running piece around that and and the strength.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So um, let's see.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: To kind of back up a couple weeks here, I I think when I last talked, I released the episode on Tuesday the 22nd.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: So Monday the 21st, I was able to do an easy run.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Tuesday the 22nd, I was able to do a 5k workout and a strength train.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um 5k workout, just to give some context to what I was trying to do here was I with the 5k workout, I was trying to do it was like uh not quite a half a mile at 5k pace and then an easy jog.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've been really trying to play around a little bit with the recovery piece.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, what I do for 5K training is I gradually ramp up the time I'm at 5k pace or faster or slightly faster, and then decrease the recovery portion in between so that I end up having like spending quite a bit at that 5k pace with like less recovery.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I might start a one-to-one ratio, and maybe the 5k portion is only a quarter of a mile at first, and then I and maybe I do like half of like a 200 meters at easy, and I kind of do this repeat, you know, of that four or six to eight times, and then I gradually increase that quarter mile to maybe closer to half a mile, and then you know, the the rest portion may be less, like at first maybe a quarter mile, and then I may gradually get that to a point where I'm doing half a mile at 5k pace and then just uh you know a a short a shorter recovery.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if it's three minutes at 5k pace, you know, at f I might be doing like a minute and a half or two minutes or 90 seconds recovery, and then kind of slowly trying to get either the recovery down a little bit more, uh, or increasing the time I'm at 5k or doing more repetitions of that.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it may end up doing like three minutes at 5k pace, a minute and a half recovery in between at some point where the recovery is now it's like a two to one ratio, I guess, of work to recovery.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's kind of how I did it last year, and it was really successful at bringing my 5k time down.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: But the that was just not going to work out this time.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of found out I'd have to not I had to kind of keep my recovery longer if I didn't want to make the workouts completely impossible to recover from to be able to do high rocks the next day.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And some days I was doing the 5K workout in the morning before the high rocks, depending on how hard the high rocks workout was.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it was getting a little bit challenging.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: So this that this day I did only like six of these, like they were like not even quite half a mile, and then a quarter mile recovery.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: So just trying to get some of that 5k stuff in there.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I did that strength, and that was all on Tuesday, the 22nd.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Wednesday, I didn't, I've been trying to do like an easy run before high rocks.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I did the easy run, the high rocks workout.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've been but that week I was actually adding quite a bit of rowing.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been trying to add a little bit more of the erg work, even if it's like easy, just to kind of get the erg work in and get used to the movement of the row and the ski erg.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: So this particular week, I think I did three days of like 2,000 meters in between things or before my strength workouts as warm-up.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I did that this day, did a deadlift workout.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of a loaded day on Wednesday.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: So Tuesday, Wednesday is kind of like loaded days, lots going on.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Wednesday the 24th, I did a nice easy run.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was easy.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: I but felt okay, so I ended up doing like six and a half miles, and then I did a squat workout.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I did kind of load up my strength pretty early into that week because we were traveling.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: So Friday, I did a really easy run with some hill sprints, and it was we were traveling up to steamboat where my dad my family's from, where my dad currently lives, and so we were up there for the weekend.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't really have and I had to work that day.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: I do some work at a hospital.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to work out in the morning, go do the work at the hospital, and then we were leaving that evening to go to steamboat.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I took Saturday off just as a rest day, just kind of hang out with family.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't have a lot of um motivation to that day.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: I knew Sunday I was gonna do a big long run.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So took Saturday off.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then Sunday I got to go run in the mountains.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: I got to go trail running up there in the mountains.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: It was all turning, all the aspens were turning a beautiful color of kind of golden, yellow, orange.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I did about 12 and a half miles of trails.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was a trail called Flash of Gold, which is a pretty popular trail up there off of uh Buffalo Pass and Steamboat.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I do that probably once a year, that particular trail this time of year.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of my like traditions to get up there and try to enjoy the fall colors, the fall foliage in the mountains.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was just wonderful.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it reminded me of how much I love trail running and got me thinking a little bit about my plans for next year, which I will have to share at another date.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there may be some trail running, trail, trail ultras, uh, maybe something like that in my future.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see how also how high rocks goes.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if I do this high rocks race and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is my next thing, then who knows?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: But uh that trail run really got me uh remembering how much I just love the trails.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: They're kind of my happy, happy place.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: And they're sort of harder for me to get to and access a little bit with time constraints nowadays.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm kind of thinking in my head, scheming a little bit about how maybe I can incorporate some more trails next year into my training.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so, anyways, more to be discussed on that topic, but lovely long run up in the trails.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then I did an easy recovery run on Monday, just a couple, two, three miles.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I actually just did two, a little over two miles because I was pretty tired from that trail run.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was a lot more than I'm used to doing like vertical gain and and so forth.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then I did another easy three miles.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: My son was sick actually Monday and Tuesday, the 28th and 29th.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I was home, which like makes it a little bit harder for me to work out because um I can do some stuff on the treadmill, or sometimes I'll do laps down the road where I just go up and down the road um and then check on him and then up and down the road.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's seven, so I can't really leave him.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm literally just going up maybe a quarter mile, half a mile, and then back.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not it's just labs up and down the road, and I got three miles that way just real easy.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then Wednesday he went back to school, so I did my final speed session, just some 400s at pace, and then I did um um the high rocks workout that day.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it was um seven minutes, so 35 minutes.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, every seven minutes you do it was supposed to be a run, and then you did burpee broad jumps, so you would do 800 meters of running and then 80 feet of burpee broad jumps, and then how many however additional rest or however remaining time you had of that seven minutes, you would rest, then you do it over again and for a total of 35 minutes.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that particular workout, I decided I'd already done a run.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really need to practice my running skills.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: I decided to use the ski erg, which was really helpful because I ended up getting close to 4,000 meters of ski erg work.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really helpful for me to do to kind of get the pacing of the ski erg and a little bit of how to do the ski erg.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm kind of got a spending a lot of time on the ski erg and trying to do it fairly quickly kind of got me um into a good pace, a good rhythm.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: I have a fairly good idea now of, I mean, a little better form.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: I can't say I have great form on it, but definitely kind of forced me into figuring out how to do that a little more efficiently.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I have a fairly good idea of like pacing for high rocks based off of that workout, which is kind of how I'm going to, how I'm thinking about the pacing for that portion because it's a thousand meters of ski erg.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then afterwards, so after the workout, so I've been trying to do wall balls.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't do it this time.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: It my day kind of got a little bit wonky and I didn't have a lot of time.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was doing this workout in the afternoon because I had a little bit going on that particular day.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I did do no, I didn't do uh I did a strength workout, but I one other thing I'm doing is every year they have something called Squattober, and then there's one in December called Dead Sumber.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's through Sornix.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think they're like a strength equipment company, but anyway, I've I do it many years.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't always follow it every day.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: I actually just kind of do it as I follow the workouts and then I kind of spread them out a little bit more because doing five strength workouts in one week plus all of this is just a little bit too much.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I end up doing maybe three or four of the workouts every week, and I follow the pla I follow it.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't do it, just don't I don't do it every day like it comes out.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: But I do all of the workouts and I'll probably spread them out into November a little bit.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I just have fun with it.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: I like that they I know that the workout strength workouts aren't like specific or super tailored to something like high rocks, but to be honest with you, like this isn't at least at this point, I'm doing it.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I want to do well in it, but I'm not I'm not optimizing quite yet.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like if I ever do another high rock shirt, I probably will build a strength workout that's very specific to it.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, you know, I'm really working on the other movements, the running, just trying to get the pacing of it and seeing kind of how I can do, trying to get the running portion because that's probably my strength, is just trying to make sure I get that correct.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I'm just doing this because it's fun.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: I like following the workouts.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like to have to think about my workouts.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like to have to plan the strength training.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: I like it, but also it takes a lot of work.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I like just being able to kind of plug and play and and I like the aspect of they put the workout ahead of time and you just look it up and you can see what's like there's a little bit of excitement.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's the workout gonna be like tomorrow?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Or and then I'll put them, I'll I'll actually take the workout, put it, plug it into training peaks, kind of plan it out that way, and then I just follow it, but just kind of as I'm able to do the workouts, they'll end up being three to four of those squattober workouts every week, and then I like I said, it'll end up going into early November for me, and that's okay.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll do it, I'll follow it.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just not exactly as prescribed.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: But uh that's something I'm doing, and so I've got and Thursday I did another easy run in a upper body strength.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I had my 5k on Saturday, so I just just kind of doing some easy stuff Thursday and Friday.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so my 5K on Saturday, it was not exactly what I was hoping for when I kind of signed up for the 5K.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like I mentioned in the beginning of my episode, I think I was a little bit unrealistic in my goals of being able to do uh the five thinking I was gonna be able to do 5k training and maintain this uh high rocks training.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew going into my I knew going into the 5K that it probably wasn't going to be the same time I did last year faster than last year, which was kind of my initial goal.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I was kind of hoping it would actually be a little bit faster than last year.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I knew going in it wasn't going to be.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, yeah, the training the I wasn't able to do any specific a lot of enough specific 5K training.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: The demands of the Hyrux workouts and the demands of some of the other workouts I was doing running-wise, which I'm going to talk about in a minute regarding threshold training, were just too much to be able to balance and do enough the of the 5K specific work.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to kind of let go of that goal.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess I didn't think about it when I signed up for the 5K, but I my son's birthday is October 3rd, and that is the day that the 5K was.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I must have thought, oh well, it's in the morning.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's not going to be a big deal.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: I can go run and then do stuff the rest of the day.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: But what I didn't think about was the fact that I had a lot of stuff to kind of plan.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: We were doing a birthday party.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: And along with like a really busy week the week before, I ended up having to make his birthday cake because my son has celiac disease.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so I generally almost always make the cake because it's just easier for me to do it.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: He usually has specific ideas for the cake, and I'd rather not pay over$100 for like a gluten-free birthday cake.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: When I can make it, yeah, is it professional?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Not really, but I just buy like the King Arthur's mix and make a cake.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: And but it does take a minute.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so I spend a good amount of time Friday afternoon making his cake for him.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: So making the putting the batter together, together, baking it, cooling it, then making the frosting.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I did like a race car cake, so I used um buttercream frosting and fondant and made this cool cake.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I was so busy doing that, I wasn't really able to like, I wouldn't say I was able to kind of relax like I normally would before a race or even really just think about it too much.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I woke up Saturday, my head wasn't really in it.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of almost dreading it a little bit, knowing that it wasn't gonna go the way I exactly wanted, and that I really wasn't prepared physically, maybe mentally either.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was kind of like this is gonna be what it's gonna be.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try to do my best.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think I did terribly.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it wasn't a bad time.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: I it was probably about 30 seconds slower than last year.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: So the course was short a little bit.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm guessing my time plus 15 to 20 seconds, because it was like 3.5, so it's like whatever, 0.505 uh short.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that would be like 50 meters or something.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was just a touch short, and which is kind of frustrating because it's not actually, it wasn't even actually a 5k, it was like less than a 5k, so it doesn't even, I mean, does it even really count at that point?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um so my time, if you look at it, was not too bad compared to last year and compared considering everything, like according to the race results, it was only maybe 15 seconds slower than last last year.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: But if you take into account the actual race distance, it would have taken me at least 15, maybe 20 seconds to run that additional time or that additional distance, and then it would have been actually a 5k.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it's you know, it is what it is.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: It is hard because it doesn't give me it wasn't even the exact same course as last year, so it's a lot of turns and turning this way and turning that way.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe not the exactly even the fastest course, although it was really flat.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know what?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm gonna take it.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Am I a little bit disappointed?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe just because I was hopeful that maybe there would be some magical thing I was doing in my training that would have helped me.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I realize now like I'm really fit because I've been doing these high ROCs workouts and I'm building a lot of strength.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to racing a specific distance fast, you have to have at least some specificity built into your training plan.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it can't be kind of yeah, you know, it has to be the right dose.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I just don't think I was getting like the right dose.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't it wasn't like I had a plan like I'd done it last year, where I had a very specific week-to-week progression with my 5K, and it was like this very specific workout every week, and it was a really demanding workout.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: I had to cut back a little bit on how demanding those workouts were so I could do the other stuff.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so, I mean, overall, I'm actually pretty happy.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: I am kind of thinking ahead, and I'm thinking, okay, I'm going to do the high rocks, kind of have a build of some strength, and then kind of go into next spring with the idea of maybe finding like a fast 5k in the spring, somewhere maybe flat, somewhere maybe sea level, and kind of seeing if I can rip a really fast 5k, you know, in the spring.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, this is where it gets a little bit tough because I'm getting.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Getting older, I mean, there's no way around that it happens to us all.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's going to be a point at which I just can't run any faster.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Where no matter how hard I try, let's say I sign up next year or the year after for the same 5K, and I put in the same effort I did a couple years ago or a year ago to run a fast 5K thinking maybe I can even be as fast or beat my time.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's going to be a time no matter how much effort I put in.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: I just cannot hit those same times.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's just part of getting older.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think there's part of me is worried, I think, or part of me is disappointed maybe because I'm worried, is this already sort of happening to me?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: And is that fast 5k I did a year ago, like, you know, which is not my fastest, but arguably one of my fastest in a while?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is that like the end of being kind of fast?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: And am I now destined to sort of slowly decline and not able to run that pace again?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like I want to give it one more shot, but at the same time, you know, part of me worries about that.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm trying not to, I'm trying to be optimistic.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I think I'm I'm gonna try one more time to get, you know, one more shot at like this really fast 5K goal, and then kind of maybe go back to some longer stuff again and realize that maybe I will never be able to after that point go back.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I really, really want to shoot for a fast 5k.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I might that might be in my future.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: One last go because just kind of having that time and that experience was frustrating, even though I know there's a reason why, you know, a pretty good reason why it just wasn't going to be as fast as the year before.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna move on.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: And now at this point, I want to talk about my HIROX training, and specifically I want to dive into the threshold piece of this and and why I've given so much thought to this and and how I'm structuring my training, my run training specifically around this concept, because I think it's important.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: So early on, I've kind of realized that high rocks really rewards the ability to sustain like a high output, kind of while you're switching between running and like these demanding stations.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you're just it's just requiring the way I had it described to me is you're kind of just like redlining it almost the whole time, which I know you're not actually at.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't be able to sustain it if you were truly redlining it up to your max heart rate, but essentially it's just you're just pushing at this boundary the entire time between sort of something you can maintain and something that's maybe unmaintainable.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a lot about just being able to pace yourself and not blow up.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think from what I can gather, there are probably like a substantial amount of people who sign up for high rox, do a high rox race, and maybe like blow up during it because they start out too fast or they yeah, push themselves too hard.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: And once you've kind of gone over that pace, a point where you're really starting to rapidly accumulate lactate and you're starting to get this like muscle damage, and your oxygen intake is not matching like the CO2 output.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: You're sort of having the accumulation of these sort of metabolic byproducts, so to speak, that still kind of slow you down or make it hard for your body to continue.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's really hard, you know, you can't really take a couple minutes of rest and then be able to go out again.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like once you've pushed too hard, you can't always come back from that.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a feeling a lot of people maybe do that in the high rocks.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I am coming from it or coming at it from the perspective of how can I race this?
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and like any other running race, I wanted to have a strategy for the race and like how I was going to approach the training for it so that I was ready, prepared, as prepared as I could be, because I I've said before, this is my very first race.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I really don't know exactly what I'm getting into, but I'd rather be more prepared than not prepared.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: And just I'm sure there are people who just do it and they don't ever do any preparation or very little.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really, that is not the way I live.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the lack of preparation is you know, just not good.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's helpful to be prepared for things and not just like wing it.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And especially if you want to actually do okay and have some sort of level of, I don't know, accomplishment with it.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like I have no idea what my the outcome is gonna be and how I'm gonna do compared to other people my age group or any of that.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I I don't know, but I want to do pretty well.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: I want to feel like I put in a good effort and that it was a sustainable effort.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that is my goal for the high rocks.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it because it's an endurance event with strength demand, strength demands, obviously both are important.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: But today I'm talking about the running portion.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll talk maybe in my next episode a little more about how I'm thinking about the strength component of high rocks and preparing for that.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: But today I really want to focus on the running piece.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not as though I think the running piece is all that's important, and that as long as you're doing these specific threshold workouts, you're going to be able to finish it because obviously there's a lot of strength piece.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot in there.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm already telling I'm already gonna tell you right now, I'm not fantastic at burpees, and wall balls are kind of my kryptonite.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not going to be pretty at the end of the race when I have to do a hundred wall balls.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of like, that's gonna be really hard for me.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: So there are certain things I'm doing to prep for that that I'll kind of discuss maybe more next time.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, so I understand that it's not just running.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: But because running is a big portion of the race, I mean, I was kind of looking it up, but there was a study, um, not a very like high lot of participants, but we'll take it.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, you know, maybe maybe there's some statistics out there of the median, you know, finishing time all across the board.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but this was a study of 11 recreational athletes doing a simulated high rocks, and they were finishing around 86 minutes, and approximately 51 minutes of that was spent running.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: So m more of the race is spent running than the other stations.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, I don't know what that would be, like a pro athlete's doing it in like 60 minutes or less, and so I don't know what the breakdown is for that type of situation, but it's definitely a predominant, like a pretty large amount of it is running.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it doesn't make it does take a lot of aerobic fitness to to stop to be able to sustain that level of running, like you have to be comfortable with running.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it is the the strength to do the stations is important, but to keep moving efficiently in between stations is almost just as important.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's kind of where I'm coming at with the running piece.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you think about the time for that 50 minutes or for the entire race itself, if it's taking 80, almost 90 minutes, I suspect that maybe I'll be finishing it, or I hope I finish in less than 86 minutes.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm thinking maybe more an hour and twenty, maybe something like that, or faster, I don't know, but uh it's still a lot of time.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um say I'm running for 45 to 50 or 45 minutes of that is running.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because it's gonna be slower than my 10k pace, but you know, maybe actually closer to my half marathon pace, I think, or maybe I don't know.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll talk a little bit about pacing in a minute.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, if it's taking me and then the and the stations or then this other portion of it, but that's um that running portion is is less than 60 minutes.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: So the running portion is less than 60, but the race altogether is going to be over an hour.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of thinking about how what kind of level can I sustain for this race.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because with threshold work or or lactate threshold two or the second ventillary threshold, it's typical that you can sustain that effort for 60 minutes.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: So to be having a sustain and effort level that's close to that for, you know, an hour 15, an hour twenty, that is more than that.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's going to have to be some level of maybe I don't think it's realistic that I can maybe be at that like second ventilary threshold or lactate to be like at that level the entire running time.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, either.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it really matters.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: So even though even though maybe I'm gonna be a little bit beautiful below that and trying to maintain at some pace below that pace, it's still important to be able to um work on that lactate threshold.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: So really work on doing workouts that push that that lactate threshold even a little bit higher if possible, because the higher that is, the more I can sustain that effort over that period of time.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it's important, you know, to do the workouts to like push that LT2 a little bit higher so that I when I am running, it's easier.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: That running pace that I decide to be at, which may be a little bit below that, is hopefully going to be easier and more sustainable for that duration of the race.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um, and you know, athletes don't always need to race at threshold for that to matter, but it is important, I think, to do some training at that threshold pace to be able to max or improve it a little bit.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there was another study of about 24 male, so this is men, but um they were and and and professional competitors, but there were 24 of them for high rocks.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um they found that their average running pace, which included that rock zone period, so you have like the thousand meters plus there's a little bit that you're maybe in what they call the rock zone.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but their speed was about 84% of their um second ventilary threshold.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't a hundred percent, it was below that.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: So they were running at that speed.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: So they were never in the running portion, anyways.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: They were never really hitting that LT2 or beyond.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: They were a little bit under that or around 84%.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it did actually running speed to decline a little bit across the race.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it's probably I don't know, I don't know how realistic it is to think you're going to start the race and maintain.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's kind of my goal is to do the best I can to start the race at a certain pace and then maintain that pace the best I can throughout.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think the other reason that I'm trying to do so much of my training at lactate or a little below lactate threshold or kind of having this pace in mind is that I want to really know what it feels like because I don't want to get caught up in the excitement of the race and then go out too fast.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is the type of race where you can't hang on.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's such a it's a fairly long race.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: So starting out real fast and put blowing yourself up, you may not be able to really hang on.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: You could really just be like sort of surviving.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to be just sort of doing this, all of this prep work and then getting to the race and being like, okay, like the first half the race or the first couple of runs, I just went out trying to impress somebody and with my running skills and just blew up my entire race.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's not what I'm wanting to do.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm wanting to be thoughtful about this.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to know what that's gonna feel like, what that pace feels like on fresh legs, and also what that pace is gonna feel like when I'm tired, when I've done a couple of stations or more, or at the end of the race when I'm sort of already put all this work in, how is this gonna feel so that I know what my pace is approximately?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because I do have a suspicion that the race itself, like inside with all those people in your inside, I have a feeling my GPS is not going to be very predictable.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm maybe not gonna even know exactly what my pace is.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna have to go based off of feel and RPE and kind of knowing what that's gonna feel like is really important because I know I'm gonna feel great when I start, and to actually have to hold back a little bit is gonna be a challenge, but it will pay off later when I haven't totally blown it, you know, and gone past that LT2 or something like that, where it where the fatigue starts to accumulate very quickly.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that's just something I think is really important.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the other thing that they were looking at um in that first high rock study with the recreational athletes was that one thing they noted was that peak, the lactate was actually a little bit higher during the stations and during the run.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, like during um the stations, you know, especially I can imagine some of those harder stations, you know, you're you're gonna have maybe, you know, you have to first of all, I think, you know, I'll talk about the stations a little more, but it's like you'll have you have to be aware of pacing within the stations too.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you also have to know when to kind of take a break, especially in the sled push and pull.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you're not just maxing yourself out on those stations.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, the burpees are another example, like just being like, okay, I'm gonna like just push through these as hard as I can, because that's also where you can get in trouble.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I do think that there's some level of like pacing that has to happen in each station so you don't end up just way, way above your threshold in the stations and then you know, kind of going into the run just totally guessed and having it then like substantially slow your pace.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: The one thing I will say is that I think if you are pacing it right and you're just below that threshold, you might be able to push it a little bit on some of the stations and use that time to recover.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that is another reason why you don't want to be maybe totally trying to hit that lactate threshold to the entire race, but using the runs strategically just below that threshold, because we have to remember is that lactate is a fuel.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: It is not the enemy.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're going just a little below controlled, just a little below that uh LT2 when you're running, if you did accumulate a little bit of lactate or a little more lactate during the station, hopefully you can kind of help clear some of that during the run.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying you're gonna clear it all, but hopefully you're kind of utilizing some of that fuel during the run.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: The body's kind of you're maintaining a intensity in which you're able to maybe use some of that lactate and bring your heart rate back down just a touch during the run instead of bringing it back up real high and then being, you know, redlining it, um, so to speak.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can go into the next station.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: So almost using the run as not exactly recovery, because this isn't like a jog, but almost as like a time to sort of regroup.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're still pushing it a little bit, but this is why it's just so important to um to work on the lactate threshold training, work on the pacing of the run portion around the stations and and doing some high ROCs workouts that include the running at this specific pace that you kind of decide you you're wanting to stay at, and um really, really working on that and and then knowing what that feels like so you go into the race.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um so threshold training.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: So when I'm doing threshold training, I'm typically doing it at threat lactate threshold two or just below.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um but when I'm doing the training, the pace work in the workout, it's usually just a touch, touch even below somewhere between lactate threshold one and and lactate threshold two, but maybe a little closer to lactate threshold two, but not added or above.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's just trying to kind of get that right.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: And to do this right without a lactate meter is difficult because I'm sort of having to rely on RPE and I'm having to rely on pace and um heart rate a little bit more and kind of where that might lie.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it gets a little bit complicated, but it's still helpful, you know.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you do a workout and you're, you know, a little below or a little but above that part part of the workout, I think you're still you're still um getting benefit from that.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, ideally maybe I'd be able to measure this all out with lactate you know, meters, but I I don't have the money to buy one and uh the time, nor do I like the build.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like picking my finger and all that.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just kind of going off of different parameters when I'm trying to be in this lactate zone.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the things I'm doing, so let me talk a little bit about my training for this.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I've been doing at least once a week.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: I've been trying to like a slightly longer lactate threshold workout.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's usually been something like just to give examples, like five by six minutes at lactate threshold pace with like a minute, two minute and a half in between.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: So not a lot of r rest.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or um yesterday I tried to do a workout that was like two, three times two kilometers because I didn't have like a ton of time at lactate threshold pace, but it was, I don't know, 85 degrees when I started my workout.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was like October.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: What are we still in summer or are we in fall?
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because it felt like summer.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was dying and I hadn't been running in the heat too much.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that kind of ruined my workout a little bit.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: The heat just gets me, but I did my best.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but sometimes I'll do like one workout.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: I did four by ten minutes at this lactate threshold.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, that's depending on if it's hilly, which it's really hilly where I live, and depending on um kind of how I'm feeling that day and my workouts the day before or the days before, it's probably anywhere between like a 635 to 7 minute pace.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's a big range, but it really depends if I'm going uphill or downhill or if I feel good or not.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but heart rate-wise, it's probably somewhere between 168 and 172 is probably where that heart rate is yesterday.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely pushed it a little higher than that because of the heat, but usually and it feels controlled.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like I feel like I could be at that pace for quite a while before I really couldn't maintain it anymore, but it wouldn't be like forever.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: So on a good day, maybe about that hour where I would maybe if somebody really wanted me to maintain that, I could.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's probably right now, you know, where my pace is.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little bit slower.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when I'm doing like a half marathon, which is I'd say like sometimes that little like pace has been a bit quicker than that, but that's probably where I'm at right now for the most part.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um probably really is like on a good day, like a fairly flat course, like 630 to 640, maybe.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: So when I'm so that's what I'm trying to train at for this lactate training.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because that's kind of where I notice my heart rate is and just based off of certain calculations I've made and and different, you know, the Garmin versus training peaks, that's just kind of where it's telling me it is.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um also, and that's kind of where I feel like I feel like, you know, subjectively it's kind of hitting around there.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's at that.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it's I'm gonna kind of take that, you know, that's probably pretty close.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but when I'm doing the high ROX workouts and I'm pacing for that, it's probably gonna end up being somewhere between 645 and 655 pace.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's slower.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's and that's kind of like if I can optimally get to a point where I can maintain like a 645 pace for the race, I think that would be would be helpful, would be good.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um so that's kind of what I'm trying to hit.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: So rather than go into like today, I did a high rox workout where there was like a mile beef mile and then like a bunch of like farmers carries and lunges and things, and then another mile, instead of going into that, like I'm gonna send it on the mile just to show everyone how fast I am, because I have a tendency and want to do that.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: I want I was controlled and I was running at that pace that I plan to run in the high rox race so that I know this is what it feels like.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: What it feels like when I'm a little bit more fresh, even though my body was arguably a little bit tired, though.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then what it feels like when it's a lot a little less fresh after like 15 minutes of work.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it that just gives you an example of some of the things I'm doing.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing I'm doing, um, I'm going to I have incorporated a little bit is um with the 5k stuff, I've been doing speed work.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna do a little bit less of that, but I've been doing like the speed work sometimes like the day before, and then sometimes the morning of the high ROCs, which is a lot more demanding if I do speed work and then do a high ROCs workout.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: But what I'm going to try to implement is some threshold work that I do prior to.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like doing a high ROX workout at the gym I'm going to.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: So actually, it's going to be a little challenging to time this because the way they manage the workouts, like they have a warm-up and all that.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: But to try to do the threshold workout and come back and then have like and jump right into the class and have them do the warmups and then have within maybe 15 minutes start the high ROX workout.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that I'm kind of pushing that lactate threshold a little more and really doing some of the other work uh on tired legs and then maybe even the reverse, like depending on the workout, doing a high rox workout and then doing some lactate threshold training after that, you know, when I'm a little bit tired also.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think I'm gonna do a little more of that type of work.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's really hard because it's a really demanding day and is gonna involve like a day or two, early probably two of recovery after.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I think that will really help me too.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: So loser, I'm gonna do at least a couple of those workout types of workouts.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it'll probably be pretty some something pretty similar to things I've already outlined for the threshold portion.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, but because it's not if I'm doing it right, the threshold's demanding, but it shouldn't be so taxing and demanding and so much recovery needed as like a speed workout for a 5k workout or something like that.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully I'll be able to manage it and manage the recovery as long as I don't go all out and everything, you know, or or or overdo it.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: So these are just some things I'm um thinking about.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have, like I said, about five weeks until the high rocks race.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm kind of down, you know, maybe have three more weeks of some adaptation or four, maybe before it's really like the haze in the barn, so to speak, and I'm I'm where I'm gonna be and it's gonna be what it is, you know.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: So trying to get the most out of the next two or three weeks or three weeks or so.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, VO2 Max does help anytime you're looking at maybe being faster.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I I feel like at this point it's like VO2 Max workouts are like kind of like the 5K training.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I still plan to do some speed like that throughout just to maintain, but I don't feel like it's gonna really do me a whole lot of good at this point to do a ton of work, a ton of speed work and trying to build up my VO2 max.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's just not gonna pay the dividends in this particular type of race.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I will be doing some speed, I'll still be doing strides, maybe some hill sprints, just stuff to kind of keep the speed up.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: Might do like a 5k type of workout every other week or at least a couple more times just to keep some of that speed, but I'm going to kind of not be focusing on that too much because for me, it's just not going to pay a lot of dividends and a lot of um payback or return investment investment for this race at this point.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've already kind of done the best I can.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: My 5K wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not I'm not training for 5K.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not training for like a VO2 max type of event.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm training for one that really involves endurance and strength.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: So this is why another reason why I'm focusing on threshold.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's just um, I mean, if you're looking for ideas for threshold workouts, you could look online.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's lots of ideas.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I said the five by six, but if you're kind of newer to threshold training, you probably might want to start with a little bit less work.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe three by six minutes, and then you know, with two minutes of easy running in between, um, and then gradually kind of increase either your time, so three by eight minutes, for instance, with a couple minutes of easy jogging in between, or increase the the amount of revs, so four by six minutes and then kind of work your way up.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're listening to this and you're like, hey, I'm gonna listen to what Katie's saying and I'm gonna do more threshold, don't copy the exact workouts that I'm necessarily doing if you're kind of newer to this, because you don't want to hurt yourself.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's better to sort of start out with a little bit less and then work your way up.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are doing the Denver HyROX, you don't have a ton of time.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are thinking about doing a high ROX and you're signed up for one and you have some time, I would recommend building and gradually building upon the threshold work you're doing.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then things like double threshold sessions, which are kind of famous, like the Norwegian method is famous for this.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: There may be some benefit to something like that once in a while, but you have to be really controlled, like making sure you're not pushing the pace too hard, making sure you kind of do those two workouts and um splitting them up in a way that makes sense so that you don't overdo it.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I just recommend kind of maybe sticking to some threshold work once once, and then maybe doing maybe some before or after like a high rox type workout that includes stations, so you kind of know what that's like, you know, kind of getting your body prepared a little bit more for that and then having more time at lactate threshold.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: But it's um, you know, it's uh it's just something I think is is fairly important to to include.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: So doing whatever amount you can and then building from there.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's just from um just something to kind of think about here with lactate is that um sometimes if we're not well fueled, so if our muscle glycogen stores are a little bit low, it may reduce the blood lactate um that you maybe would measure, so the measured amount.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: So there are different things that like can influence lactate.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's not so easy.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you're taking a lactate measurement, like it's not so easy to be able to figure out all the variables and get it right.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: And lactate threshold may change just like your zone two, you know, heart rate range may change day to day based off of recovery and other variables.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's really hard to get this right exactly day to day, even if you're measuring it.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's important to really make sure that if you're going to be doing these types of sessions and just in general with high rocks, that you're fueling adequately.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is a very, even though you're kind of in a sereobic zone, you're burning through a lot of glucose and glycogen, and you really want to make sure you're like refueling and and eating well, refueling, getting carbs before and after in between sessions.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: For instance, if I were to do a lactate threshold session and then go into a high rox, I would most definitely fuel in between.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't just not eat anything.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I would probably have like let's say I did like a um four by ten minute lactate threshold session before a high rox session, because that's a pretty big one.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's like 40 minutes at lactate threshold pace.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: And um I would obviously do like a warm-up and a cooldown and maybe two minutes in between each lactate threshold um pace or interval, but I would eat, you know, probably like 90 minutes to two hours before a pretty substantial breakfast with carb.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: I would do the workout.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: I would maybe even have a gel in between because that workout's gonna take me at least an hour, you know, while I'm doing the workout, like a gel.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then I would have something after.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: It might be like a couple of pieces of toast or with a little peanut butter jelly.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um something, or sometimes I made like smoothies with bananas and fruit and a little bit of protein powder, just kind of had a smoothie because there's like some protein in that too.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I have a pretty tough gut.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have a I've done a lot of times I've done smoothies with protein, like between a run workout in the morning and then a high rox workout.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_00: And luckily I've never had issues with like throwing up or anything.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I can handle that, but you know, whatever you can handle, just be careful because you might have to keep it kind of simpler than that with carb.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_00: But make sure you're fueling and then making sure when you're done with both workouts, you go back and you eat something and you get a big amount of like a big meal with protein and carb, or maybe do the smoothie then and have something um to refuel because this isn't like doing these types of big workouts or these lactate threshold type of workouts are fuel demanding.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't return the fueler or refuel or um recover that way, you're going to be you're not going to be making like the progress that you want to make.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_00: So just another reminder that the fueling is going to be very important.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I do think like maybe to end this all, because I've talked a lot now about the training and hopefully it's helpful and kind of what I'm thinking about in terms of the training and how I'm implementing it.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the threshold training uh, you know, helps you build that sustainable speed and that it's like finding that speed that's not easy, you know, not not not that it shouldn't be like your 10K pace and or you know, it shouldn't really be, I would say be somewhere in between maybe 10K or even half marathon and marathon pace for some people.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's done, it's just hard to kind of pinpoint, but this is why you practice this.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is why you kind of see and test it out and figure out even where you think your threshold pace is, because you're not going to be able to want to do that threshold pace for the runs of this high rocks, but you're gonna want to figure out that sustainable pace that you can maintain that's maybe just below that, and practice it so that when you get to the race, especially because I've heard the old watch doesn't work super well because maybe GPS isn't working great.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_00: It sucks to kind of get to that race thinking you're gonna rely on GPS and then the signal's not working, and you're like, well, I've no idea what pace I'm running, and you didn't practice it in your training.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're gonna have a hard time figuring out the pacing.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all about practice, it's all about kind of doing that work at Black Tate Threshold too, but also doing some pacing work during some of the high rock specific workouts or some of the compromise run workouts where maybe you're just below that and you're trying to really find that pace that you think will be sustainable for the high rocks, and then really practice it as much as you can so that you, you know, especially during workouts, not on your easy days, but on a workout day, not on your recovery days, um, but practicing that so that you can kind of be like knowing what that feels like when you're fresh and when you're tired.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that is my suggestion, and that's kind of the way I'm approaching the race.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thinking about the run portion, it'll be interesting to see when I do it, because I'm sure I'll have a recap.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like if there's anything I would have changed or thought differently about it after the race, or if there's anything I would have um maybe say differently, we'll see.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you have experience with a high rocks and you have anything to add about the training portion, or even I even thoughts for me about your training and how you're approaching it, or how you're um maybe things you've learned from the running portion that you would, you know, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_00: Cause like I said, I'm not I have never done a high rocks.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_00: So this is my um, I'm not exactly claiming that I'm an expert at high rocks.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have some expertise in run training and obviously as a sports dietitian.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to like the actual race itself, I've never done one.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_00: So this is just um, you know, I'm not ex I'm not exclaiming that I'm some sort of high rocks specific expert.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is just uh me trying to figure this out for myself based off what I know.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, any any thoughts or feedback will be welcome to to hear.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, thanks a lot.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be at you in a couple of weeks with another episode.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for that episode, I'm gonna talk a lot more about the strength component and the stations and how I'm thinking about the station work and how I'm prepping for it and how I'm thinking about pacing it and what my weaknesses are and how I'm working on those because that's that's always fun.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, all right.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you everyone and have a wonderful day.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.