Beer Drinkers Appreciation Society (BDAS) 2023 Mentor Group - ALWAYS OPEN (Page 122)

Fat Thor was only allowed to frolic for two days, back at it this morning with a speed work 5K+ treadmill run...main set 4 x 1' @ R pace which I've dropped a few seconds to about 7:10/mile or so.  Going to train a little harder on the quality run days and see how that goes, going with Daniels' VDOT 39 pacing.  Then we did our strength work and planks.  All-in over 90 minutes.

Not sure if I mentioned this but our daughter moved back home (as all 20-somethings do now apparently...I wouldn't have moved back in if I were homeless LOL) and she's doing a 9/80 work schedule and trying to avoid traffic so the household is rustling at 5 AM now - getting into Gretchen territory around here.  It's summer and getting light out by 5:30 so it works for now, but it's hard to get to sleep that early. 

While I'd usually agree, I'm still a little guarded letting it loose running downhill...something I just need to work through mentally.  Maybe I should try the downhill feature on my treadmill as it goes down to -5%.

Thing is, I used to let it fly...I think pretty much zero running for five or so years has messed up my kinetic chain / running economy and it's going to take some time to get that back.  My injury history messes with my head, too.

We used to do downhill intervals for XC and track to build leg speed - those were nuts!  We also had a short, steep grass descent about 200 yards from the finish on our home XC course - great way to start your finishing kick. 

There are a bunch of different ways to tackle hills - standing climb, seated climb with low cadence, and seated with a higher spin.  I'd recommend practicing all three as they use your delivery systems a little differently.  With a half mile climb, that sounds like 3-4 minutes or so depending on the grade, so it's more on the low end of VO2 max territory if you go really hard on them.

Also a couple of different approaches...are you looking to gain absolute power, or be able to repeat it?  That'll determine your recovery time.  I know you don't have a power meter, and the intervals are too short to really rely on heart rate as it lags too much, so we'll use RPE.

I'd do something like this:

Warm Up a few miles

6 hill repeats alternating standing, seated at 80-ish RPM, seated at 95 RPM - all this at RPE 8-ish (so hard, but not all-out)
Recovery is the coast down hill which will be probably 90-120 seconds or so, you should be close to fully recovered to zone 1 HR, or at least low Z2.  If three minutes standing is too much just finish the last hundred yards or so on a couple of them that way. 

Then do one more all-out and once you get near the top sprint over the hill, which is how you're supposed to crest hills (I mean, not literally sprinting, but pushing over the top). 

If six is too many to start, then maybe 3-4.  Fiddle around with your gearing...50 ring/25 cog is the same as 34/17 (that's a compact road bike crankset - I know you're riding a MTB so you'll have to do the math), but to me it "feels" a little different. 

If you're on a road, be careful at the turnarounds, especially when you're gassed, which you will be.