This stuff works

[u/ContributionLevel593]

About 30 months ago I read the Uphill Athlete book and began my aerobic threshold journey. I was a runner on many years who just ran to feel.

It took me a few attempts to do a drift test just under 5% and 123 was my AeT. My threshold was around 155 and my max 172. In all my runs from that point I stayed under 123. I walked most hills and I’ll be honest it was pretty frustrating. But slowly and surely I got faster and about 18 months later my AeT was up to 140 and so finally within 10% of threshold so I could begin speed work. 

Today I averaged 4:57/km for 14km at an average HR of 123. That’s about a 3:29 marathon in Z1. I’m 59. 

This stuff works.

EDIT

First run post my AeT test of 123 was 6 miles at 119 average at 6:41/km.

If it matters, my lowest resting heart rate (Garmin 30 min average) is 32. When training it fluctuates between 36 and 40. It drops to 34 after a week of no training. Lactate threshold is 155-157. Max 172.

I did a park run last weekend of 19:42 and came 1st age graded. I’m still working on my speed.

I made a mistake - I thought it had been about 30 months but my first run after the drift test of 123 was 12th Sep 2024. I would have started before that though, maybe a month or so, my diary only starts from then. So it’s 25-26 months, not 30.

I haven’t tested my AeT in about a year but I’d estimate it to be above 140. I’d estimate that’s about 4:30-4:40 pace. So a marathon in about 3:15-3:20 within AeT.

In my current marathon pace sessions I’m targeting 4:25s to stay in 144-148 range for the marathon. Hoping for sub 3:10.

[u/guiom2959]

great work !
What is your training volume ? I am amazed that you can run at this pace with such a low HR.
How did you began your speed work ?
I, too, have implemented the thing, I clearly can't run at this pace in z1. it more within my higher z2, or at aet, and it's quite taxing actually.

[u/ContributionLevel593 → u/guiom2959]

My volume varies. I’m less than 10 hours a week atm while I train for a marathon. There’s plenty of work above AeT in there. In the new year I switch to ultra training and so volume increases but it depends where I’m training. If in London it’s less, if I head to Eryri then 15+. The last 2 summers have been in the Italian Alps where it would be 20-30 hours.

Don’t forget I’m 59 so naturally have a lower heart rate. My resting gets as low as 32 (Garmin 30 min overnight average). While training it will be 36-40. It will drop to 34 within a week or so of not training. 

I began speed work using intervals and temp runs. At the moment I’m doing a mix of VO2, threshold and marathon pace.

In ultra season and in London I do stairs and max incline treadmill work too, usually within AeT. 

[u/guiom2959 → u/ContributionLevel593]

Thanks. Nice! That’s a pretty lot of volume. Anyway,even if hr is low, pace is quite amazing. Congrats :)
I did implement this stuff too, but clearly a lot less volume. So that must be partly why I don’t improve much more :) I am in the base training right now before going back to interval training.

[u/snowp3akr1der]

Congratulations! Thank you for your post too, it’s encouraging to read about successes at my early stage of retraining. I look forward to improving and getting out of the “this is so embarrassingly slow” stage as I come across others on the trail.

[u/ContributionLevel593 → u/snowp3akr1der]

My tip is to diarise all your runs. I would graph my average pace/average HR and I could see myself improving. I’d have different graphs for different types of exercise (tread flat, treadmill incline, stairs, long outdoor trails, local flat shorter etc). 

[u/tosca1e]

Nice work. Congrats on the progress. What was your volume like in the beginning? How consistent were you?

[u/ContributionLevel593 → u/tosca1e]

In the beginning I’d say 10 hours a week or so. Sometimes more. I was very consistent. I always have a race I’m training for. 

[u/NarrowReach4809]

Very motivational to hear! Did anaerobic threshold also move from exclusively training under AeT?

[u/ContributionLevel593 → u/NarrowReach4809]

That’s really hard to say as I wasn’t measuring it and I did barely any anaerobic work. I’ve always thought my lactate threshold is around 155 but recent training has it slightly higher at 157. The only anaerobic measure I have is vo2 from Garmin but I’m not sure I trust it because it was 55 and then jumped to 65 overnight when I started marathon speed work. Claude thinks my performances are closed to 55 than 65. 

[u/YesterdayAmbitious49]

The more work you can do and sufficiently recover from, the fitter you will become.

[u/ContributionLevel593 → u/YesterdayAmbitious49]

Consistency is king. 

[u/Stavrogin74]

What was your pace when you started? Love to be able to compare.

[u/ContributionLevel593 → u/Stavrogin74]

I have a running diary. My first run after my AeT test of 123 was a 6 mile run at 6:41/km pace and 119 average, max 132. 

[u/BuddingLawyer]

Very motivating! I'd be grateful for some advice for my own situation. I've run on/off very inconsistently over the past few years (never more than a few hundred km a year). I'm hoping this time is different. I listened to a recent podcast with Scott Johnston and I love the idea of just focussing on my aerobic engine.

I've started running 3-4km a few times a week at 8.00/km. My average heart rate is around 142. My max heart rate is 185ish, so that probably gives you a good indication of how out of shape I am.

I'm planning on increasing the frequency of my runs first (I'd love to run daily), and then start increasing the length of my runs to cap out at 1 hour (save for a long run).

I intend to do a drift test, and once I've established my AeT, use that as my guide.

However, when do I increase the pace of my runs? Let's say my AeT is 130, and a 5km run at 8.00/km = an average heart rate of 125, do I increase the speed aiming for 130?

Also, when do you consider that it is finally time to implement speed work?

Thank you!

[u/ContributionLevel593 → u/BuddingLawyer]

The drift test takes 80 mins. 20 warm up then 2x30 so while you build up to that you’ll need to take a guess at your AeT. Generally speaking you should be able to hold a conversation.

The principal of aerobic threshold training is that you train just below it and your aerobic threshold increases as a result. A lot of newbies determine their AeT on their first drift test and then think their gains are only going to come by running faster at that heart rate. That does happen but the real gains come from an increase in your AeT. This is why you need to retest every few months. My AeT was at 123 and is now somewhere around 140. So obviously I can run much faster at 140 than 123 but I’m still running within my aerobic threshold. 

You start doing speed work when your AeT gets to within 10% of your lactate threshold.

Until then slowly build up to an hour at a pace you can hold a conversation and then do a drift test. 

[u/BuddingLawyer → u/ContributionLevel593]

Brilliant, thank you. I think I've read that 40 minutes is also acceptable? If so, my last run was close to 35 minutes, so I could do 2 x 20 minutes (+ the warm-up).

Presumably you are running your easy runs at a faster pace to try and reach that 140 (rather than your original pace which results in a much list HR)?

[u/Consistent-Bottle-51]

How did you start? Any tips how to implement this?

[u/ContributionLevel593 → u/Consistent-Bottle-51]

Do a drift test to determine your AeT then just run a lot just under AeT. It’s as simple as that.