[Landon Lim]

I’m just getting ready to start the intermediate to advanced rock program. I have just come off a period of running focused training. How much running and other aerobic activity can I get away with before my climbing results start to significantly suffer? The optional aerobic activity does not seem to be enough to maintain my base. Significant is relative but I would like to maximize my climbing performance with the least damage to my aerobic performance. I would greatly appreciate any input.

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on January 12, 2020 at 11:04 am #36103

Me too! After six years of skimo racing, I’m starting to do some climbing again.

What I’ve found is that rock climbing training is very low volume, so maintaining some aerobic fitness is definitely possible. My aerobic volume is about 75% of what it was, and I haven’t notice any drop off in aerobic threshold speed. However, the duration that I can maintain that speed has fallen.

I periodize it by having high-load climbing workouts first thing after a rest day. More moderate-load workouts don’t need as much recovery beforehand.

Does that help?

[Landon Lim]

Landon Lim on January 12, 2020 at 12:58 pm #36108

Thanks Scott, that’s what I was looking for. I’ll keep my recovery in mind when it comes to higher load climbing days.

[Jake907]

Jake907 on February 6, 2020 at 12:53 pm #37643

I find that if I climb the day after a long or difficult run or other aerobic day that almost immediately my heart rate spikes, I’m winded, basically the aerobic juices are all used up. If I was trying to concurrently improve in climbing and aerobic fitness, I would be very deliberate how I layed out my weeks and micro training cycles. For example, Day 1 Rest, Day 2 Climb, Day 3 Run/Aerobic works because the climbing on day 2 is not taxing enough to adversely affect the running on day 3, but if I swap day and run on 2 and climb on 3 the Day 3 climbing session is not productive.

[nathan.mankovich]

nathan.mankovich on July 10, 2020 at 4:07 pm #43477

This is a difficult topic for me also. Here’s the personal info I’ve gathered so far…

Running short distances with a zone 1 heart rate doesn’t seem to affect my climbing the next day (assuming cragging). However, running hard or long the day before climbing definitely hurts my climbing performance the next day.

My question would be this: How much running and what heart rate zones (aka volume and intensity) are good to target if I’m cragging midweek and climbing alpine rock on the weekends?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on July 14, 2020 at 12:01 pm #43575

No one can answer the volume question for you. It’ll be individual and based on your general work capacity. For example, I’m sure Jornet can run all day and climb just fine the next day. But I couldn’t.

For intensity though, Zone 1-derful is the best bet. If you have ADS, then maybe Zone 2, but anything above that will probably affect climbing performance.

[maksromanov2020]

maksromanov2020 on January 21, 2022 at 7:34 am #62424

good