Influences & Acknowledgments

Influences

Scott Johnston

Starting in 2005, Scott mentored me in endurance theory, advised me on training during my skimo days, and coached me from October 2016 to March 2017. Scott pointed me toward the people below in addition to engaging in our 17-year dialog on endurance training. At last count, that exchange was 2,700 emails long.

My skimo training and research was book-ended with the publication of Scott's books: Training for the New Alpinism was published in March 2014, a month after my first skimo race; and Training for the Uphill Athlete in March 2019 , a month before my last. After skimo racing, I worked as a coach for Scott and Steve House at Uphill Athlete.

Jan Olbrecht

Core distinctions

• Capacity vs. power
• Anaerobic capacity (AnC)
• Anaerobic power (AnP)
• Aerobic power (AeP)
• Aerobic capacity (AeC)

Training principles

• Training needs to be "steered", not predetermined.
• More is not more; development should be strategic.
• Effective training follows a “Goldilocks” prescription that mimics event demands.
• Aerobic capacity (AeC) should be developed as high as possible.
• AnC, AnP, and AeP should be developed only to the level required by the event; excess development in any one will handicap the others.

Measurement and inference

• Accuracy matters more than precision: “It’s better to be roughly right than precisely wrong.” (Buffett)
• Frequent testing that aids inference is preferable to infrequent testing that promises absolute answers.
• Lactate testing is fast, accessible, and field-deployable, but requires interpretation.
• VO₂max testing may be more precise, but is expensive and lab-dependent.

Renato Canova

• Start general, at the extremes, and move to specific
• First duration, then work speed from both beginning and end
• Use internal load to progress capacity and power
• Use external load to stabilize and fine tune performance

Yuri Verkhoshansky

• Broaden the available fiber pool by "waking up" fast-twitch fiber, then train them to work aerobically

Steve Magness

• Training volume should increase for the Capacity phase, plateau for Power, and then decline for Performance;
• Never leave anything behind; and
• Read all of the above!

Acknowledgements

Coming soon