Training progress for Mt. Whitney hiking in June

Sun rise near Trail Crest

Since I resume training about a month ago, I will try to find out my training progress based on the records.

I added two activity types in May, one is stair climbing and the other is treadmill running once a week.
First of all, the first data is heart rate during stair climbing exercise.  Since this activity, I usually set the speed as 75 steps per minute.  So that the total distance should be the same.  I do not see much improvement in the heart rate data.  However, I won’t be able to continue after 45 minutes in the first exercise after the injury.  After the second exercise, I can finish one hour exercise.  The primary weakness is really the muscle strength.   Since I have been doing elliptical exercise for a while, the heart rate was not really limiting my performance at the stair climbing.

Heart rate during stair climbing exercise

	Activity Type	Average Heart Rate [bpm]	Maximum Heart Rate [bpm]	Remark
May 31, 2016	Stair Climbing	155	169	75 steps / min
May 24, 2016	Stair Climbing	149	162	75 steps / min
May 17, 2016	Stair Climbing	151	167	75 steps / min

The second one is treadmill running.  This one, the speed is different for each exercise.  Since I have not run for a while, the heart rate at the first exercise is getting higher.  Also, I could not continue exercise after 40 minutes.  After second exercise, I could finish one hour exercise and the maximum and average heart rate is getting lower.  This indicates, running exercise is more stress than elliptical exercise and even just once a week running, it helps to improve my performance.  It is hard to maintain the performance for running with just doing elliptical exercise.

Heart Rate and distance for treadmill running

	Distance	Average Heart Rate [bpm]	Maximum Heart Rate [bpm]	Remark
May 27, 2016	7.88	152	167
May 20, 2016	7.15	155	171
May 14, 2016	--	151	172	No distance measurement
May 7, 2016	7.52	160	175

(*) Distance is measured by a running cadence sensor on Garmin Forerunner 910XT

Currently, the training menu is basically a recovery mode for running.   But at the same time, it is also a menu for Mt. Whitney hiking in the end of June.  For hiking, muscle strength is one of important factor to continue ascending the trail.  It also important to improve LT (Lactic Threshold) for hiking around 14,000 feet.  I will continue the current training menu and monitor the progress.