Beyond science
The love for endurance sports
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After starting to get interested in the endurance sports, I asked myself several questions regarding how to get stronger/faster/better with the aim to move smoothly in the mountains.
My objective
My objective
I want to extend as much as possible the years of activity while I keep injuries aside.
I started to track my training load with different metrics. It helps me to manage the loads and to understand how I feel.
My training load
My training load
The following graph represents the weekly amount of time spent doing outdoor activities starting from January 2020. The emptiness after the first weeks represents the lockdown. A peak of 43 hours can be noticed during the Transpirenaica in August 2022. Overall, I like to be consistent with the activities in order to be ready for spontaneous adventures. Going out for a ride or a run has become part of my lifestyle.
I am not a sports scientist but I understand that peaks and valleys should happen in training. It is not easy to keep a sustained high load. In particular for me, these variations often match with my overall health and workload. One can notice an oscillatory behaviour in the global data, representing the resting periods and the 'big weeks', which for me is fascinating.
Similarly, we can also plot the elevation gain per week, an important parameter to consider as a mountain runner.
Another way to show similar data is the following bar plot. Here, I am analyzing my global activity time per month and comparing it for different years.
We can immediately notice how in summer I tend to accumulate more outdoor hours, being July the most regular month so far during the last years.
Cumulative plots
Cumulative plots
In order to get a flavour about the amount of time and elevation gain we are talking about, the cumulative plots below show how these parameters increase during the pass of a year. Again, the flat part in 2020 represents the lockdown. What I'm most proud about is the lack of plateaus. There has been a cronic endurance training estimulus to the body which will shine in the future.
Box plots
Box plots
This box plots basically shows the different nature of the activities I practice. The time medians of cycling and skiing are similar while obviously the running one drops.
Factors such as frequency of activities, impact and intensity are the cause of this. It also tells me that the estimuli from cycling and skiing can be similar.
Regarding the elevation gain, my data shows that skiing is the activity that makes me accumulate the elevation gain more easily. 50% of the sessions have at least more than 1000 m, while 75% of the runs are below 900 m.
Some average values
Some average values
Here are statistical values about time and elevation gain. Note that these activity times include running, cycling and ski mountaineering data. For now I have avoided the distance parameter due to the effect of cycling. The distance will be analyzed for each sport.
Weekly activity time
Weekly activity time
10 hours
Weekly elevation gain
Weekly elevation gain
+4070 meters
The following entres are meant for a deeper understanding of my training. Running, cycling and skiing activities will be analyzed with the aim to find correations and patterns and trends.
Image credits for the three entries, Aurélie, Luisa, Álvaro.
I hope you liked it!
Do you also keep track of your training?
Feel free to check my activities in social media!
Do you also keep track of your training?
Feel free to check my activities in social media!
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