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Training analysis 2024

2024 was the most training I’ve done in my life but I didn’t force it. I did as much as I could without getting into trouble with my body or wife and I think the 10% growth rate would make any long-term investor nod in approval.

• Big Numbers: 860h, 6675km (run/ski-mo), 412000m of climbing or in American 4150 miles with 1.35 million feet of vert.

Heavy Skew

I made a concerted effort to log heavy aerobic volume over winter. The addition of ski mountaineering to running made it ‘easy’ to rack up vertical gain. You can see how the volume holds through July, the peak summer month in preparation for UTMB, and reduces until December.

Why? Because volume for volume’s sake is not the goal year-round. In fact, I managed to increase my fitness by doing less. Doing a lot of miles is important. But there is a line over which training is unsustainable, the body breaking more than building.

We do this sometimes in hopes of a super-compensation from the work. But that is not a guarantee nor a tactic to employ for extended periods.

Intensity Distribution

I logged RPE (rate of perceived exertion) and feeling (poor to great) after most sessions from January to September. When my dad died I couldn’t be bothered. I felt like shit for a month and a half. But my training hasn’t changed much so we still get a good picture of session difficulty and sensations.

• To simplify: 40% Easy / 32% Moderate / 28% Hard

Interestingly, I felt bad after just 3% of workouts, and good 64% of the time. In ‘25 I will try to move some moderate into easy and hard bucket to gently polarize things.

First Principles

The range of events I did this year, 25h across Réunion to a half-marathon PR, shows how diverse my training is. I strive to become a complete runner because in the mountains, where my heart lies, a swiss-army knife is superior to a chef’s blade.

This is what makes me dangerous and content. I get to run fast, I get to explore the mountains. I get to show up at any start line and be in the mix for the win.

And physiologically it makes sense to alternate disciplines and intensities. Stimuli remain novel, training remains fun and so far (3 years of training with a purpose) I have not got injured.

So things won’t change drastically. Instead I think the refinement of the system— the timing, the intensity-control, the planning is all that’s needed to get the results I want.