Originally Posted by
terrymorse
Yeah, the muscle fatigue that Mt. Hamilton produces is serious stuff. That constant stress from a mostly unrelenting grade seems to be much harder than shorter climbs. I'm trying to improve my fatigue resistance, doing Ham twice per week (weather permitting -- didn't get out of the 30s on Sunday).
Long climbs. Zone 3. Fatigue resistance. Boy, I don't know.
It feels like I'm starting to get ahead of the climbing fatigue thing, as I summited Hamilton yesterday without much fatigue at all.
Hamilton is really 3 climbs with intermediate short descents. I tried to dose the effort evenly, middle to high zone 3 all the way.
Climb 1: 34:10, 144 HR, 3.26 W/kg
Climb 2: 18:03, 142 HR, 3.09 W/kg
Climb 3: 42:58, 140 HR, 3.06 W/kg
I've now done this ride 10 times this year, and it definitely is getting less fatiguing.
Hypothesis: Repeated zone 3 rides help improve zone 3 performance. Seems that should be a "yeah duh" statement. Training ought to be target event-specific, don't you think?