3 Mountains 1 Day: Part 2

Doing More With Less

My summers look a lot different than they used to. I've shifted my career focus to training mountain athletes and away from full-time guiding. This change has not been easy. I'm accustomed to spending more nights on the ground than days at a computer.

These days I'm spending a lot of time sorting out training plans and workouts for various men and women training for general fitness and functional performance in the mountains. I love this new adventure, but it does require a lot of time. This tradeoff means I get less time to spend training and traveling to train myself.

Limited training time is a reality for most people. I can appreciate the challenges many athletes face. You have limited training availability if you have a job or a family.

I feel like many people can relate and might be in a similar situation, so here is how my typical week of training has looked this summer.

Four 45-minute Dog Walks

Two 1 Hour Low-Intensity Runs

One 3-4 Hour Low-Intensity Hikes with 2000-3000' Elevation Gain

One 2-Hour Low-Intensity Run with a bit of Elevation Gain

One Long workout to build Local Muscular Endurance in the Legs

One Full-Body Strength Workout

One Challenging Core Workout

Two 1-3 Hour MTB Rides

Lots of Very Easy Jogging

I can usually get out on the trail for running and hiking, but sometimes I have to fall back on using the treadmill. When I have to rely on the treadmill because of a busy schedule, I'll often split the longer workouts into two sessions.

It looks like a lot of activity, but it's relatively low volume compared to my previous training and elite endurance athletes. Limited time means less margin for error, so I must be strategic to have a fully productive week of training.

That’s not a bad thing because more often than not less is more in terms of training volume especially when you prioritize quality over quantity.

It get’s better, I promise. Read part three for a little more context.