Since 2020, I have been training using the principles in Training for the New Alpinism and the 24-week mountaineering training plan. In 2023, I decided to get some help and signed up for personalized coaching with Seth Keena at Evoke Endurance, and I will share my experience in this post.
Why Personalized Coaching?
After several rounds of the 24-week mountaineering training plan, I understood the basic training principles of continuity, gradualness and modulation and was happy with the off-the-shelf training plan. It worked great for the first few years as I focused on improving my aerobic capacity.
However, it got challenging as I tried to combine training for different sports, e.g. mountaineering with rock climbing or backcountry skiing with ice climbing. Even though I had seen an improvement in overall fitness, I felt that working with a coach would be helpful.
So, when I met Scott in Mazama at the 2022 Evoke Endurance coach meetup, I chatted with him about coaching and decided to sign up. Seth has worked with Scott since 2015 and is one of the most experienced coaches. He has trained athletes pursuing multiple mountain sports, and given his background, I decided to sign up with Seth for personalized coaching.
Seth was also there at the meetup, so I chatted with him, and we decided to connect after I was back from India in December.
Personalized Coaching – Getting Started
I first filled out the signup form, where I provided information on my training background, goals, availability, etc.
My first call with Seth was almost an hour long, and we reviewed the information I had filled out in the signup form and discussed my goals, preferences, family/work commitments, etc.
For the winter season, my goal was to improve at Backcountry Skiing and Ice Climbing. The focus would be on these winter sports for the first few months. Seth asked me to do an Aerobic Threshold (AeT) test to get started.
Aerobic Threshold (AeT) Test
All my previous AeT tests were done indoors on a treadmill, and you can find the detailed test instructions here. It took almost 30 minutes to warm up on the treadmill and get my heart rate close to my target heart rate of 150 with gradual changes in incline (max 15%) and speed. For the next 60 minutes, I didn’t change the incline and speed.
For the first half (30 minutes) of the test (after the warmup), my average heart rate was 158 and for the second half it was 164. The heart rate drift was 3.8%. Before I started the test, my heart rate average was around 152, giving me an AeT of about 155. Seth reviewed the test and confirmed it.
Here is a progression of my AeT over the years –
Jan 2020 – AeT 125
Mar 2020 – AeT 130
May 2020 – AeT 135
Aug 2020 – AeT 140
Nov 2020 – AeT 145
Feb 2021 – AeT 150
Jun 2021 – AeT 155
My Anaerobic Threshold (AnT) is around 167, so my AeT in 2021 was within 10% of my AnT, and it took about a year to fix my Aerobic Deficiency Syndrome. In 2020, I averaged about six hours of aerobic training per week. The training volume gradually increased in 2021 and 2022, but I didn’t do any AeT tests for almost 18 months. So, I was happy to see that I had maintained my AeT.
Winter Training
Typically, at the end of the week, Seth would put the following week’s workouts in my Training Peaks calendar. I would be skiing at Grouse with my daughter twice weekly, so he would plan the workouts around that.
Here is what one of the first weeks of training looked like –
A typical week of training in winter focused on ice climbing and backcountry skiing included a combination of –
- Strength workouts: shoulder conditioning, tool hangs, upper and lower body workouts
- Aerobic workouts: downhill skiing, backcountry skiing, gym cardio and indoor climbing sessions
- Recovery Yoga/mobility workouts
Each of these workouts came with detailed instructions and, in some cases, links to instructional videos. These details were very helpful in completing the workout as intended. After the workout, I would update Training Peaks with my comments. Seth would soon review, provide feedback, and change the following week’s plan if needed.
Around the end of January, I took a bad fall while backcountry skiing and hurt my left ankle and knees. It took about four weeks of physio to get back on the slopes. Seth adjusted my training to be more upper-body focused and added some easy aerobic workouts that didn’t stress my ankles and knees.
Skiing
Despite almost a month off from skiing due to injury, I got about 24 days of skiing – the majority of them downhill skiing at Grouse and a few days of backcountry skiing.
One of my best days on the Grouse was around the end of March when I was on the mountain for about four hours. I skied a total distance of 34 km with a total elevation drop of more than 6700 m. In the previous years, I had not exceeded 15 km of skiing at Grouse and had been able to ski this distance/vert only at Whistler where you can get better mileage per lap. A combination of factors including training, motivation and improved (relative to previous years) technique helped get better skiing volume, despite the injury.
The training prepared me well for the uphill backcountry skiing, but I have a long way to go in improving my downhill skiing. More than fitness, my technique is the limiting factor in backcountry skiing.
Ice Climbing
I had a couple of days of ice climbing last (2022-23) season, and I didn’t pursue it that much compared to skiing. My Jan-Feb weekends were tied up with ski lessons for my daughter, and a Canmore trip I was planning got cancelled. Maybe this season, I can get a few more days of climbing.
Summer Training
As the Skiing season wrapped up around the end of April, I scheduled another call with Seth to discuss the plan for summer. In the past, I would do a couple of alpine climbing/mountaineering trips and then go climbing in Squamish on other weekends.
Seth had athletes who had taken a similar approach of pursuing multiple objectives, but he also said that some athletes take a more focused approach and pursue just rock climbing or alpine climbing. Initially, I was unsure, but then I decided to focus on rock climbing for the 2023 summer season.
The discussion with Seth helped me reconsider my approach to climbing, specifically around bouldering and sport climbing. Even though my goal was to improve my trad climbing grade, he encouraged me to boulder in the gym and to do more sport climbing in Squamish.
Here is what a typical week of training looked like in August –
As you can see, there is a heavy focus on climbing (2x outdoor sessions or alternate workouts) and upper body/core workouts. But we also had some aerobic workouts/hikes and full-body flexibility workouts.
There are more reds (missed workouts) this week than I would like. However, on Wed and Sun, I climbed in Squamish, so I didn’t have to do the alternate workouts. Mon and Thu, I guess I just decided to take it easy.
Even though Seth warms up on grades harder than my red point, he was very supportive and cheered me along as I posted my progress on each Squamish outing.
Rock Climbing
I had to wrap up my climbing season around mid-September because of serious back pain. I was waking up with pain in the morning, and it would last for a couple of hours. It took almost six weeks of physio for me to feel normal again.
But still, I had a great season and did around 175 climbs, with 44% of these climbs 5.10a or higher. I wrote a detailed post on improving my trad climbing grade, and you can read it here.
Coaching with Seth not only helped me train efficiently and be physically ready for the climbs, but he also helped me reconsider my approach to the sport and push myself.
Overall, it was a good experience, and I can’t wait to get back into training mode once I am back from Tanzania.
Resources:
Evoke Endurance: Coaching | Custom Training Plans | Training Plans
Seth Keena: Coach Profile
Disclosure: I work part time for Evoke Endurance. However, the Evoke Endurance or any other links I have shared in the post and under the Resources section are not Affiliate Links.
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