Ty's Training: Week of 2025-30-06
Warm up
This week marked my return to Quito after an extended trip to Colorado, logging 99 kilometers with 13,000 meters of vertical gain over 25 hours of training. The week started with travel chaos - flight delays in Denver adding an extra day to my trip and forcing some creative workout adaptations in Miami. But once I finally made it back to altitude in Ecuador, something clicked. I found my rhythm again after what had been a challenging June, settling back into the structured training that's been the foundation of my preparation.
The week featured some fascinating controlled experiments, including nearly identical lactate threshold workouts at sea level in Miami and then back at altitude in Quito just days apart. I also made the deliberate choice to do Friday's entire double workout session in the gym - both morning and afternoon - to get precise comparison data and work in a completely controlled environment. These sessions, combined with my return to Polichaski's familiar slopes, showed me exactly where I'm starting this final buildup phase toward UTMB, now less than two months away.
Cool-down - Controlled vs. Natural Training Environments
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the tension between control and chaos in training—specifically the difference between treadmill workouts and being out in the mountains or on the road. I know the treadmill gets a bad rap, but honestly, I think it’s underrated. Especially early in a training cycle, when you’re relearning how to run hard, how to sit with discomfort, and how to keep pushing when it sucks. A treadmill doesn’t let you bargain with yourself. You set the pace, and it’s locked in. It doesn’t matter if it feels hard at rep two—you’re on the hook unless you actively decide to quit. That’s a mental stimulus that’s hard to replicate anywhere else.
But of course, the treadmill is a tool—not the point. I run on it so I can run better outside. If I’m prepping for UTMB or a race that’s going to throw everything at me—terrain, weather, uncertainty—I need to be training in that environment too. That’s where the chassis gets tuned: uneven ground, impact forces, problem-solving in motion. So to me, the treadmill dials in the engine; the trail dials in everything else. And yeah, I’ve got access to controlled stuff—altitude bikes, simulated climbs—but I know most people don’t. That’s why I always say: find a buddy who’s a little faster and chase them. Get creative. You don’t need perfect data or a $2,000 treadmill to get fit. You just need consistency, curiosity, and some grit.Lunes, 30 de Junio, 2025 - 08:41: Slept in Frisco last night as I was too tired to drive all the way to DEN. Got on the treadmill for some easy hiking and then got a message that my flight was delayed by like 6 hours and meant I was going to miss my connection, so did a few 30/90s (10’), which felt quite good, and called it at 30’ so I could go deal with that. Total 3km, 30’, 450m+.
11:04am: Quick solo hike/jog on the same Frisco climb up towards Tenmile as the other day when I was here. Didn’t have a ton of time as I had to drive back to DEN, but felt much better than the other day and was jogging most of what I’d walked the other day. Quite warm too. Felt good. Went up ~650m and then flipped. Jogged down easy. HR in the 130s to low 140s on the way up and barely over 100 on the way down. Good. Total 6.4km in 66’, 653m+.
PM: OFF, drove to DEN, returned the Turo, got to the airport, still very caffeinated, and cranked a lot of long-term work at the gate and then on the flight. Got in very late, like 00:30am ET but easy transit without checked bags to Hampton Inn East, which was fine and very close. In bed by 01:15 or so.
Martes, 1 de Julio, 2025 - TLDR: 15x 3' at LT @ 2'18 avg (2'34-> 2'00/KSch)(/ 1' rec @ 4'00 (on treadmill, sea level)
09:40am: Slept very well at sea level. HR was 35 overnight! Easy walk down to the nearby gas station and back to grab a celsius and a couple bars. Nice to walk outside a bit. Total 1.1km, 22’.
11:08: Later start w/ the late morning and a couple phone calls. Luckily got my room check-out extended, so plenty of time to get in a nice little workout. First real quality day since leaving Quito (and feeling like garbage). Plan was to do 10-15x 3’ uphill on the treadmill. Done something similar to this a few times early-season so had some points of comparison. This is at sea level in Miami, but comparable to some workouts in Santiago, Tokyo, Concord, etc.
Warmed up 20’ easy hiking (everything at 15%) (2km+) and then did light drills in the gym and 4x strides (30”) at 7.5, 8.2, 9.1, 9.5 mph. All rec today at 3.7mph (4’00/KSch).
A few min of rec to 10’ on the clock and then started the session.
Really wanted to ease into this one, so started at 5.7mph (2’34/KSch), which felt very easy and HR only in the 140s, so upped it to 5.9 after 90” to avg 5.8. I did this for the next few reps, increasing speed both in the rep and from rep to rep until I felt like I found the right zone, around 6.5mph (2’18/KSch). This was getting HR into the upper 160s, which I figured was correct for sea level. Never felt terminal, each rep just felt kind of hard.
Held that to 10x reps and then increased the pace a bit more in the last few, again increasing in each rep and from rep to rep. #13 and #14 I pushed quite a bit harder, increasing every 30” up to 7.6mph in the last one. This felt very good and avg HR on the rep was 170, highest of the day. Very last rep, I brought it back down to 6.5mph and that felt quite nice and a good way to wrap it up.
Cooled down a bit longer to finish the season finale of The Bear and since I knew I wouldn’t have a chance to exercise later in the day.
Total 14.4km, 1h50, 2160m+
Speed:
5.8, 6.0, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4
5x 6.5
6.6, 6.7, 7.0, 7.3, 6.5
XT: Ethio.
PM: OFF, travel MIA-UIO. Got kicked out of the hotel at 2pm, so went to the airport quite early and no issues (traveling without a checked bag is so nice!) Went to the centurion lounge but they have a very dumb rule saying you can’t enter more than 3 hours before your flight, so I had a long walk across Terminal D to the new Turkish lounge, which is priority pass, and got some food and a lot of work done there before boarding. Easy flight so far to Quito in an exit row. Will be nice to sleep in my own bed tonight after seven nights in a row of different beds every night!
Miércoles, 2 de Julio, 2025 - 09:03: Whew it's good to be home! Easy trip back yesterday, very quick from wheels down to in my front door in 70'. Slept very well (RHR 40) and then woke up naturally a bit after 8am and just had caff gum and out the door quickly and to the mountain by 9am.
Felt pretty tired and went to bed quite hungry, so expected it to be slow.
NB: Had yet another weird instance of extreme nausea and then vomiting. Felt fine and then started to feel not so fine after about 10' on the steep grass climb. Got to the top and mostly dry heaves but also threw up some stomach bile. Gross. Also a bit of a concerning trend.
Felt fine after that and continued up nice and easy. Halfway in 43' and then made better time after that, topping out in 81'58 (126 HR).
Kept going after that up to the top of horses in 38' (HR 120) and then a few more minutes to get to 2h30.
Easy jog back down, slow split down the smooth trail (18'). Chilly and foggy and windy up there.
Good to be home.
Total 12.6km, 2h36, 1594m+.
15:55: Back on the altitude bike. Still around 7200m and the transition back didn’t feel too bad. Perceived effort and HR were both in line with what I remember from before I left. HR in the 120-125 range for the most part (122 avg for first 35min) and this is in like 4 upper layers including hoodie and jacket. All that at 80W. At 35’ did 20’ of 30/90s at 150-220W, last few were steady at 250W. All good. Good to be back to the routine.
Total 60’, avg HR 127.
XT: Ethio, lower leg stuff. Need to make a tracking sheet for that and get some more bands.
Jueves, 3 de Julio, 2025 - 09:03. Felt much better today. Good sleep and out the door quickly.
Forgot my leki gloves so didn't use the poles much. Definitely more jogging than yesterday and energy just felt better overall. Halfway in 38'30 including maybe a minute or so for a cow on the singletrack. HR in the 120s the whole way and hit the top in 77'. A big step in the right direction, HR only 126.
Kept going with no stoppage up to the bear cave in 36' (123 HR). Quite cold and windy up there.
Finished easy down to the cable car, 16'0x down the runnable piece.
Good morning. Total 13.1km, 2h32, 1669m+.
Viernes, 4 de Julio, 2025 - TLDR: AM: 15x 3’ at 2’17/KSch (1’ rec at 4’00) | PM: 15x 45” at 1’51.3/KSch (75” rec at 4’00)
07:33: Decided to do the entire session today in the gym both for a bit of a measuring stick and also a bit more control. Did this one in the gym in the building to compare to an early-season 2’/1’ workout I did in January. Also thought it would be interesting to do basically the same workout as I did in Miami a couple days ago at sea level.
Warmed up easy 10’ and then 10’ of 30/90s at 12, 13, 14, 15 kph. Those felt good.
Felt very good on this one and matched the pace almost exactly from the MIA workout and HR was basically the same, if not a bit lower. Took about 4 reps (from 9.5 kph to 10.3kph) to get HR above 160. Followed the same pattern as the other day of using the first 5x reps to build up the pace, then holding that pace for the middle 5x (10.5kph) and then increased the last 5x. That felt really nice and those middle ones felt just right, but still didn’t have HR avg over 160 until the last 3 or 4 reps where I pushed the pace a bit (quickest one picked up pace every 30” or so from 11.5-12.0 or so. Very good.
Finished w/ 11’ easy to get to a round 90.
Total 1h30, 12.5km, 1875m+
11:12am: Afternoon session at the big gym down the street for some shorter reps. Jogged down there and then did 200m+ on stairmaster to warm up (11’40) and then did drills and 4x 30” strides on treadmill at 15% at 12,13,14,15 kph.
Workout was 15x 45” at CV / 75” rec. Nice intro session for running a bit quicker. Followed a similar pattern to the morning’s pacing, so started easy at 12kph and increased up to 13.0 and held it there for the middle 5 reps, and then let myself push a bit from 11-14 and then back to 13.0 for 15. Quickest rep got the HR up to just under 170. Very good.
Avg was 12.9kph (1’51.3/KSch) - excellent! All rec at 6kph, 4’00/KSch.
Total 9.5km, 75’, 1322m+.
14:00. Right onto the bike after getting back from the gym. HR a bit tired and watts only 70 the whole time. Long day! Felt long. Still at 7200m. Only 10' of 30-90s at only 120W. Good, big day! Total 60', avg HR 130.
Strength and Plyos:
2 sets of 6x
Single leg leg press 20kg
Weighted calf leg press 20kg
Tricep pull 10kg
Single leg dead lift 10kg
Step up step down 10kg
Static lunge step 10kg
Dynamic lunge step 10kg
Side lunge 10kg
Single leg split squat 10kg
Single-leg Hamstring curl (2nd dot)
Good morning 20kg + bar
Plyos: 1 sets of 10x
Ankle hops
Toe taps
Squat jumps
Step ups
DL long jump
Skater jumps
Single leg lateral hop
Single leg hop up/down
Depth Jumps
Sábado, 5 de Julio, 2025 - 07:02. Might be a PR from deep asleep to starting on polichaski. Alarm went off at 06:00 and I was deeply dreaming but had some caff gum and got out the door quickly.
A bit logey at first but felt quite good once I got moving, surprisingly. To halfway in 40'30 and then topped out in 77'24 (127 HR).
Easy from there up horses climb, HR actually getting lower at the top part as I think I was just getting tired (34'47, 124 HR). Jogged out to the top of the second rock step and then flipped to hit the total time. Almost exactly the same as day before yesterday to the minute.
Total 13km, 2h33, 1651m+.
10:27am: Skewed the day earlier so I can relax and watch Pre this afternoon and work. Bike felt better today, still kept watts low (70W) at 7200m altitude. HR in the 110s for a while and then 120s, 4 upper layers and pants and beanie. Good. Finished w/ 15’ of 30/90s at 120-170W. Very sunny and warm. Total 60’, avg HR 124.
XT: Ethio, ankles.
Domingo, 6 de Julio, 2025 - 07:06: another early start to beat the tourists. Slept well again though rib is still annoying me on left side.
NB: Forgot HRM today so HR readings are garbage from wrist.
Easy up polichaski in 77'47 and then dialed it back a lot on the horses climb, as I was feeling a bit tired and hungry and workout day tomorrow. Up very easy in 38'54 and then just a few min past the split before flipping.
Also worth noting there had been frost overnight, so a lot of horses trail was extremely slippery with a very thin mud layer. Really annoying and descent was very, very slow.
Overall, good rec day.
Total 12.7km, 2h31, 1589m+.
10:28: Right on the bike when I got home again to get ready for a noon podcast. Started out with no altitude mask while talking to Conor on the phone, which was nice, ~17’ and very easy start. After that, all at 7200m, 70W in 4 upper layers in the baking sun and that got the HR right where it needed to be. Finished w/ 20’ of 30/90s, all at 150W, which felt good. Watching Squid Game Season 3 now. Total 60’, avg HR 122.
XT: Ethio, glutes, posture.