Discussion: Place your bets for a new AP training record

First congrats to the Senior Walker for not only spawning the creators of possibly the two most significant Orienteering developments from North America (AttackPoint and Catching Features), but also topping the training volume rankings for 2005.

However, with a certain fox now logging on AP as well as the Canadian duo of Bent and Bash coming to a full year, it seems that the standard for 2006 will be considerably higher. So, any bets on what it will take to get a 100-point ranking for training volume in 2006? I'm guessing 600 hours, but that could be low.

BTW, as of right now I'm on pace for 1271 hours, but I'm guessing I'll not be able to hold that pace for long.

My training goal for 2006 is 500 hours (i.e. I'm hoping to find the controls a bit more quickly), but it's very hard to keep Bent off the trails!

Bash and I started on AP in March. I tend to pile on a lot of hours by running, biking or skiing to work year round, but watch out for our buddy Crash- she's on track for gold, and could be queen of training volume when she's got a year here. Also keep an eye on Skidder- he's a training machine in adventure racing season!

Thanks for the compliment. AP and CF continue to amaze me. But to extend Bash's comment, the only reason I have more training time is that it takes me longer to get there.

My plans for 2006 project less AR so that may cut the hours down. However, that could be offset by more rogaining. And then there's talk of the Race Across America in June, which would require learning how to ride a bike.

I think someone should go for a nice round 2 hours a day.

If memory serves, said fox did 675 hours of training during a recent year and is certainly laying in plenty of basework recently, while Bent should be up somewhere around 650 by the time he's put in a year. Not having run the numbers on anyone else but assuming someone else will challenge them, I'll guess 650 hours is about what will be required for a 100 point training volume ranking - not something that's going to be one of my training goals this year given how much it would flout the rules on how much it's safe to increase training year on year.

Given the new standard, I'll aim for 50 points - an hour a day actually (which may be more) - which means I'll aim for ~8hr/wk, and as long as various interrupts (such as my current hamstring discomfort) stay minor, I might just make 365 training hours...

Hey Kenny, can you add a function that shows members' training volume to date for 2006, starting with January 1? That way people can keep track of the race between Swampfox, kadley, and the Canadians for top AP training volume of the year. :)

While we're talking about training hours - a quick question to folks on recording race times for long expedition AR races. I'll be racing 3 such races this year, and these will likely range from 72-120 hours each. Now, of course that will jack up my training hours in fairly large chunks if I record them fully, BUT it feels a little suspect to do just that. Any thoughts/recommendations on this?

We did a long AR race in September, and I subtracted our transition times, then logged the rest at level 2 intensity. It's a tough call, but the race ranged from level 1 to 4, and we were moving pretty steadily carrying 5-7 kg packs. I'm interested in using AP to track the time I spend doing physical activity, which includes the time I spend doing AR. I wouldn't want to flag some activities as "ranked" training or not with a simple Y/N. That 3-day race involved plenty of exertion, and it had a big effect on my training volume before and after, so to exclude it entirely would be unrealistic.

At the same time, I'm somewhat embarrassed that my inability to do much else besides LSD has given me a high ranking in AP training volume. Since the volume rankings are important to some people, many of whom are far better athletes than I, maybe people like me could have an option to be excluded from the rankings. On the other hand, as an IT professional, I'm not sure it's worth asking Ken to figure out a way to address something like this, which doesn't have a solution that will make everyone happy. And even if I opt out, there is no guarantee that all other people with similar training patterns would opt out, so the rankings would still be influenced by people who do lots of LSD.

Like I often say to Bent, "Our Attackpoint rankings just prove that we're slower than everybody else."

I don't see why this is an issue. The point of training is definitely not to train more than someone else. It's either for its own enjoyment, or to prepare for a race, or even just to out-train a couple of specific people you know or compete against (that's already a bad reason). Who cares whether some people log 'sleeping' as training?

Sorry. I guess I just don't get it.

Bash, I was focused in that direction as well - using AP to log my activities as my main focus is AR with Rogaines and Orienteering as training activities for this. But when I started to read this column, I noted that my activities are going to add up to a lot of hours, and there were some very focused athletes on this site.

I've done the world of focused interval training, hill repeats, etc... and will find the odd time doing them. But, if I spend the day snowboarding, whitewater kayaking, etc... I know there are some benefits (including technical) to be had from those activities. Basically, I've decided that I will just record all the activities that raise my heart rate - including coffee drinking, and watching the French channel at 2am:-). Well, maybe not. But I now have a few teammates starting up on AP as well, so that is where the competition lies:-).

Really I just want to be accountable - that is why I'm chosing to log electronically and open myself up to scrutiny.

I think all the long AR races and training are certainly worthy of being logged. The point is each of us trains with different goals in mind. Its not a competition about who trains more, but tracking the training of folks with similar goals. I like to keep track of Boris & Mikell's logs to see the type of training they are doing but have no intention of doing that sort of volume. For purposes of comparing training volumes, each Attackpoint user can build a favorites list of users with similar goals. The system already accomodates this and I see no need to flag or exclude users or training modes. Each user logs what they feel appropriate and compare with users having like goals.

As an AR'er as well I simply use AP to log my training leading up to a race etc. I don't see it as a competition with other AP'ers but rather as a useful tool which helps me keep track of my workouts, HR's and shoe wear and tear.

Urthbuoy, it's great to see an adventure racer of your calibre on AP. Bent and I have found that logging in a public forum (and the associated abuse) has really helped us stay on track.

I too have my favourite logs to examine, motivate, and educate. My personal favourite is Swisscheese. Why? Well because he is the best orienteer on AP. I also look to his training to figure out how he balances career and training.

Last year Swisscheese logged 475'ish hours of training.

His 2005 WOC Long placing: 2nd
His 2005 AP Training volume ranking: 13th

;-)

Oh and in the last 365 days Swisscheese has out-trained me by 4.046 hours (not that I am keeping track) but at this exact moment I am crushing him over the last 7 days by a whopping 2 minutes (again not that I'm keeping track). ;-)

Thats the attack point effect for ya eh!