I recommend having your set work done after your other workouts. Then, have the all out set at the beginning of your workouts.
So you’d train carries twice a week:
Day 1: As far as possible with one set at start of workout
Day 2 (or 3, or wherever you wanna space this into the week): several sets after other work, toward end or just mid of workout.
That’s a good template. In reality though, I don’t think there are tons of factors that play into the efficiency of training this modality. Your body must be put through the works of long distance carries for several, several weeks before it becomes efficient at producing output under such stress.
One of the biggest factors in long carries is breathing before the set. I spend about 10 minutes performing deep nasal breathes with long exhales. Basically Wim Hoff but just budget version. At the end of this deep breathing, I can go without oxygen (without inhaling) for quite some time more. Might only be marginal, but the increase is tangible, even if it only attributes to an extra 10-15 feet of ground.
During the run, I do not breathe heavy. I actually stay as relaxed as possible until I have to heave. I see people forcing air at the beginning of long carries and collapsing not soon after.
I’d add that it doesn’t hurt to do a “Light” carry for distance on an off day or instead of one of the heavy carries. Some days you just need a light day, with everything. Also, don’t fully exhale during the carry, steady breathing in rhythm. If you let all of the pressure out in can’t get it back, you just deoxygenate quickly. At a certain point, the anaerobic conditioning becomes your limiting factor and not the strength.
It helps a bunch. Really appreciate all your advice. I’ve also noticed that all these loaded carries are frying my system way faster than other heavy lifts, but,
Ugh, that sucks. Not sure where you live but here in KY gyms opened back up in May and even when everything was locked down, I used my coaches home gym
They’ve opened back up here, but I honestly don’t trust other people, haha. Plus this time is allowing me to work on shoring up weak points in my physical preparedness that I let slide when I was hammering the stone goal.