Hear Rate Help

Vélo

I'd like to start getting the full use out of my hear rate monitor. I know practically nothing about it, so how do I find out my max heart rate? I presume it's needed to see how I can train properly. From the stats below I'd imagine my max heart rate is around the 200 bpm as I was fairly wrecked at certain parts of yesterday and I don't think it would take much more without killing myself.

Here are the stats I got from my monitor from the Tour of Kildare

Min 126 bpm
Average 166 bpm
Max 199 bpm

I know I'm nowhere near as fit as the regulars on here but I want to increase my fitness and ability/speed/distance on the bike.

blorg

You could be a fair above 200 in that case, you REALLY need to kill yourself to reach your max. I only got my current estimate when I started racing. Went 185-200-204.

Vélo

blorg wrote: »

You could be a fair above 200 in that case, you REALLY need to kill yourself to reach your max. I only got my current estimate when I started racing. Went 185-200-204.

I actually meant killing myself as in my heart exploding but then again maybe you did too.

Lumen

There are different approaches to calculating HR zones (e.g. Friel and Coggan) which can give significantly different values.

Have a read about sweet spots on cptips.com. Once you push past a certain point you're significantly increasing your risk of overtraining and injury without much extra training benefit.

Since physiological response is continuous (i.e. your body doesn't start doing something different the moment you cross a zone) you don't have to obsess over the numbers too much, but it's useful to adopt a consistent and regular approach to training. To this end you should start a training log if you haven't already. This can be on paper if you want, doesn't really matter.

As I understand it exercise adaption is layered - your endurance will increase even if you are doing high-intensity training, but not so much the other way around. For this reason I think the important numbers are how much time per week you spend in each zone or above.

Quigs Snr

A good place to start is with Joe Friels "Cyclists Training Bible". You should be able to pick it up for less than 20 euro on Amazon....

Theres a lot of stuff there about heart rate training.

leftism

The only truly accurate way to attain the correct heart rate training zones is to get a Vo2max test done. Heart rate training zones are such an individual thing and there are so many factors affecting them that if you want to be sure you're training correct, i'd fork out 60 euro, go into the Human Performance Lab in Trinity and get the test done....

Alternatively, I work in the lab there and i'll be running some tests in September October so if you want to be a guinnea pig for my PhD research you can get the test done for free.

In the meantime, try to find your heart rate, power and speed at anaerobic threshold or lactate threshold. The calculaton of speed at lactate trheshold has been shown to be a better performance predictor than VO2max in marathon runners and thats why most endurance athletes spend the majority of their season trying to improve it.


One way to estimate your heart rate at threshold, (which was suggested in another thread) is to do an all out 30min TT. Ride at the maximum pace you can maintain steadily for 30mins. Calculate your avg heart rate in the final 20mins of the TT. This should approximate your HR at TLac. Use this heart rate and start doing long intervals as close to this target as possible. 4x10mins, 3x15mins, 3x20mins are good threshold sessions for the bike. 3 months of doing these type of sessions and you should see a significant improvement in your speed at threshold.

Another way to find your HR at TLac is to calculate 80% and 90% of your max HR. Most cyclists have a HR @ TLac somewhere in between this range. Based on those estimates, and by carefully monitoring your feel during the interval sessions you should work it out...

Anyway if anyone wants a definite measure of their HR zones, drop us a PM and i can book you in for a lab test. As i said, its 60 euro (or free if you can wait and be a guinnea pig for me). You'll get a full set of results including full medical check, lung function test, % body fats, blood profiling (Hct, Hgb, RBC etc.), lactate and VO2 profiling along with training suggestions.

blorg

@leftism- sign me up for guinea pig duties, would be much appreciated.

Vélo

leftism wrote: »

The only truly accurate way to attain the correct heart rate training zones is to get a Vo2max test done. Heart rate training zones are such an individual thing and there are so many factors affecting them that if you want to be sure you're training correct, i'd fork out 60 euro, go into the Human Performance Lab in Trinity and get the test done....

Alternatively, I work in the lab there and i'll be running some tests in September October so if you want to be a guinnea pig for my PhD research you can get the test done for free.

In the meantime, try to find your heart rate, power and speed at anaerobic threshold or lactate threshold. The calculaton of speed at lactate trheshold has been shown to be a better performance predictor than VO2max in marathon runners and thats why most endurance athletes spend the majority of their season trying to improve it.


One way to estimate your heart rate at threshold, (which was suggested in another thread) is to do an all out 30min TT. Ride at the maximum pace you can maintain steadily for 30mins. Calculate your avg heart rate in the final 20mins of the TT. This should approximate your HR at TLac. Use this heart rate and start doing long intervals as close to this target as possible. 4x10mins, 3x15mins, 3x20mins are good threshold sessions for the bike. 3 months of doing these type of sessions and you should see a significant improvement in your speed at threshold.

Another way to find your HR at TLac is to calculate 80% and 90% of your max HR. Most cyclists have a HR @ TLac somewhere in between this range. Based on those estimates, and by carefully monitoring your feel during the interval sessions you should work it out...

Anyway if anyone wants a definite measure of their HR zones, drop us a PM and i can book you in for a lab test. As i said, its 60 euro (or free if you can wait and be a guinnea pig for me). You'll get a full set of results including full medical check, lung function test, % body fats, blood profiling (Hct, Hgb, RBC etc.), lactate and VO2 profiling along with training suggestions.

Sign me up too.

I'll even squeal like a guinea pig if it's free!!!

jag con

Hi Leftism i would also love to be a guinea pig pm sent