HR on the turbo

barleyman

I've been following the Carmicheals Time Crunched Cyclist Program recently and have done the 2 8 min TTs to determine my training zones.

This was all fine until I started using the turbo this week, I can't get my HR to climb beyond 166bpm and at this level on the turbo im fit to pass out, yet this is my climbing repeat zone when I'm training on my bike outside.

Last night I was trying to do 3 min power intervals and was expecting to hit about 175-180 bpm but on the turbo I couldn't hold 166bpm for more than 30 secs.

Anybody else experience this on the turbo?

mossym

are your legs spinning out at this level or what is stopping you going higher? would a lower rpm, higher resistance allow you to go higher on the bpm?

Beasty

What's your Max HR? It is more difficult to get the HR up on the turbo, although I have managed to increase mine from just over 100 to around 178 (8 less than the max I've ever recorded) in about a minute of an intense interval after a proper warm-up

victorcarrera

Not enough info provided. What was your average hr for the 2X8min
What level are you competing at? And what do you think your form is like at present. What is your recent max hr that you have reliably recorded?
For now, in my own experience what you describe is not unusual if you are ill,not motivated, even slightly tired, not recovered, re-hydrated or refueled from a previous session.
Sometimes I have experienced this and could not find a definite reason for it.
Take a break for 3 days since last hard session and try again.For average Joes like me no more than 3 hard interval sessions per week.

barleyman

Thanks for all the replies.

My avg hr for the field test was 169 bpm. I have been upping my mileage on the road recently, doing between 300-350km per week.

To answer your question mossym its my heart that's stopping me going faster, even though my garmin says its no where near my max my body is saying otherwise.

It's the same when i'm doing steady state intervals (155-159bpm) on the turbo they seem to hurt a lot more than when i'm on the road.

I was wondering should i reduce the ranges when i'm on the turbo?

Alek

Maybe its psychological? I find it harder to get up to the usual HR when cycling against the wind, I guess simply because I hate it.

(most of the time on Clontarf road, southbound :-/ )

on_the_nickel

Time crunched and doing 300-350km per week? I'm printing this thread out to show the missus......

DKO

I have found the same thing, early in the year when I was not veryb fit I was able to get the heart rate up, but later on I found it very tough to, I wondered if part of it was motivation? Its boring on the turbo and its harder to ride to an objective like the top of a hill...

I found that a decent warm up was really necessary, and it got easier to get heart rate up as the intervals went on, that is it was easier during the 3rd interval than on the first.

I suppose that's why a power meter would be very useful, just to see how hard you are actually working.

kumate_champ07

are you using a big fan in front of you?

victorcarrera

barleyman wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies.

My avg hr for the field test was 169 bpm. I have been upping my mileage on the road recently, doing between 300-350km per week.

OK, that's 10 to 12 hours if you are doing it on your own. Take a break for 3 days and try this at a time of day that you think suits you best.
Warm up no more than 15 mins.
3 minutes easy.
1 mins @ 120 bpm
3 minutes easy.
1 min @140
3mins easy
1 min @160
3mins easy
Now Try to do 3min @ 175.
(Intervals done properly are very hard and high intensity intervals should not be more than 10% of your training).
PS: If you have not developed high intensity pedaling while seated you may have to get off the saddle to get your hr up. In fact this may well be your problem when on the turbo.

It is very warm at the moment. I did my interval training in JAN and FEB in the garage mostly at <5 Centigrade wearing only shoes, shorts (and buckets under my elbows) . I don't think I could do it in these temperatures.

joker77

barleyman wrote: »

I've been following the Carmicheals Time Crunched Cyclist Program recently and have done the 2 8 min TTs to determine my training zones.

This was all fine until I started using the turbo this week, I can't get my HR to climb beyond 166bpm and at this level on the turbo im fit to pass out, yet this is my climbing repeat zone when I'm training on my bike outside.

Last night I was trying to do 3 min power intervals and was expecting to hit about 175-180 bpm but on the turbo I couldn't hold 166bpm for more than 30 secs.

Anybody else experience this on the turbo?

I've given up staring at a HR monitor on the turbo, it's soul destroying

If you want to get your heart rate up, for interval training - try the Sufferfest videos. They work.

pprendeville

Pretty hard to get up the oul ticker alright on a turbo. Better to work with power if you can. I did a test recently on an indoor trainer and I maxed out at 177bpm for my VO2 max. Did a TT in Wexford on Sat and averaged 185 for 8 mins. Being fuelled by adrenaline and having a breeze in your face is a huge difference than being on a turbo feeling like you're in The Bahamas and going nowhere fast.

The intervals suggested earlier are spot on. Increase your HR gradually before giving it a real lash to get it high.

Bahra12

joker77 wrote: »

I've given up staring at a HR monitor on the turbo, it's soul destroying

If you want to get your heart rate up, for interval training - try the Sufferfest videos. They work.

+1 to this. I have also found that Turbo HR and effort is different to the road and I reckon it is an adrenaline/boredom/psychological thing. Always had problems getting the HR up for threshold or power intervals. Using interval videos (Sufferfest is pretty good) with good tunes went along way to get my mind in the mode and then I started to see the HR hitting its max for power intervals.

When in doubt its probably best to go with perceived exertion even if the HR seems low.

ROK ON

I find it easier to hit peak HR zones on the turbo when properly warmed up than on the road. I push harder cycling indoors. The only thing that has come close to turbo sessions has been TTs and the very occasional hill interval when I have a target.
On the road I usually just faff about with steady Z2 efforts.