I'm I doing the right thing

Rita1

Hi folks,

I have being doing this from the start of January

STEP 1 : 2-3 weeks, 4-9 spins at 60% of your Max heart rate for 2 hrs.
STEP 2 : Next two weeks, or 4 to 8 rides, at 65% heart rate for 2 hrs.
STEP 3 : Next 2 weeks. 70% of Heart rate for 2 hrs. Your body should
STEP 4 : Last two weeks, now 75% of you Max HR for 2 hrs.

I feel like I’m doing nothing at the minute, finding it very hard to keep my HR down without stopping. My last cycle was for 2 hours, avg speed was 12kph. I've being cycling about 2 years now and have completed a good few sportive over that time(160k, 100k).....I'm wanting to be more stronger near the end of these for this year and maybe make my debut in the racing front.

I found the programme here:
http://galibier.cc/4-steps-to-speed-slowly/

I'm just wondering if I’m doing the correct thing or just cycling into a very strong head wind.:P

Tenzor07

Go out and ride your bike with a group, get the miles in, don't worry about H.R zones, they're not great for someone who wants to take part in a sportive..IMO

Although you may get the amateur athletes on here who will use HR zones, they may also have had there Vo2 max and lactate tests done and use a Powertap hub etc..And would be training for road racing..

Rita1

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Go out and ride your bike with a group, get the miles in, don't worry about H.R zones, they're not great for someone who wants to take part in a sportive..IMO

Although you may get the amateur athletes on here who will use HR zones, they may also have had there Vo2 max and lactate tests done and use a Powertap hub etc..And would be training for road racing..

I'm not able to get out in a group due to work and family commitments, so maybe you're right saying just get out and cycle and forget about all this science lark.

Cheers

Shedite27

Rita1 wrote: »

Hi folks,

I have being doing this from the start of January

STEP 1 : 2-3 weeks, 4-9 spins at 60% of your Max heart rate for 2 hrs.
STEP 2 : Next two weeks, or 4 to 8 rides, at 65% heart rate for 2 hrs.
STEP 3 : Next 2 weeks. 70% of Heart rate for 2 hrs. Your body should
STEP 4 : Last two weeks, now 75% of you Max HR for 2 hrs.

I feel like I’m doing nothing at the minute, finding it very hard to keep my HR down without stopping. My last cycle was for 2 hours, avg speed was 12kph. I've being cycling about 2 years now and have completed a good few sportive over that time(160k, 100k).....I'm wanting to be more stronger near the end of these for this year and maybe make my debut in the racing front.

I found the programme here:
http://galibier.cc/4-steps-to-speed-slowly/

I'm just wondering if I’m doing the correct thing or just cycling into a very strong head wind.:P

Are ya sure you have your "max" correct?

Shedite27

Are ya sure you have your "max" correctly calculated?

petethedrummer

Rita1 wrote: »

so maybe you're right saying just get out and cycle and forget about all this science lark.

Practice over varying terrain with varying levels of intensity. Easy, hard, long, short, flat, hilly, in a group, alone, with plenty of recovery thrown in if you have a busy life.

Trying to keep your heart rate to certain figure over the course of a ride just seems like an unnecessary distraction, when you could just try to heed and sometimes ignore the signals your body/brain generates. It will tell you when you a thirsty, hungry, tired, fresh. If you think you have maxxed out all the benefits from listening to your body, then maybe think of incorporating measuring devices.

Racing is very different from sportives. For a sportive, you're generally trying to keep an even effort over the course of the ride. For racing the intensity levels are peaks and troughs. During sportives you generally chose your own pace, for racing it is the collective decision of the group.

Lumen

Cycling around at 12kph isn't going to prepare you to start racing unless you're a very, very patient person.

rollingscone

Also, make sure you enjoy your spins!

Don't lose sight of that for pursuit of a program, you might also find someone to cycle with from time to time who has a similar or compatible schedule to yourself, it's not essential but it can be a nice change and motivator.

As for your speeds, how are you using your gearing? I.e. my rule of thumb is to stay in the lowest possible gear and aim to spin as fast as I can until I'm forced to go up a gear.

ghogie91

You can crunch numbers when you get to a level when/if you race or do hefty endurance events

For sportives, get out and cover the distance if possible, if you can cover 75ish% of the distance you will be ok on the day (eg ring of kerry is 180 as far as I can remember, if you go out and do 140/150 you can push out the last few on the day)

All this is well and good if you want to take part and finish, if you want to get into touring and actual podium places then you will have to get slightly scientific a far as HR zones and whatnot but still theres no substitute for getting on the saddle and putting the work in with a simple odometer and stopwatch

Edit: Just seen that you had to bring down to 12 km/h to try train within your heart rate, either you have your max wrong something else is very wrong with your HR strap

joxerjohn

You need to be careful that you are calculating the precentages properly and make sure you are taking your resting HR into account in the calculation.

Different plans based on HR measurement do the calculations differently

E.g if Max HR = 180 and resting HR = 60

60% X 180 = 108 BPM

or

60% X (180-60) + 60 = 132 BPM


Which one are you using ?

Rita1

Shedite27 wrote: »

Are ya sure you have your "max" correctly calculated?

I think it is my max hr is 185 so at 60% my hr is 112....I think thats right.

jinkypolly

Rita1 wrote: »

Hi folks,

I have being doing this from the start of January

STEP 1 : 2-3 weeks, 4-9 spins at 60% of your Max heart rate for 2 hrs.

Out of interest, how did you get your max heart rate?

Rita1

petethedrummer wrote: »

Practice over varying terrain with varying levels of intensity. Easy, hard, long, short, flat, hilly, in a group, alone, with plenty of recovery thrown in if you have a busy life.

Racing is very different from sportives. For a sportive, you're generally trying to keep an even effort over the course of the ride. For racing the intensity levels are peaks and troughs. During sportives you generally chose your own pace, for racing it is the collective decision of the group.

Thanks for that, when you say plenty of recovery, do you mean train every 2/3 days? and with regards to the sportives and choosing a pace, that is what I was doing.

Rita1

rollingscone wrote: »

Also, make sure you enjoy your spins!

Don't lose sight of that for pursuit of a program, you might also find someone to cycle with from time to time who has a similar or compatible schedule to yourself, it's not essential but it can be a nice change and motivator.

As for your speeds, how are you using your gearing? I.e. my rule of thumb is to stay in the lowest possible gear and aim to spin as fast as I can until I'm forced to go up a gear.

I'm spinning around 80rpm, maybe I need to up the rpm's.

Rita1

ghogie91 wrote: »

You can crunch numbers when you get to a level when/if you race or do hefty endurance events

For sportives, get out and cover the distance if possible, if you can cover 75ish% of the distance you will be ok on the day (eg ring of kerry is 180 as far as I can remember, if you go out and do 140/150 you can push out the last few on the day)

All this is well and good if you want to take part and finish, if you want to get into touring and actual podium places then you will have to get slightly scientific a far as HR zones and whatnot but still theres no substitute for getting on the saddle and putting the work in with a simple odometer and stopwatch

Edit: Just seen that you had to bring down to 12 km/h to try train within your heart rate, either you have your max wrong something else is very wrong with your HR strap

So what I'm doing at the minute is only effective if planning for racing and you have a good level of fitness, and to be strong at the end of sportives is just get the miles under the belt.....thanks for the reply

Rita1

joxerjohn wrote: »

You need to be careful that you are calculating the precentages properly and make sure you are taking your resting HR into account in the calculation.

Different plans based on HR measurement do the calculations differently

E.g if Max HR = 180 and resting HR = 60

60% X 180 = 108 BPM

or

60% X (180-60) + 60 = 132 BPM


Which one are you using ?

I'm using the first one

Max HR = 185 and resting HR = 60

60% x 185 = 111BPM

Rita1

jinkypolly wrote: »

Out of interest, how did you get your max heart rate?

Now this is where I could be going wrong....I got it from empting myself doing sufferest videos, my max HR from 20 session was 185bpm, that where I got it.

petethedrummer

Rita1 wrote: »

Thanks for that, when you say plenty of recovery, do you mean train every 2/3 days?

It's different for everyone. And it depends on the intensity of your last training session.

What I really meant is, don't train yourself into oblivion. If your training schedule says you must be out cycling but you feel run down or sore, it's ok to take a day off and push the spin out to another time.

Rita1

petethedrummer wrote: »

It's different for everyone. And it depends on the intensity of your last training session.

What I really meant is, don't train yourself into oblivion. If your training schedule says you must be out cycling but you feel run down or sore, it's ok to take a day off and push the spin out to another time.

100%, cheers.....always learning here.

rollingscone

Rita1 wrote: »

I'm spinning around 80rpm, maybe I need to up the rpm's.

That's not bad, people usually say to aim for an average of 90rpm so you're nearly there.

joxerjohn

The article you referenced seems to also use the calculaltion as you are doing it, others use the method I illlusrtarted and other still such as Joe Friel's use % of LTHR (Lactate threshold heart rate). It can be very confusing trying to dial all these into a plan, it may be a good idea to engage a cycling coach who will tailor a plan for your needs based on what you are trying to achieve.

Rita1

joxerjohn wrote: »

The article you referenced seems to also use the calculaltion as you are doing it, others use the method I illlusrtarted and other still such as Joe Friel's use % of LTHR (Lactate threshold heart rate). It can be very confusing trying to dial all these into a plan, it may be a good idea to engage a cycling coach who will tailor a plan for your needs based on what you are trying to achieve.

This is getting very confusing and the science behind the whole thing may be a bit to much for me.....maybe just get out and cycling my bike is the best option.

Thanks to everyone for all their comments, it's being very helpful and an eye opener.

ghogie91

Best thing to do is just slog it out on the bike

I believe alot of the science stuff is used when you really get into that elite bracket

I mean that lactate (or however you spell it) test was used with USPS team with Lance Armstrong and the others. They were told to go flat out for 10km and at the end they would give blood and their readings would be read to determine their athletic capability. Christian Vande Velde apparently murdered lance armstrong in the tests and Paul Kimmage found out that these results were altered to show Lance to be the strongest as he was team captain and wouldnt have taken the news well that the then 22 year old showed more promise than himself

now theres a useless piece of information for you haha

Rita1

ghogie91 wrote: »

Best thing to do is just slog it out on the bike

I believe alot of the science stuff is used when you really get into that elite bracket

I mean that lactate (or however you spell it) test was used with USPS team with Lance Armstrong and the others. They were told to go flat out for 10km and at the end they would give blood and their readings would be read to determine their athletic capability. Christian Vande Velde apparently murdered lance armstrong in the tests and Paul Kimmage found out that these results were altered to show Lance to be the strongest as he was team captain and wouldnt have taken the news well that the then 22 year old showed more promise than himself

now theres a useless piece of information for you haha

That is an interesting fact, so what im going to do now is just turn the legs and see where it takes me.

talkabout

Rita1 wrote: »

Hi folks,

I have being doing this from the start of January

STEP 1 : 2-3 weeks, 4-9 spins at 60% of your Max heart rate for 2 hrs.
STEP 2 : Next two weeks, or 4 to 8 rides, at 65% heart rate for 2 hrs.
STEP 3 : Next 2 weeks. 70% of Heart rate for 2 hrs. Your body should
STEP 4 : Last two weeks, now 75% of you Max HR for 2 hrs.

I feel like I’m doing nothing at the minute, finding it very hard to keep my HR down without stopping. My last cycle was for 2 hours, avg speed was 12kph. I've being cycling about 2 years now and have completed a good few sportive over that time(160k, 100k).....I'm wanting to be more stronger near the end of these for this year and maybe make my debut in the racing front.

I found the programme here:
http://galibier.cc/4-steps-to-speed-slowly/

I'm just wondering if I’m doing the correct thing or just cycling into a very strong head wind.:P

Rita1

talkabout wrote: »

Wicklowrider

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/heart-rate-monitor-training-for-cyclists-28838/

I found this article very informative - more so than books I've read on the subject. Its worth reading no matter how experienced you are - particularly at this time of year.

Rita1

Wicklowrider wrote: »

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/heart-rate-monitor-training-for-cyclists-28838/

I found this article very informative - more so than books I've read on the subject. Its worth reading no matter how experienced you are - particularly at this time of year.

That's very interesting Wicklowrider, after reading this I feel I'm doing the correct training......We will see when March/April arrives.

Cheers

nilhg

Wicklowrider wrote: »

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/heart-rate-monitor-training-for-cyclists-28838/

I found this article very informative - more so than books I've read on the subject. Its worth reading no matter how experienced you are - particularly at this time of year.

Rita1 wrote: »

That's very interesting Wicklowrider, after reading this I feel I'm doing the correct training......We will see when March/April arrives.

Cheers

I'm far from an expert on any sort of training, have been muddling through myself over the last few years and now am trying to be a little more focused because I'm more constrained in time but the part of your program that worries me is that it all seems to be the same, you step up through the levels as time goes on but the weekly spins are all the same, maybe I'm way off the mark but my feeling is that you should mix it up a little, early on it should be predominantly easy base building but the odd hard effort is no harm and equally when you start to get serious you still need the odd very easy spin, for the sake of your sanity if nothing else.

This quote from the article above sort of get at what I mean.

I have a confession to make: I’ve spent a lifetime as a serial over-trainer. I’ve trained too hard at every sport I’ve ever done, which means I’ve suffered loads of injuries and too many lacklustre performances. For the past few years I’ve been training smarter, though: my hard days are very hard and my easy days are very easy. In the past the easy and the hard seemed to blend into one. I know that riding at a very low HR is actually doing me good by allowing my body to recover. Make sure you have at least one rest day per week and another day that is a really slow recovery ride done in Zone 1 or even lower.

Anyway best of luck with the training, it'll be interesting to see how you get on.