# Bought a heart rate monitor... Now what?



## Monkspeed (19 Jan 2012)

I was lucky to grab a crane heart rate monitor from aldi for £7!

So how can I incorporate it into my training runs now?

Thanks.


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## HLaB (19 Jan 2012)

I hardly ever use mine but its all about training zones, keeping your hear rate in a certain zone and not going into the red.


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## Monkspeed (19 Jan 2012)

OK its got three zones and a manual user editable one.

I'm guessing I need to keep in zone 2 which is for my age 120 - 148. My maximum is 185 (watch auto calculated it based on my age and weight I believe).

Zone 3 is 148 - 175.


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## screenman (19 Jan 2012)

There is a lot of advice available for training with a HRM just Google it. HRM are not used by many racers nowadays it is all about power meters.


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## Garz (19 Jan 2012)

> *Bought a heart rate monitor... Now what?*


 
USE IT!


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## Monkspeed (19 Jan 2012)

Garz said:


> USE IT!


A bit of clever editing there, what about the rest of it!


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## Crackle (19 Jan 2012)

There's lots of articles, here's one as a starter. Most are found on running forums

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/training-heart-rate-monitor-basics-28838/

You need to work out 5 or 6 zones , depending which advice you take. Another use for it is to monitor your resting pulse and/or recovery time which is a nice indication of fitness and learn when your HR is lower than you expect or higher, which can be indications of illness or tiredness.

As most of us can't afford a powermeter or don't need one, HR monitors can be useful or if you just like looking at the data, whatever floats your boat really.

The hardest part of working out your zones is figuring out your max HR. The above article gives an alternate to 220 - age formula, which is notoriously innacurate. Google, ramp tests, if you want to know about finding your personal Max HR.


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## Monkspeed (19 Jan 2012)

Crackle said:


> There's lots of articles, here's one as a starter. Most are found on running forums
> 
> http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/training-heart-rate-monitor-basics-28838/
> 
> ...


 
This gives me something to go on. Thanks!


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## VamP (20 Jan 2012)

Monkspeed said:


> OK its got three zones and a manual user editable one.
> 
> I'm guessing I need to keep in zone 2 which is for my age 120 - 148. My maximum is 185 (watch auto calculated it based on my age and weight I believe).
> 
> Zone 3 is 148 - 175.


 
You need to establish your own HRmax. That's your first step. It would be better if you could get more zones, but if you can manually adjust your zones, then set Zone 1 from 65% to 80%, Zone 2 from 80% to 90% and Zone 3 from 90% to 100%. Use Anything below Zone 1 for recovery rides and endurance training, Zone 1 try to avoid as much as possible (also known as no-man's land*), Zone 2 for SST and threshold training, and Zone 3 for anaerobic endurance and maximum effort interval training.

*Known thus because it adds little to your conditioning, but adds to your fatigue.


This is kinda quick and dirty, if you want to use it more effectively get a good book on HR training. One I like is Arnie Baker's Smart Cycling: Successful Training and Racing for Riders of All Levels


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## Monkspeed (20 Jan 2012)

VamP said:


> You need to establish your own HRmax. That's your first step. It would be better if you could get more zones, but if you can manually adjust your zones, then set Zone 1 from 65% to 80%, Zone 2 from 80% to 90% and Zone 3 from 90% to 100%. Use Anything below Zone 1 for recovery rides and endurance training, Zone 1 try to avoid as much as possible (also known as no-man's land*), Zone 2 for SST and threshold training, and Zone 3 for anaerobic endurance and maximum effort interval training.
> 
> *Known thus because it adds little to your conditioning, but adds to your fatigue.
> 
> ...


 
This is the sort of info I was after.
Thanks VamP.


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## Trevrev (20 Jan 2012)

I've had a polar HR monitor for years, didn't take long for the novelty to wear off. It's been sat in a drawer at home for ages now. Waste of my well earned money to be honest.


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## gb155 (20 Jan 2012)

Used mine today for the first time in ages

Was in Zones 2/3 the most

I have no idea what this means for me in real terms now tho


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## GrumpyGregry (20 Jan 2012)

cycling plus have got one of their fitness guide magazines out. good enough section on HR training in there.


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## Arsen Gere (20 Jan 2012)

One point to note is your HR won't rise if your cadence is low, no matter how hard you pedal. You need to get your cadence up to 95 rpm for your heart to be used efficiently.
I use mine on the turbo as reference for how my body is feeling the effort. What your head and legs say is different to your heart.

So let's say you do a routine of intervals and at each change you record your max and average HR. When you repeat the same session a month later you should see that the HR average and peak have come down, if you have been training!

You also get thermal drift, what I mean is if you pedal at the same rate and load for an hour your heart rate will creep up.

You can expect your base rate to vary with temperature too. Generally the warmer it is the higher it goes up.
Out on the road there are a lot of other variables like wind and temperature so as previously stated power meters are more popular.

You can also use it to restrict your effort. Lets say you are doing a long slow ride you can ease off when your HR goes over a certain level. The reason for doing this is so you get to build your aerobic base and separate it from your other training. A long hard run kills your strength and speed work later that week. As you get fitter your speed will increase at the lower threshold. Maffetone recommends (180 - age) for this, regardless of your fitness or age.

What have used is my (max HR - min HR) to calculate the range my heart can peform. Then break that in to 5 zones. IHMO you only really need about 3, 1 to keep your pace down for base aerobic training, 2 for what you want to sustain for a given period of time or race and the third for pushing your self beyond your aerobic limit into lactate threshold stuff. 

HTH

( Alternativley you can wear it in bed and use it to show when yer missus is not trying hard enough  )


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## Enigma2008 (20 Jan 2012)

Monkspeed said:


> I was lucky to grab a crane heart rate monitor from aldi for £7!
> 
> So how can I incorporate it into my training runs now?
> 
> Thanks.


 
The first thing is to go out and ride a ten mile Time trial as fast as you can using your HR monitor. Find out what your average heart rate was and find 95% of it. This will give you an estimate of your Lactate Threshold. Once you know this you can set your training zones. Get onto Joe Friels blog and you'll soon find out what they are.


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## doog (20 Jan 2012)

I use mine on the turbo trainer..... Previously used it for running and road work on the bike but found too many variables interfere with objectives ie traffic / obstructions etc .


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## lukesdad (21 Jan 2012)

I thought he said training runs not turbo, Hr will increase with effort so low cadence on a steep climb will certainly increase your HR.


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## Tomba (21 Jan 2012)

Arsen Gere said:


> One point to note is your HR won't rise if your cadence is low, *no matter how hard you pedal*. You need to get your cadence up to 95 rpm for your heart to be used efficiently.
> I use mine on the turbo as reference for how my body is feeling the effort.


 
I must have a dodgy ticker then cos when I use a monitor on the turbo solely using big gears at a slow cadence my heart rate rises?


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## Tomba (21 Jan 2012)

VamP said:


> You need to establish your own HRmax. That's your first step. It would be better if you could get more zones, but if you can manually adjust your zones, then set Zone 1 from 65% to 80%, Zone 2 from 80% to 90% and Zone 3 from 90% to 100%. Use Anything below Zone 1 for recovery rides and endurance training, Zone 1 try to avoid as much as possible (also known as no-man's land*), Zone 2 for SST and threshold training, and Zone 3 for anaerobic endurance and maximum effort interval training.
> 
> *Known thus because it adds little to your conditioning, but adds to your fatigue.
> 
> ...


 

I got that book at Christmas and just starting to get through it. Some good workouts in it 

When you say Zone 1 is no mans land and should be avoided, I've been using my zone 1 at 65-74% MHR as my base training which is quite a lot. Cant find the article I read it at the moment but will have a look later after work.

edit: Found the article and it says Zone 2 75-84% is no mans land?? http://www.cycling-inform.com/heart...ate-monitor-and-zones-to-improve-your-cycling


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## VamP (23 Jan 2012)

Tomba said:


> I got that book at Christmas and just starting to get through it. Some good workouts in it
> 
> When you say Zone 1 is no mans land and should be avoided, I've been using my zone 1 at 65-74% MHR as my base training which is quite a lot. Cant find the article I read it at the moment but will have a look later after work.
> 
> edit: Found the article and it says Zone 2 75-84% is no mans land?? http://www.cycling-inform.com/heart...ate-monitor-and-zones-to-improve-your-cycling


 
Yeah, you are correct. Most people quote the no man's land as 70 - 85% of max. The trouble with Monkspeed's comp is it can only accomodate three zones, when you really need a minimum of 4. As I said, my advice was quick and dirty, and was just to get him looking in the right direction.


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## ushills (23 Jan 2012)

Said this before but google karvonan

Have a look at karvonen method for calculating the appropriate thresholds for exercising, it is important to exercise appropriately for long term benefit and spending significant time at maxHR unless a super fit athlete will only cause damage, injury and fatigue.

Also as you get fitter you will use less of your HR capacity for the same work, i.e, your heart gets more efficient. MaxHR and resting HR will change little.

It is also a useful gauge of your wellbeing, I went out with a cold earlier this week and my HR was a good 15-20bpm above normal outside my normal zone, because of this I eased off and didn't overdo it.


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## ushills (23 Jan 2012)

This is a good resource for setting zones

http://www.livelongbestrong.com/resources/karvonen.htm

Try and stick in the cardio zone.


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## Seamab (23 Jan 2012)

Arsen Gere said:


> One point to note is your HR won't rise if your cadence is low, no matter how hard you pedal. You need to get your cadence up to 95 rpm for your heart to be used efficiently.



This is just plain wrong i'm afraid.

It doesn't matter what gear you are in - if you pedal harder your HR will always rise unless you have reached your MaxHR.
There is no such thing as a standard cadence at which all cyclists are most efficient. You may be most efficient at 95rpm but this will differ for others.


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## Arsen Gere (23 Jan 2012)

Sorry folks in posting "One point to note is your HR won't rise if your cadence is low, no matter how hard you pedal." What I meant was won't rise to your max HR.


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## endoman (23 Jan 2012)

Arsen Gere said:


> Sorry folks in posting "One point to note is your HR won't rise if your cadence is low, no matter how hard you pedal." What I meant was won't rise to your max HR.


Try telling my heart that on ascending a 25% climb! The two times I have hit MHR have been after 5-10 minutes hard climbing then a 25% stint.


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## Arsen Gere (23 Jan 2012)

"Try telling my heart that on ascending a 25% climb! The two times I have hit MHR have been after 5-10 minutes hard climbing then a 25% stint. "
Interesting, so what kind of cadence was this at? Were you out of the saddle?

I can see that the original load would create a demand and thermal effects then the 25% would push it up a notch. If you were out of the saddle using your arms, shoulders and back you'd create a lot more demand than just your legs alone.

Hitting your max HR on a bike is notoriously difficult, doing it running or swimming is much easier because of the range of muscles involved. I've not met anyone who can get to max hr on a turbo without a good cadence so I'm curious about your case.


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## Monkspeed (23 Jan 2012)

OK, first proper use of the HR monitor today.

I know someone suggested I do a 10mile flat out TT pace but to be frank, I'm no where near the level to do a 10mile TT, maybe 10km but not miles!

I did about 20km total, tried to stick to a good cadence ~90rpm and saw mostly ~165bpm on the monitor. I thought to myself surely my max of 185 can't be right, it must be higher!? Anyway at the end of my ride I thought I would tackle a nice steep hill, used a 39/25 gear (I refuse to use granny gear any more), right near the apex my HR Monitor alarm goes off to tell me I've gone over max and then in an instant my legs below my knees got very hot and almost felt like they were seizing up.

I thought wow, I guess my max of 185 must be about right then 

Haven't used the zones at all yet, although I will for sure, I just wanted to see where I was at for this first ride with it.

Thanks everyone for the replies 

EDIT: Oh! I forgot to mention. I used the fitness level program which gauges you recovery after your workout. Mine was a level 3 rating with level 1 being super fit and level 6 being unfit, so not bad I suppose since I've only been cycling since the end of November 2011.


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## endoman (24 Jan 2012)

Arsen Gere said:


> "Try telling my heart that on ascending a 25% climb! The two times I have hit MHR have been after 5-10 minutes hard climbing then a 25% stint. "
> Interesting, so what kind of cadence was this at? Were you out of the saddle?
> 
> I can see that the original load would create a demand and thermal effects then the 25% would push it up a notch. If you were out of the saddle using your arms, shoulders and back you'd create a lot more demand than just your legs alone.
> ...


 
Yep out of saddle, cadence around 60, maybe less as any more not possible. Max effort.


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## Sittingduck (24 Jan 2012)

ushills said:


> Also as you get fitter you will use less of your HR capacity for the same work, i.e, your heart gets more efficient. MaxHR and *resting HR will change little.*


 
Sorry - don't agree. As you get fitter, surely you would expect to see a lower RHR?


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## Crackle (24 Jan 2012)

Sittingduck said:


> Sorry - don't agree. As you get fitter, surely you would expect to see a lower RHR?


Unless he means when you are fit. My rhr unfit, 75, fit 48, really fit 44.


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## ushills (24 Jan 2012)

Crackle said:


> Unless he means when you are fit. My rhr unfit, 75, fit 48, really fit 44.


Correct, if you are already reasonably fit your RHR will not change significantly, and your maxHR is pretty much fixed, however, the work that you are able to do will increase for a given HR and therefore your body and heart becomes more efficient.


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## ushills (24 Jan 2012)

Coincidently my RHR at 14-20 was about 45, however, as I've got older it has increased an for the last 20 years has always been between 55 and 62, illness and how I feel generally makes the greatest difference.


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## palinurus (24 Jan 2012)

"bought a heart rate monitor... now what?"
Wear it on the bike once and watch how the numbers go up and down. Leave it on while at work and note how your heartrate changes when you go up stairs, read an angry email etc. give your colleagues a running commentary about it all day. Get home and lie down and see how low you can get it.

Then stick it in a drawer and forget about it.


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## fenlandpsychocyclist (24 Jan 2012)

I think its about time i looked at setting up the heart rate zones, etc in my bike computer and actually using them
on my training rides.

I usually average 140ish over a 30 miler, although there's countless junctions/flyover climbs/changes of wind direction
on my courses.


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## Arsen Gere (25 Jan 2012)

Might be interesting to some folks.
What I do is a benchmark test on an oil based turbo trainer, cyclops. It's a ramp down with intervals.
Here is a group of intervals at a specific load, 1 min hard, 1 min at approx 50-70% of the max load by reducing my cadence to 70 rpm. I adjust the load and cadence by changing gear, ie change down to increase cadence and reduce load. I'm no spring chicken and my max HR is around 165. So these could be expressed in % if you wanted to like for like comparison.

Last night I did
Reps MPH Cadence Avg HR Max HR
4 28 89 130 148
7 27 92 134 150
8 26 95 130 147

Followed by 5 mins at 25 mph none stop 97 rpm Avg HR = 145 Max HR = 151
Then 5 mins easy spinning cool down (100+ rpm).

The whole thing took less than an hour.
What I can see from a year ago is that the Avg and Max have decreased for the same load. I've also increased the number of reps at a specific load and the load I can take now compared to 2 years ago is significantly greater.

You can also see a bit of thermal effect as I get hot when the max hr goes from 148 to 150 on slightly lower load. The continuous 5 mins is a higher avg because there is no easy 1 min section in between, but the max is higher too due to the continous load and me getting hotter sweating buckets.
The 26 mph is too low to provide strength training,the HR has come down, but since cycling is about muscular endurance I know from the pain in my legs on end of that secion it is doing something, lactate tolerance possibly.
After a test like this my HR stays elevated for some hours and the next day I can feel the effect in two ways, I don't have the ability to max out my HR and peddling feels a lot easier - I guess it is down to muscle memory effects.

None of this would be possible if I had not kept a record of what I was doing.

HTH


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## Monkspeed (25 Jan 2012)

Today I put it into zone 2 mode 148-120 bpm and tried my best to stay within it, which was difficult on hills as I had to pedal really slowly. Actually all of It had to be done pedalling really slowly and was quite boring and ego bruising if I'm honest!

The good thing is the watch lets me adjust the ranges on the three built in zones and an extra "u" zone also.


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## ufkacbln (25 Jan 2012)

I am an overweight 5* year old with no intention of racing or attaining peak levels of fitness. All I wanted to do was lose some weight.

So I simply measured what I was doing and upped the figures by 10%... manually setting the limits.

Worked fine for me.. and the weight


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