Heart Rate Monitor's

[jimboalee]

I'm with 'the other school', but your terminology is a bit odd. People training with power meters use functional threshold power (FTP) to define training zones. FTP is sort of your power at lactate threshold - its the power that you can maintain for an hour. I've never heard of anyone training with power using VO2 terminology. The aim of the game whether you're using power or an HRM or just perceived effort though is to increase your FTP (even if you don't actually know what it is) so that you can maintain a higher speed for the same effort.


But the question which you've avoided anyway was how does glancing at an HRM a few times in a ride help you train?

Granted. It depends on what you define as "Effort". Without any changes in mass and aerodynamics, the effort to maintain a desired speed remains the same, in kW terms.
If your HR is less, you are 'fitter', more able to transport O2. Your stroke volume may have increased slightly, but its mainly due to capillarisation getting O2 to the muscles.
To get O2 into the blood, your pulmonary system will have to develop, so as this is where O2 enters your system, it should be the most efficient part of the process and deserves the most attention.

The answer you are most eager to hear is... It doesn't. Knowing your HR when training is neither a here nor there. What you want to know when training is "Am I more powerful than last week? and did it 'feel' easier?"

As has been quite rightly stated, each person's HR Max is a personal thing. Once a person knows theirs, it reduces by 1 BPM each year.
Keeping a track on any increase in your HR max is 'a regular torture session', which should be supervised by a fitness professional. Going to these lengths on a weekly or fortnightly routine is... well, you must be being paid for it.


If cycling is not a person's financial livelihood, a HRM is a nice little extra for making a bike ride a bit more interesting.

 

[Rob3rt]

I dont know if the way I train is covered under your two umbrella statements, I train by running at percieved capacity (I run at a pace I think I can maintain for the perscribed period/distance through feel), so for example, hill repeats day will be run at something like 1 mile warmup at around 9:30 min/mile, then 30s hill repeats at relaxed sprint pace (relaxed sprint = flat out while able to maintain good form, not flat out to the point speed > everything else and form suffers), then 1 mile cooldown at around 9:30 min/mile pace. Then later look at HR and my split times. The only numbers I have in mind are length or rep, number of reps and max pace for warmup/cooldown (to make sure I dont turn this section into a tempo run).

If the HR is less for the same percieved effort, or the splits show I travelled further for my given perceived effort, I got fitter.


I dont really think about this too scientifically, since being scientific is my day job, I like to treat my hobbies differently, Im happy working in relative ignorance (I do understand the theory behind HR training to some level of detail, however I choose not to think about HR too much)

 

[amnesia]

I am using an HRM to show general heart condition... I had open heart surgery (for a VSD) as an infant (in 1975) and need to keep a check on my heart when exercising. I don't tend to look at my HR too much whilst riding, but I download the data from my speedo and then I can compare it to previous rides of the same course.

In the last couple of months my AVERAGE heart rate on the same 10m course has dropped by 10bpm, showing that I am getting fitter. Recovery time (measured by the time it takes to return to resting heart rate) has also improved.

Of course, I don't NEED a HRM to prove this - I know it's easier to ride at the same pace as 2 months ago, or that I can ride faster now for the same perceived effort as 2 months ago, but I like gadgets, and lots of pointless data

 

[Crankarm]

Can anyone recommend me one that I don't need a mortgage to buy one. My budget is about £30-40

No apostrophe in Monitors in your title. Or no s which would indicate a definite article.

 

[montage]

You'll know when you're getting fitter. You ride up hills with less pain. You don't need a HRM to tell you that

I completely disagree with this.
Hills will hurt just as much - you just go up them faster

 

[Garz]

...hill repeats day will be run at something like 1 mile warmup at around 9:30 min/mile, then 30s hill repeats at relaxed sprint pace (relaxed sprint = flat out while able to maintain good form, not flat out to the point speed > everything else and form suffers), then 1 mile cooldown at around 9:30 min/mile pace.

If the HR is less for the same percieved effort, or the splits show I travelled further for my given perceived effort, I got fitter.

If it works for you then ignore what I write after this. You may be challenged for time due to life commitments but a mile warmup for hill repeats is not a good idea (most people would need at least 15 mins to even get going) and if it only took me 30s to get up a hill then it's not long enough

.

Jim may give you a more veteran opinion but I would aim for about 30 mins of riding to warm up then repeat a gradual hill that takes a while to complete (say at least 3-4 mins). When you can do this easily (or your HR shows this) then pick a longer hill.

 

[montage]

If a HRM is so useless, why do we see the pro's wearing them in grand tours?

 

[jimboalee]

I completely disagree with this.
Hills will hurt just as much - you just go up them faster

You need a 'Speedometer' to tell you that.

 

[jimboalee]

If it works for you then ignore what I write after this. You may be challenged for time due to life commitments but a mile warmup for hill repeats is not a good idea (most people would need at least 15 mins to even get going) and if it only took me 30s to get up a hill then it's not long enough

.

Jim may give you a more veteran opinion but I would aim for about 30 mins of riding to warm up then repeat a gradual hill that takes a while to complete (say at least 3-4 mins). When you can do this easily (or your HR shows this) then pick a longer hill.

Depends what you consider 'Veteran'.

The University of California, way back in the seventies had volunteer students of various abilities riding a bike round the campus followed by a truckful of medical equipment. HRMs, Gas Analysers etc. The rider was connected by tubes and wires via a boom arm from the truck.

This was a research project in an attempt to identify physiological signals which indicated WHEN the rider got to a 'warmed-up' state.

IIRC, in the first period of exercise, blood sugar level increases due to the sudden start of physical activity. After continuous constant intensity exercise, blood level starts to decrease as the body becomes accustomed to the activity. This can be interpreted as 'warmed-up'.

So what you need is a blood glucose monitor that plugs into your Nintendo DS.

 

[amnesia]

I have read (somewhere) that you can consider yourself warmed up at the point where your body starts using fat for fuel more than carbs... How you can measure this without loads of hi-tech equipment (as in the post above) is anyone's guess, but typically it seems to be around 20-30 minutes.

 

[Rob3rt]

If it works for you then ignore what I write after this. You may be challenged for time due to life commitments but a mile warmup for hill repeats is not a good idea (most people would need at least 15 mins to even get going) and if it only took me 30s to get up a hill then it's not long enough

.

Jim may give you a more veteran opinion but I would aim for about 30 mins of riding to warm up then repeat a gradual hill that takes a while to complete (say at least 3-4 mins). When you can do this easily (or your HR shows this) then pick a longer hill.

Im talking about running, not cycling. I dont pay much attention to HR when cycling right now, since after my crash I decided to take time off training on my bike and focus on my running until the winter and then build up with the cycling over winter using a turbo ready for the start of next years TT's and duathlon season . So in runners language thats about a 9:30 min/mile warm-up, over 1 mile. The hill repeats are short and sharp for a reason in the base period, the whole workout would be about 3.5 mile, 2 miles accounted for by warmup and cool down, and the rest accounted for by 30 second hill sprints with 2 minutes active recovery between them (this will change according to the training phase)

 

[Andrew_P]

I went from a Polar to Suunto T4C coupled with the bike POD and training manager/effort I have found it very good, it also gives me as a new rider motivation to push on. It loads on to my PC and then feeds the facebook of excercise http://www.movescount.com/tour/mymoves Using it in the gym stops me taking the soft route.


The only thing I wish I had of done was invest in the GPS pod