Staying within zone

[Mortiroloboy]

Any one help me out with some advice about staying within zone whilst using Polar HRM? When on the turbo I can regulate my effort in order to stay in zones 1, 2 and 3 easily enough, as soon as I ride the bike on the road I'm straight out the back end of zone 3 which is 80-90% of my max heart rate, so probaly cycling at 95% + max HR, if I try and keep in zone 2 or 3 inside the zones I'm hardly pedalling and my recorded average speed is 12 mph. staying in zone 1 isn't even an option, I can maintain 20 mph reasonably easily and before I started using my HRM this was not even an issue as I wasn't aware of my HR, so what is going wrong if anything? The HRM was calibrated new from the box against my resting HR as per the manufacturers instructions.

 

[montage]

surely it should be calibrated against your max heart rate?

 

[gbs]

Any one help me out with some advice about staying within zone whilst using Polar HRM? When on the turbo I can regulate my effort in order to stay in zones 1, 2 and 3 easily enough, as soon as I ride the bike on the road I'm straight out the back end of zone 3 which is 80-90% of my max heart rate, so probaly cycling at 95% + max HR, if I try and keep in zone 2 or 3 inside the zones I'm hardly pedalling and my recorded average speed is 12 mph. staying in zone 1 isn't even an option, I can maintain 20 mph reasonably easily and before I started using my HRM this was not even an issue as I wasn't aware of my HR, so what is going wrong if anything? The HRM was calibrated new from the box against my resting HR as per the manufacturers instructions.

Alll sounds rather odd. FWIW, for me zone 2 on the flat is consistent with converstional pace say 25-28kph; zone 3 for steady speeds of up to 35kph. Unless you are unfit or conditions are difficult (wind or gradient or weight carried) I would be suprised to see readings beyond 80% of MHR at 32kph/20mph.

 

[screenman]

Do you know what your MHR is?

 

[Dan B]

*How* do you know what your MHR is? If you're going on the 220-age formula or anything like it, be aware that for an awful lot of people it's way wrong. I've seen my heart rate at 205bpm, which is more than 20 beats over what that formula would give

See http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm2.htm

AIUI most people would expect to be going anaerobic at around 75-85% of mhr, so if you're not getting any lactate burn that would also point to your using the wrong number for mhr

 

[zacklaws]

Staying in the zones is simple enough on a turbo but as others have stated its a bit different on the open road, two things for example that can take me out of the zone is raising myself up from the drops and placing my hands on the tops of the bars, that little bit of extra exertion just raises the heart rate a bit but it takes you out of the zone momentarily but I doubt its anything to worry about as it soon drops again. Another thing that takes me out of the zone is town riding, to much slowing down and speeding up, its hard to keep a steady pace and your heart rate can rocket.

 

[Crackle]

Unless you know your actual Maximum HR from doing a test and it's not clear from your post if you do, then you're wasting your time. Do you?

 

[Mortiroloboy]

Thank you for all the replies, based on the 220- age formulae then my max HR is 167 bpm, which equates with the settings on my Polar which calibrated my resting HR and on inputed data - age, height, weight .

Perhaps I am becoming too involved with the whole HRM thing allowing it to 'take over' from my previously body feel method.
So in summary when I'm on the turbo in an entirely controlled environment it's easy to stay in zone, but when on the open road with all it's variables I am mostly in zone three, and when climbing any hill , battling wind , road irregularities then I'm out of zone three.

When on the Turbo and using the large chainring and the smallest cog on a compact set up the HRM puts me out of zone 3 pretty quickly if I put any kind of effort into my pedalling.

I suppose what I really want to know is by training out of zone three for any prolonged period am I (a) doing any harm (b) improving my fitness.

 

[Norry1]

Other posters have given you the answer. Find out your MHR first. As an example, my MHR is 170, but my brothers is 205. Hence, you have to find out your real MHR not a calculated one.

Once you've done this, you can calculate the right zones. It is then much harder to stay in zone on the open road as wind, hills, traffic etc all come along at the wrong time.

Martin

 

[Mortiroloboy]

Other posters have given you the answer. Find out your MHR first. As an example, my MHR is 170, but my brothers is 205. Hence, you have to find out your real MHR not a calculated one.

Once you've done this, you can calculate the right zones. It is then much harder to stay in zone on the open road as wind, hills, traffic etc all come along at the wrong time.

Martin

How do I do this?

 

[Dan B]

Go as fast as you can and see what it says

The link that I posted already may be a more helpful answer

 

[Crackle]

How do I do this?

It involves pain and suffering.

There are a few techniques on the web, including using a turbo but I think actual road work is better. The basics are, you find say a 10 mile route and ride it, slowly ramping up the effort using intervals. At the end try to finish on a slight incline, start your sprint and go for it. Just when you think you've got no more left, go again and then again. This effort should see a max HR appear and leave you feeling sick/dizzy/spent from the effort. You can be pretty certain that this will be your max HR.

A less strenuous way is to use the Max HR you've ever seen over the time you've been riding, maybe add a few beats, calculate your zones and equate it to feel. Feel is a pretty good way of knowing how hard you're working and you should be able to match up and adjust your zones that way.

I've only done the former once out of interest. It's nice to know how hard you're working but that's it for me I don't race.

 

[Mortiroloboy]

Thank you...Simples... I'll give it a go, try the Turbo first, then out on the road see what difference if any. i'm off now for another 12 months, or however long it was since my last post LOL!!! (before this question)