Sufferfest - how does it work?

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Without looking would effort x20 work? ie:7x20=140bpm?

 

[edindave]

Without looking would effort x20 work? ie:7x20=140bpm?

I know this is all very unscientific without proper measurement. The max HR I've recorded on my Garmin is 195 on a climb in real life. (Am 40 yo if that matters).

140 bpm would never feel like 7/10 for me - when I did the Sufferfest Angels video the other day I sort of set 7/10 in my mind at about 160-170bpm, and 8/10 at 175, and 9/10 and beyond at 180+. I maxed at 185 on the spin bike that day. But to be honest, afterwards I didn't feel like I had really worked it as hard as it should have been.

 

[Rob3rt]

How about something like RHR+[RPEx((MHR-RHR)/10)] = HR Figure.

i.e. An RPE of zero yields RHR.
An RPE of one yields RHR plus one tenth of the difference between your MHR and your RHR.
....
An RPE of 10 yields your MHR

Probably a few quirks you might want to work out (i.e. you might want to add in an offset somewhere as an RPE of zero might not necessarily equate to doing absolutely nothing, like your RHR does), but maybe this should give you something to think about.

Or you could just ride on feel (RPE) and then look back at your data and cross check with your HR figures to see how they correlate.

Further, HR responds too slow for certain types of effort so you will have to go on RPE at times.

 

[jdtate101]

Just go as hard as you can for 10/10 and then back it off a little bit from that perceived effort. If you're doing it properly you should be a sweaty mess by the end. As it's a perceived scale you can vary depending upon how you (your legs) are feeling that day, so don't have to flogg yourself too much to hit a power or HR target.

That saying, I did Downward Spiral last night and on the two initial sprints at 10/10 I was hitting 760w, which REALLY hurt.

 

[endoman]

google will find you a programme to relate the effort levels to your FTP, if you follow that then it really really hurts!

 

[Rob3rt]

google will find you a programme to relate the effort levels to your FTP, if you follow that then it really really hurts!

Can you clarify how this is meant to work?

 

[endoman]

it tells you how many watts to put out for each suggested effort level.

http://viewsoftheroad.com/powerfiles/Sufferfest_Erg_Files.xls

 

[Rob3rt]

And if you don't have a power meter (i.e. the OP) this is useful how?

Or are you stating for general interest rather than directly to the OP?

 

[endoman]

cos someone else in the thread mentioned their power output I thought it was a useful link to mention,
I'd buy a cadence sensor, I find it pretty useful,

 

[edindave]

How about something like RHR+[RPEx((MHR-RHR)/10)] = HR Figure.

i.e. An RPE of zero yields RHR.
An RPE of one yields RHR plus one tenth of the difference between your MHR and your RHR.
....
An RPE of 10 yields your MHR

Probably a few quirks you might want to work out (i.e. you might want to add in an offset somewhere as an RPE of zero might not necessarily equate to doing absolutely nothing, like your RHR does), but maybe this should give you something to think about.

Or you could just ride on feel (RPE) and then look back at your data and cross check with your HR figures to see how they correlate.

Further, HR responds too slow for certain types of effort so you will have to go on RPE at times.

Thanks for that suggestion... I knocked up a table in Excel to see what numbers come out.

Seems like a good starting point against which I can compare HR Zones from my Garmin, and tweak from there.

Cheers!

 

[Tomba]

Will this help converting RPE to HR?
http://www.cardiacathletes.org.uk/calc1.php

 

[edindave]

Will this help converting RPE to HR?
http://www.cardiacathletes.org.uk/calc1.php

Thanks Tomba, that looks useful, have bookmarked that link.