Training & Nutrition - recovery rates

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA

View Full Version : recovery rates

Cyclic
06-22-05, 11:42 AM
I've been a casual bike commuter for a few months now
but would like to start getting the best exercize from my ride.
I recently bought a HRM and use it to stay between 70% and
85% of my max heart rate (measured by 220 - age).

Can you tell me if there's a 'rule of thumb' about measuring
recovery rates? I think my HRM will do this but I have no
idea what it would mean to return to a given rate in a given
time. How do you know if your recovery time is good or bad?

kuan
06-22-05, 02:54 PM
I dunno, I'm new to this myself. I could not believe how easy I should have been riding. All this time I thought I had to work hard to get anything out of it. Instead I was hurting myself.

My simple plan is to go by time, not distance. The distance will increase I presume as my aerobic ability becomes better.
Doctor Morbius
06-22-05, 09:32 PM
I've been a casual bike commuter for a few months now
but would like to start getting the best exercize from my ride.
I recently bought a HRM and use it to stay between 70% and
85% of my max heart rate (measured by 220 - age).

Can you tell me if there's a 'rule of thumb' about measuring
recovery rates? I think my HRM will do this but I have no
idea what it would mean to return to a given rate in a given
time. How do you know if your recovery time is good or bad?In Chris Carmichael's book The Ultimate Ride there is a chart showing the typical length of recovery for various intensities and durations of training rides. I don't have it here or I'd type it out for you.

I suggest doing an stress test to determine your actual max heart rate once you've built up a base of fitness. A couple of months would be fine so you should be good to go. I wouldn't recommend a max HR test for a sedentary person though as they're pretty stressful. The 220 - AGE formula represents a statistical average for a large cross section of the population ... bell curve type stuff. Individuals max HR can vary by as much or more than 15 BPM higher or lower than 220 - AGE.