So, wanting to help my stoker fiancee get into shape, I bought her a Polar F11 HRM for her birthday. What we've discovered is that I'm fairly easily getting my HR to the 120s-140s on the flats, but my HR shoots up on climbs, more so than on my single. Climbs that go fairly easily at 150 or so for me will kick me up to 160-170 on the tandem. Meanwhile, Mollie is working pretty hard and gets her HR up to 150 or so. Problem is that on the flats, her HR won't stay up, i.e. she's hanging out at 100-110 while I'm spinning away at 130-140.
I will say that I've put a lot more miles in this winter/spring than Mollie, so our fitness levels are pretty disparate right now. But I'm a little confused because in my experience, when I'm out of shape my HR shoots up uncontrollably. Hers doesn't budge, and she still feels fatigued after our rides.
Any ideas? Is there any technique I should be using to divvy up the workload a little differently? Mollie's quite frustrated because she wants to get a good workout, lose some weight, burn some calories, etc. and we can't seem to do it.
DrPete
The BikeForums Team
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Being trained, and I am assuming a seasoned cyclist, you are use to maintaining a more even power output. She is untrained and unseasoned so she has to ease back and recover after the hills more than you. If she is tired after the ride, she did her work. It takes time. If she has a single bike, she may get a better workout on that than the tandem.
geoffs
I waited a long time before I introduced a hrm to my better half. When she first started using it she said "it can't be working properly. It only reads 105!"
mmm ....... I put the hrm on myself and sure enough, I had my heart rate up to 150 in no time.
She put it back on and it was still only reading 105. I then unclipped my feet from the pedals and said "your turn". Wow all of a sudden it was showing 140!
Ah so it does work.
She now wears it to help her pace herself as she pushes to hard sometimes on the hills and runs out of puff before we get to the top. With the HRM she keeps herself at a nice steady pace.
TandemGeek
Consider some experimentation with crank phasing: see what having her cranks leading yours by 2 or 3 chain links will do to her effort. Be mindful that if you are successful in raising her level of effort that you may need to initially shorten your ride distances or expectations on average speed / performance as she'll most likely fatigue or run out of gas earlier in your rides.
After she begins to "feel" what the pedal load should be and increases her work effort you may be able to move back into phase a tooth at a time to reap the benefits of her new knowledge. Staying out of phase by a tooth or two may also end up being your norm if she seems to respond better to having more pedal feedback to gauge her work effort.
FWIW: Debbie's HR numbers (are consistently lower from mine. Even though I having a resting HR around 54, my average HR on most rides hovers around 160 and I redline at 195; seeing 185-191 on most hard climbs is my norm. Debbie's HR average hovers around 140 and max's out around 172, but 165 is what I'll usually see at the upper end of her HR on most rides. She's had stress tests and similar numbers have been seen there as well so "it is what it is" with regard to her HR numbers.
ElRey
She needs to push harder.
merlinextraligh
She needs to push harder.
+1. On the hills, its going to be hard for both riders, and the stoker can't very well avoid working. Cruising on the flats with a stronger Captain, the stoker can intentionally or unintentionally soft pedal.
Also realize HR is individual, and women in genral tend to have lower HR's than men. You each need to establish your own HR zones, and her target HR for any given workout may be different than yours.
stapfam
I waited a long time before I introduced a hrm to my better half. When she first started using it she said "it can't be working properly. It only reads 105!"
mmm ....... I put the hrm on myself and sure enough, I had my heart rate up to 150 in no time.
She put it back on and it was still only reading 105. I then unclipped my feet from the pedals and said "your turn". Wow all of a sudden it was showing 140!
Ah so it does work.
She now wears it to help her pace herself as she pushes to hard sometimes on the hills and runs out of puff before we get to the top. With the HRM she keeps herself at a nice steady pace.
If you are unfit- it is difficult to get the HR up into what could be termed "A respectable rate" this is not necessarily down to not working- but is the mental side that says-"Slow Down because I am working hard"
Heart rate has to be worked on to increase. If I go out and just do a gentle 3 miles to warm up and then blast it- I am shattered at 135BPM. I have to do a gentle mile or so at 120- then at the first slope work it up to 135- then slow down to 120 again- next slope push it to 140 then down again then finally up to 150 and I am shattered. Slow down till I get comfortable and then I can do the rest of the ride at 140/145. Push on the slopes to 155 and where necessary get it to 165 for the final bit of effort. Without that gradual workup of the HR- it will take me a long time before I can push on the ride.
Yesterday morning we took in a hill about 10 miles into the ride- 1 mile long at 20 to 25%and with a gusting headwind- in other words steep. That hill was taken with comfort with heart rate at 155. Then a little later- the turbo kicked in up a gentle slope and I thought it was hard- My pilot decided to see if I was working and stopped pedalling effort. 172 and only about 100 yards to recover.
Try the gentle step warm-up and see if it works.
Nachoman
I have that same problem too. Thanks for that good advice Tandemgeek. I think I'll try it.