Hi all, I have been reading the cyclists bible and I am starting to use the info about heart rate monitoring in relation to training effectiveness...

Anyway, here is what I have been doing for 6 days so far (and will continue to do all year)...

1. wake up in the AM and immediately record my heart rate, I do this while still lying down, I never get up from the moment I wake up.. .I just reach over to the night-stand and grab the chrono and take a 15 second sample of my pulse rate and multiply x 4. ... jot it down.

2. stand up, wait 20 seconds and take the heart rate again...

3. subtract the standing rate from the lying rate and jot that down....

on the average, my lying rate is 60 bpm, and standing has been as low as 64 to as high as 8x bpm... I noticed that my heart rate is lowest during the early part of the week, when I am most rested... but highest during the weekend after a long week of training (specially after thursday nights when I practice @ the velodrome)...

My rested standard value so far has shown to be 8... lowest of 4, and highest of approx 18 ...


Does anyone here use this method to help determine how hard they should train that day ? I don't know if its really going to work for me but I'm going to try to follow the guidelines....
That is what the book tells you to do... basically listen to what the body is telling you, and then train accordingly....


>> ? <<

I'll go with Joe Friel and say that HR alone can tell you nothing more than that you're alive.

If you're resting HR is high and you feel bad, beware overtraining.
If you're resting HR is low and you feel good, push it extra hard.

Changes in HR could mean a lot of things, and its kinda hard to tell.

I find that my resting heart rate tells me nothing, its always low (pretty much any time of any day I can sit down and relax for a few minutes and it will be very near or under 40). However, on days when I feel like I've been overtraining, I can't get my heart rate to go very high when I'm actually riding.

That is what the book tells you to do... basically listen to what the body is telling you, and then train accordingly....

i think this has meaning. been training hard. on sunday i did a one hour tt max effort, took yesterday off and this morning my RHR was 48; lower than it's been in a while. yet i feel crappy, sluggish, congested. i'm going to race tonight regardless and see what the results are. FWIW, i betcha i'm overtraining. regardless of my lower RHR.