[slider]

Moved to the city about 5 months ago. Leaving my house puts me in traffic and hills and these days rain. Makes it difficult to roll out of bed in the morning and do a quick and easy ride so I bought rollers. Now I figure a heart rate monitor will give me something to focus on while on the rollers.

Having just put the heart rate monitor on, my resting heart rate is about 60 - 64 bpm. Seem kind of high but I did just drink a tripple expresso :-). I'm reading a book "The Heart Rate Monitor Handbook" by Sally Edwards. Seems pretty good so far. I think I am going to geek out this winter and see if I can "maximize my training efficiency". Any advice for a new HRM owner? Has anyone actually tested their true max heartrate or lactic acid threshold?

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[Guest]

I can only suggest from there to get the other Sally Edwards/Sally Reed book called "The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Outdoor and Indoor Cyclists". In there, you'll get an anaerobic threshold test that can help you figure out your theoretical max heart rate and give you numbers you can train with.

Doing a heart rate max test would need to be done in a testing lab setting so they can make sure you're giving it 100% and they can test for other things like VO2 max, at what point you're burning calories from carbs vs. fat, etc. These are things you can't do on your own.

The book will also give you 25 workouts you can do on your own, and if you get the log book, you can log all your info into one place so you can keep track of that stuff.

Good luck!

Koffee

[slider]

Just did a short ride on the rollers. Had an off by one error that had me trying to ride at 80-90% of my theoretical max heart rate (220 - age) thinking that was my aerobic zone. :-)

After I got that sorted out I tried to see what my max might be. My calculated max heart rate is 189 using the 220 - age method. Closest I could get was 176 before my form started to fall apart and I was at risk of bouncing off the rollers. I suppose I'll get better but am wondering if rollers are a good tool to figure out my max heart rate on since I can't stand and hammer.

Thanks for the pointer to the book. I'll check it out.

-s

[Guest]

Hmmm... you said you had the Heart Rate Monitor Handbook, so you should know by now to throw away the 220- age. That's one of the first things discussed in that book.

Get that other book ASAP! :eek:

:) Koffee

[RonH]

Sally uses a "better" formula in the other book that Koffee mentioned. That's the book I have. Good read.

Just curious, what HRM did you get?

[Bokkie]

Hmmm... you said you had the Heart Rate Monitor Handbook, so you should know by now to throw away the 220- age. That's one of the first things discussed in that book.

Get that other book ASAP! :eek:

:) Koffee

Koffee, I don't have the book but can you give a quick explanation why the 220 - age calculation is no longer valid/useful/reliable?

[late]

It's not an accurate method to find max heart rate. That really is a good book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1931382042/qid=1072803952/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-2568043-5855803?v=glance&s=books

Get the logbook, too.

[Pat]

Koffee, I don't have the book but can you give a quick explanation why the 220 - age calculation is no longer valid/useful/reliable?

Well, I am not Koffee. But 220 - age is not valid because it does not work. I have a friend who is 65 and he can routinely crank up to 182. At 182, he gives out pretty quickly. 220-65=155 so do you think his heart exploded or something? I have another friend about 50 who could run up over 205 on his heart rate. The highest I ran on heart rate was just under 200 and I was 48 at the time. Also the above cited rates might not even be the maximum heart rates for these individuals so that makes 220-age even more inaccurate. If these people were trying to set up training with heart rates zones based on maximum heart rates of 220-age, they would not be exercising nearly intensely enough.

Now Koffee is right that having a lab determination for max heart rate is a good idea. But if you are a recreational cyclist and there is no lab handy, a way to get an estimate on max heart rate is just go out with a fast group and see what your highest heart rate is in these rides. If they are good and strong, they will drop you and you should have some decent idea of about what your max heart rate is. This method is especially good if you will do nearly anything to avoid being dropped.

[lotek]

You can access a good Max HR calculator at
Heart Zones (http://www.heartzone.com/index.shtml)
I wholeheartedly agree that getting the other book
(specific to cycling) is a good idea.
I use Rollers and yeah they do offer some challenges when it comes
to workouts (standing is well, difficult at best), but they are not insurmountable.
I believe that the 2x20 workout (anaerobic threshold) has been posted here
by Koffee, if you can find it its a good place to start.
I found Koffee's original write up, which I am going to paste into this.
The zones mentioned can be found on the link I posted above. Its a good
start.
THE TEST:

Here's the test for anaerobic threshold. You can get it from Sally Edwards/Sally Reed book- "The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Outdoor and Indoor Cyclists", pp. 92- 94. The test is done on a stationary bike or indoor cycling bike.

The top of Zone 3 is 80%. The top of Zone 2 is 70%. The bottom of Zone 2 is 60%. The bottom of Zone 1 is 50%.
______________________________________________________
2X20 Anaerobic Threshold Test

This is an anaerobic heart rate test designed by David Martin, Ph.D. at Georgia State University. The goal of this workout is to sustain the highest heart rate number you can for 20 minutes, followed by a 5 minute recovery and then sustain the same number again for 20 minutes. After completing both 20 minute intervals, answer the question: Was that hte hardest I could work for the duration of time (40 minutes)? If the answer is yues, then that heart rate number is an excellent estimate of your anaerobic threshold heart rate.

Purpose
Anaerobic theshold is one of the ways of measuring fitness. The higher the percentage of maximum heart rate you can sustain for the duration of the test, the fitter you are. This translates into being able to cycle faster for a longer duration. If you have never done this test before ou may want to be conservative the first time until you get the feel for what is happeniing and what is expected. Retest in a month or six weeks to see if you are getting fitter. It is important that you are fully rested before doing this test and that you give yourself a minimum of 48 hours of rest from riding above heart Zone 3.

Workout Plan
Warm up for 5 minutes to the bottom of Zone 2, then gradually increase heart rate for the next 5 minutes until you reach the heart rate number that you thinnk you can sustain for 20 minutes. Sustain that number for 20 minutes. You may choose to use cadence, resistance/gearing or any combination you wish to sustain the heart rate. After 20 minutes, recover to the bottom of Zone 2 for 5 minutes. Make sure you drink plenty of water and allow your legs and body to relax.

After 5 minutes of recovery begin to increase your heart rate agian over the next 3 minutes until you have reached the same heart rate number that you sustained for the first 20 minutes. Sustain that heart rate for a second 20 minutes, then warm down over the next 7 minutes to Zone 1.

________________________________________________________

Keep in mind, you are looking for ONE NUMBER.... not a RANGE OF NUMBERS... Often, I'll run through the first 20 minutes with my students, then when I talk to them in the 5 minute break, they say something like, "oh, I was between 156- 160". Aaaaaaaugh!!!!!!!!!! You are looking for that one number, not a range. So if it's 160, it's ONLY 160... not a range of different numbers that's "around" 160.

This is just a taste of the test, but there's a performance based heart rate chart that you can look at to find that number for anaerobic threshold (80%), and easily read the chart for the rest of the numbers in your heart rate ranges. That's why I suggest you get the book. It's also a great book because it gives outdoor and indoor training exercises you can do to improve your fitness level. If you don't have the book and you want to do the test right away, go to the website: http://www.heartzone.com/index.shtml
Over there, click on the link that says "HEART RATE CALCULATOR". About halfway down the page, there is a heart rate calculator that you can use that will break your heart rates down into zones. You will have to fiddle around with max heart rate, since you didn't test for max hr, but if you keep entering numbers in the max heart rate, you'll eventually find the correct numbers to use. I used my example of 160 as my anaerobic threshold (80%), and I started by entering 195 as my max (guessing). It was a bit low, so I entered 200 as my max hr, and this time, I got correct numbers, because the 80% on the chart came out at 160. I hope that makes sense. If it doesn't, get the book.


Hope this helps,
Marty

Thanks Koffee!

[Chi]

Now dont get a heart attack now ...

[knemo77]

i just got a nike triax c5 today. it was cheap and had all the features i needed. My resting is about 65bpm and I am horribly out of shape. I joined the presidents fitness club recently and have been sticking to it so I expect the pounds to start melting away.

congrats on the new hrm, i love mine