Originally Posted by DRLski
okay, anyways I just signed on with a cycling coach and his program seems to be pretty good however I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to heart rates and all the books and internet related articles that I've read just confuses me more. I just did a MHR test that my coach wanted me to do and send the results to him, he wanted me to build my HR up so he could set the zones for me however I have a difficult time keeping my heart rate from fluctuating and on top of that I got a MHR of 186 full out on my bike but when I'm out running I can get up to 191 without much of a problem. My coach says "I'm not too sure how good the accuracy is with them or maybe your fitness isn't where we need it to be just now" so he wants me to do it again at the end of the month and use some zones that he set for me till then, some of the lower zones I've never even trained in. Now, I'm not dissapointed that he said my fitness isn't where we want it because I wouldn't have hired him if it was but I'm at a loss, any advice on understanding this stuff would be much appreciated.
Also, if it helps at all about 3 months ago I weighed 190 and then I told myself that I suck and need to lose weight, since then I'm now at 170 and can't seem to loose anymore weight no matter how much excersize I do. I changed my diet from all unheathly foods to all organics which is where I lost most of my weight from, that and excersize. I'm 5'7" tall.
thx a bunch,
Dave
P.S. if I confused anyone let me know and I'll try to sort things out for ya
First, it's great that you're educating yourself and you got a coach. Props up to you.
Next, these are the questions you should address with your coach. Shoot, you're paying your coach, so they should be able to answer all your questions. Schedule a session with him (I assume your coach is male) where you can sit down with him and have him explain the terminology associated with heart rate training, then ask him to put all the terminology into perspective with what you're doing with your training and your goals. If your coach is any good, he should be able to answer all your questions.
Taking on a coach just isn't about having the coach put together a training program and you blindly follow it without knowing what the goals are and what you should expect to accomplish. Tell him this, and ask him to detail out your training plan.
Just looking at the response your coach gave you, and given the shape you're in, I would think your coach should have known that cycling Max hr is different from running max hr. That was a pretty illogical response, unless you are a professional athlete who's been working towards building up your riding max hr towards your running max hr, which is totally reasonable.... but only if you've been doing that over years. Is your coach usa cycling certified? Check
www.bicyclecoach.com and
http://www.usacycling.org/coaches/search.php for a list of certified coaches. Something just tells me this guy may be a little bit off. You shouldn't have to come to the forums for such a basic question. That should have been answered by your coach off the bat.
As far as weight loss, I would suggest you increase your intensity or time. Or try to incorporate crosstraining into your routine. All of these things will help you to get through your plateau. Everyone goes through a plateau, but you have to recognize when you are in one so you can make the necessary changes to your training program. Exercise is about progression. If you don't always work towards progressing your exercise, you will plateau.
Good luck, and great job so far!
Koffee