Daewon774

Hi everyone, I have a few firsts. Two weeks ago, I finally picked up my first road bike, a CAAD10-5. I was riding a beat up heavy mountain bike for two years. Secondly, I just ordered my first heart rate monitor last night, a Timex watch. I am looking to train efficiently to both lose some weight and get my fitness back in top shape. I have been searching both on the forum and on google for a resource on cycling training using heart rate zones for training. Can anyone recommend both free internet sources and purchasable books for my goal? Thanks in advance.

kaimat

I think the American Heart Association or some organization like that has some general target and max heart rates for people based on age on their site.

Edit: This is what I was thinking of: https://www.americanheart.org/present...dentifier=4736

Daewon774

Thanks. I was actually looking for a book or internet page on training. I know what the zones are and what max heart rate is. I'd like to know if there are be-all know-all resources for using heart rate monitors in training for cycling.

achoo

https://www.amazon.com/Cyclists-Train...tt_at_ep_dpt_3

FWIW, that American Heart Association page isn't really very useful. I routinely go 15-20 bpm over my supposed "max" HR listed there. IIRC the "220 - age" max HR figure has a standard deviation of 10 bpm, which means something like 95% of all people would have a max HR that's within 20 or 30 bpm or the "220 - age" figure. Which means if you're 30, your max HR could be 190. Or 210. Or 170.

tbonez

In before - you cant train effectively without a power meter.


In all seriousness I have been told that you cant rely on the simple age/weight heart rate calculations. You need to figure out what your personal maximum heart rate is. To do that you actually get on the bike and stress yourself. You can use a process like the one included in the following link...


https://www.timetrialtraining.co.uk/S...tRateTests.htm


Once you understand your true maximum there are dozens of training programs for dozens of different goals using your accurate HR. If you let me know what your goal is I can try to direct you to a link.

datlas 

I think you can train effectively with a HRM but you really need to do a field test to determine your training zones. I like the chris carmichael book "Time Crunched Cyclist Program" which has a good guide for b both training with power but also by HR.

Those formulas for HR max are bogus BTW.

mvnsnd

Totally agree with this. Cramichael's book also gives one method for determining max heart rate.

revchuck

+1 on this program. He states up front that training with a power meter is the best way to do it, but includes heart rate instructions as well. IMO, training with heart rate is about an 80% solution, and a bunch cheaper than buying a power meter (though the prices are coming down).

On using that Timex heart rate monitor - Polar makes a mount that you can put on your bars and mount the watch part onto. Or you can do the redneck version - go to a hardware store and buy some 1" pipe insulation, cut a section and put it on your bars and wrap the watchband around that. Using it on your wrist doesn't work well on a bike.

Don't worry about your max heart rate - it's irrelevant for training. Find your max sustainable heart rate and use that. Carmichael's book has a field test that ends up giving you that info; it's used as a basis to set your heart rate zones for the workouts.