IP Freely

I did my first ride with a HR monitor yesterday. On the first climb, I decided to go as hard as I could to figure out my max HR. I hit 187, and drained the majority of my energy in the process.

I was huffing and puffing the rest of the ride, and my HR was above 180 on each of the remaining climbs, and over 170 on the flats even though I wasn't pushing myself that hard.

Several questions:

(1) Am I spending too much time too close to my max HR? Do I need to spin easier gears and go slower to allow myself some time to recover?
(2) Did I push myself too hard on the first climb, leading to my poor performance on the rest of the ride? It was only 5-7% for less than a mile.
(3) Do I need lower gearing? On the later climbs, I was trying to keep my HR down but even in my lowest gear (34-25) my HR was spiking.
(4) Do I need to HTFU?

Linked is the ride data from Strava.

https://app.strava.com/rides/17895885

mpath

Several suggestions: did you do a search? This topic has been covered countless times. Do you have a power meter? Assume you don't, but that would help tremendously when you're doing more than just casual rides. Lower gearing or just a not so great motor at this point? IOW, you. A 5-7% great isn't such a huge deal to merit a gear ratio change to a lot of people. HTFU? Yes.

IP Freely

Yes, I did a search. I didn't see anything about spending too much time so close to my max. No, I don't have a powermeter.

Not so great motor at this point, I'm just wondering if it's safe/normal/useful to be spending so much time just a few bpm from my max HR. I was under the impression you're supposed to stay below 90% of your max.

cbresciani

Yikes, you really don't want to train near your max heart rate at all, or spend any length of time there. I don't know what your level of fitness is or you're age or weight, but for training you should probably not get that close to your max. I usually train between 70 to 80% of my max heart rate, I try to stay well below my max as much as possible.

jsutkeepspining

^**********??

of course you can ride near or at your max. As long as you aren't in terrible condition in terms of heart disease you should be fine. dont worry about it. Lots of people ride near their max's all the time.

surgeonstone

80-90% max all the time every ride. It's how I ride, not proud of it, it simply is my illness speaking. Some rides I will intentionally try and stay at 70% or below, within 20 minutes I am right back up there.

Carbon Unit

I have had similar issues. The higgest heart I have ever hit is 192 but only for a couple of seconds. It screwed me for the rest of the ride. I was completey depleated. I have a thread out on yesterdays ride where my heart rate increased to the higgest point I have experienced in two years and it was a horrible ride. There was lot of climbing but the weather sucked too and that probably contributed.

I do not have a power meter and probably never will unless they come down in price.

timmy29er

Same here. Seems like I have to concentrate just to consistently ride at a slower/easier pace. I can't help it. I unintentionally walk at a faster than normal pace as well.

wphamilton

I'm glad you brought it up IP Freely because I also recently got a HR monitor and have some of the same questions. It's not that simple, at least not for me.

Everywhere you look the advice is a lot of zone 2 miles interspersed with structured zone 3 training (among other things). Too much proportionally at higher intensities can actually stop your progress or so the story goes. Like OP I discovered that almost all of my riding appeared to be close to 90% and quite a bit of it over 90%. It's also been stated here that you (generic 'you') aren't really in Zone 4 most of the time and Zone 5 for a significant amount of time, and if you are there's probably something wrong with the equipment or the max HR number. That sounds plausible.

Personally I've "estimated" my max HR based on the highest I've happened to see like IP did, since the age (53) based calculation fails. I think it's best (or essential) to try to actually measure it. In my case I ran out of oomph on a climb before I ran out of HR so I've estimated 181, but yesterday during a mostly aerobic 50 miles I glanced down and saw readings in the 190's! Probably spurious but equally likely that my max HR assumption is out of whack. I suspect that could also be the case for you. I think we just have to devote a day to it and put out the effort to find out what the max hr actually is and go from there.

cbresciani

Sure you can, but unless you've been training for a while or are in really good shape I wouldn't. Of course everyone is different as far as how long or how close they can train to their max heart rate. My suggestion would be start out in your 70 to 80% range and as you get in better shape then push more towards your limit.

Beaker

I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was not your max HR. It would be far better to work out your lactate threshold heart rate and how to base training zones off that value; it's easier and more reliable to determine your LTHR than Max HR. Here's a good article from Joe Friel on LTHR https://www.trainingbible.com/joesblo...-training.html

echotraveler

OP you need to research thru google.

find your rest HR (put the HRM on when you wake up and relax in bed, record a couple of this numbers to get your rest)
find your max HR (find this on google)

this 2 are the basic figures you want to find out, from there you can train knowing were you stand HR wise.

I found a couple of nice HR based trainings on google. HR training will need to be done on solo rides.

ultraman6970

Been noticing a lot of triats using this method for training, i been reading about it too becaue we did not have this stuff back in the day, well at least i did not.

How are those zones defined?? everywhere says zone 1 ... 4 ... whatever but still can't get how they decide what zone is what. With a powermeter the idea is to keep the power constant w/o killing the rider, I assume the principle using HR is the same???

How do you define the zones and what zone 1 means for example?

THanks.

IP Freely

Thanks for the insight guys. I think it's entirely possible that my "look at the HR monitor when pushing very hard up a hill" method was not the most accurate way to determine HR. When I made a conscious effort to keep my HR lower on today's ride, I ended up going very very slowly (had to switch to the small ring on a flat ride). I think I'm going to continue to push myself over 180, and try to better determine my max HR.

datlas 

I agree that if you want to use the HRM scientifically (rather than just more "fun" data) then you should look into doing a field test (ideally easier on a trainer than on the road, btw, so you can control conditions) to determine an estimate of your LTHR...then train off that.

Also, unless you were just about to pass out and/or puke and/or get tunnel vision, you were NOT at your max HR.

echotraveler

correct

cafzali

Sorry, but that's not correct. First off, the whole term "maximum heart rate" is just a generalization based on a set of characteristics, such as age. In reality, everyone has a different maximum heart rate and your body has built in mechanisms, such as fainting, dizziness and possibly even vomiting that will stop you from literally exceeding your maximum heart rate for long periods and/or to the point of damage.

As your overall health improves through exercise, what you'll find is that your heart rate will not go as high under the same workout and will also come down faster after the same workout than when you start. The "top" rate that I hit now is about 20 beats per minute lower on the same workout than it was when I started doing strength training and biking regularly.

It's always a good idea to get a yearly physical. But keep in mind that through a routine screen, the only thing a doctor's really going to look for is changes in heart rhythm that can be seen on an EKG. Generally, you won't have more advanced screening than that in a yearly physical unless there's some sort of indication, such as your past history, family history, etc.

cccorlew

You might want to look at the "Time Crunched Cyclist" book. It'll give you some step by step ways to use your HR monitor.

Nick Bain

Its all relative but typically you should only do two hard rides per week and increase activity 5-10% per week.

Meaning you have to build yourself up before you can slay the dragon.

How did you feel after the ride?

Based on your data you are undertrained or new to cycling that is why your HR is so high even though you thought you were taking it easy or you werent giving yourself enough time to recover after those short steep climbs.

If you felt good I woudln't worry too much about it. Your HR will drop as you ride more.

ultraman6970

Anybody could answer what i asked please??

Beaker

If you have your LTHR from my link above, you can find Joe Friel's zone suggestions here (brought to you by the magic of Google)

https://www.trainingbible.com/joesblo...ing-zones.html

joe has a lot to say about zones - I'd recommend trawling his blog, or if you're gettings serious, consider a copy of his Cyclists Training Bible.

ultraman6970

Thanks a lot beaker... asking just for curiousty, im too old now for training for a come back like lance did I was good enough but not as good as him hehe... noticed many guys shifting like maniacs in the last few years, and trying to figure it out I was right, HR training but the zones part puzzled me a tiny bit...


Thanks...

Nick Bain

No this is BF and were going to tell you how we do it because our way is best.

slowandsteady

You should really be calculating the % using heart rate reserve which factors in your resting heart rate. To find your max HR, you should have waited to do that hill at the end of your ride not the beginning.

https://www.briancalkins.com/HeartRate.htm

cbresciani

My suggestion to the OP would be to talk to your physician or cardiologist about their recommendation as to how close or long you should train at your max HR. I wouldn't say my post was not correct, as most physicians including mine has suggested that training at or near your max HR for extended periods of time should be limited. As stated earlier everyone is different and therefore we all have our own ideas or opinions on this topic.