HRM training zones

ivancarlos

I have a fairly simple HRM which has an alarm for a lower and upper limits of a training zone. My highest recorded HR is 189 (during heavy training sessions). What should I be setting it at for basic training?

BeaconRuth

A good starting point would be to try to keep you HR between 140 and 160 bpm for rides up to 2 hours. If you're riding for longer than that then drop down somewhere between 130-140bpm.

Ruth

binlinus

if you turn the alarm off, the battery will last much longer. Just use the visible display with the bpm like Ruth suggested.

Bin

mike kluge

These figures are approximate but I hope it's useful:

According to Dr Conconi, the famous coach of Francesco Moser, your "Deflection point" is approx 90% of your Heart Rate Max. His research into heart rates and lactic acid was the bedrock of most modern heart rate training practice. If you are pretty fit, you should be able to race at just under your Deflection Point (90%) for sustained periods e.g. up to an hour or so. Therefore it's worth bearing these figures in mind when choosing a programme.

You could have a go at incorporating some ofthe following into your routine, say over a 10 day cycle. I've found these to be the most useful, but there are some good books out there that can provide some ideas and variety:

7 x 3 minute intervals* at 85-90% of HR Max, pedalling at around 85 to 100 RPM seated. In the "rest phases" between effort try letting your RPM drop to around 60RPM and maintain this pace until your HR has dropped to 70% of HR Max then repeat the interval. You could reduce the number of intervals and make them longer (say 3 x 20 mins) if you want... Try not to exceed 90% of HR Max during this session. This should improve your ability to race at your maximum pace in a time trial (and judge your effort).

1 x 1hr (or far longer if you can spare the time) at 75% - 80% of HR Max. Good for building endurance and a great fitness "base". Don't be tempted to go any harder if you can help it - route selection and a wide range of gears could be critical!

7 x 30 second sprint intervals* pedalling as hard as you can - gear selection is tricky, but choose something that's big enough. Recover between intervals as above. You should notice your HR rising even after the 30 seconds has ended. This is anaerobic training. Try not to puke.

Free Play (often called Fartlek training) - pick a reasonably hilly route with short climbs and just power up them to see what happens to your HR. I'd go for between 7 and ten intervals. Stay seated if you are interested in increasing your time trialling as this helps develop real power. You could try sprinting for road signs etc if the terrain isn't appropriate. This session is just about getting out there and giving it some.

"Active" Recovery Rides - about 40 minutes at not much over 70% on your days off

*I would only recommend these interval sessions on a turbo trainer as they will require concentration, no traffic lights etc!

As I mentioned, there's loads of variety out there so get reading.
Good luck

Ric_Stern/RST

mike kluge wrote:

These figures are approximate but I hope it's useful:

According to Dr Conconi, the famous coach of Francesco Moser, your "Deflection point" is approx 90% of your Heart Rate Max. His research into heart rates and lactic acid was the bedrock of most modern heart rate training practice. If you are pretty fit, you should be able to race at just under your Deflection Point (90%) for sustained periods e.g. up to an hour or so. Therefore it's worth bearing these figures in mind when choosing a programme.

There is no such thing as the "deflection point"; it was quite simply, utter rubbish made up by Conconi with no basis in science. I sincerely doubt he has any research into heart rate or "lactic acid" (it's lactate) and is about as much a "bedrock" of most modern heart rate training (which is outdated) as i'm an elite cyclist!

The heart rate that you can maintain for ~1-hr has no bearing on your fitness

Ric

mike kluge

ok, I stand corrected as you appear to be the professional

How about giving us half a dozen cycle specific training sessions you can use with a HRM then?

ut_och_cykla

Ric_Stern/RST wrote:

mike kluge wrote:

These figures are approximate but I hope it's useful:

According to Dr Conconi, the famous coach of Francesco Moser, your "Deflection point" is approx 90% of your Heart Rate Max. His research into heart rates and lactic acid was the bedrock of most modern heart rate training practice. If you are pretty fit, you should be able to race at just under your Deflection Point (90%) for sustained periods e.g. up to an hour or so. Therefore it's worth bearing these figures in mind when choosing a programme.

There is no such thing as the "deflection point"; it was quite simply, utter rubbish made up by Conconi with no basis in science. I sincerely doubt he has any research into heart rate or "lactic acid" (it's lactate) and is about as much a "bedrock" of most modern heart rate training (which is outdated) as i'm an elite cyclist!

The heart rate that you can maintain for ~1-hr has no bearing on your fitness

Ric

Yes thats's all very well but the original question was where to start. Now Ric's almost turned the post into a 'let's sh*t all over conconi' without providing any of his own suggestions.
I thinkRic could be objectively critical in a nicer more balanced way that would educate all reader's instead of making me (and perhaps others) think what an agressive twerp you are. Dogmatism is unlikely to get him more clients.

Ric_Stern/RST

ut_och_cykla wrote:

Ric_Stern/RST wrote:

mike kluge wrote:

These figures are approximate but I hope it's useful:

According to Dr Conconi, the famous coach of Francesco Moser, your "Deflection point" is approx 90% of your Heart Rate Max. His research into heart rates and lactic acid was the bedrock of most modern heart rate training practice. If you are pretty fit, you should be able to race at just under your Deflection Point (90%) for sustained periods e.g. up to an hour or so. Therefore it's worth bearing these figures in mind when choosing a programme.

There is no such thing as the "deflection point"; it was quite simply, utter rubbish made up by Conconi with no basis in science. I sincerely doubt he has any research into heart rate or "lactic acid" (it's lactate) and is about as much a "bedrock" of most modern heart rate training (which is outdated) as i'm an elite cyclist!

The heart rate that you can maintain for ~1-hr has no bearing on your fitness

Ric

Yes thats's all very well but the original question was where to start. Now Ric's almost turned the post into a 'let's sh*t all over conconi' without providing any of his own suggestions.
I thinkRic could be objectively critical in a nicer more balanced way that would educate all reader's instead of making me (and perhaps others) think what an agressive twerp you are. Dogmatism is unlikely to get him more clients.

Conconi needs sh!tting all over. he fabricated his results.

In response to the original question i have no answer, as i don't know what sort of goals the OP has. Have they just got on a bike? Are they track sprinters? do they do sportifs? Road races? are they interested in weight loss?

Ric

SteveR_100Milers

IIRC Conconi is <partly> (allegedly) responsible for developing EPO booster programmes for cyclist - I need to go check Matt Rendell's info in the Pantani bio.

ivancarlos

Ric_Stern/RST wrote:

[In response to the original question i have no answer, as i don't know what sort of goals the OP has. Have they just got on a bike? Are they track sprinters? do they do sportifs? Road races? are they interested in weight loss?

Ric

Interested in road racing. Used to set it for zones 3 & 4 roughly 75-90% of max. I am wondering if this is ok?

Ric_Stern/RST

ivancarlos wrote:

Ric_Stern/RST wrote:

[In response to the original question i have no answer, as i don't know what sort of goals the OP has. Have they just got on a bike? Are they track sprinters? do they do sportifs? Road races? are they interested in weight loss?

Ric

Interested in road racing. Used to set it for zones 3 & 4 roughly 75-90% of max. I am wondering if this is ok?

There's many ways to set training zones. When we set zones based on HR, we use HRmax. Other's may use the average from a ~1-hr TT. Each coach may use a different system, and often they are not interchangeable.

I'll post the RST zones shortly

ric