Long Intervals & Average HR
Shakka
Posts: 73
I'm looking forward to starting my second season of club TT's beginning at the end of March, and will be entering mostly 10 & 25 mile events as per last year.
In an attempt to give myself an idea on how my training & fitness levels are progressing, I've purchased myself a HR monitor & although I've only had this since the New Year, and I therefore only have a handful of recorded bike sessions, the readings are interesting, if a little confusing.
Below is the output from my HRM for a couple of long 3hr rides, and a couple of 2 x 20 mins efforts (with 5 min rest in between, the rest period has been ignored in calculating my average HR). The 2 x 20 minute intervals are completed on my turbo in a garage.
Max HR Avg HR
Long Ride (3hrs) - 156 135
Long ride (3hrs) - 151 132
2 x 20 min efforts - 150 137
2 x 20 min efforts - 148 136
What immediately strikes me is that my Avg HR for the turbo session is not that much higher than for my long sessions on the bike. My Avg HR on the long ride equates to just shy of 73% of MHR, (my HRM is currently calculating my MHR for me
at present), and my long interval sessions equate to 75% of MHR. Not an awful lot of difference between the 2.
My question is, What level of MHR should the 2 x 20 intervals be carried out at? Before I purchased my HRM, I thought I was putting in a decent level of effort. Now I'm not so sure if that's the case based on my HR readings. Perhaps I need to get some more readings under my belt before worrying too much about statistics.
In an attempt to give myself an idea on how my training & fitness levels are progressing, I've purchased myself a HR monitor & although I've only had this since the New Year, and I therefore only have a handful of recorded bike sessions, the readings are interesting, if a little confusing.
Below is the output from my HRM for a couple of long 3hr rides, and a couple of 2 x 20 mins efforts (with 5 min rest in between, the rest period has been ignored in calculating my average HR). The 2 x 20 minute intervals are completed on my turbo in a garage.
Max HR Avg HR
Long Ride (3hrs) - 156 135
Long ride (3hrs) - 151 132
2 x 20 min efforts - 150 137
2 x 20 min efforts - 148 136
What immediately strikes me is that my Avg HR for the turbo session is not that much higher than for my long sessions on the bike. My Avg HR on the long ride equates to just shy of 73% of MHR, (my HRM is currently calculating my MHR for me
at present), and my long interval sessions equate to 75% of MHR. Not an awful lot of difference between the 2.
My question is, What level of MHR should the 2 x 20 intervals be carried out at? Before I purchased my HRM, I thought I was putting in a decent level of effort. Now I'm not so sure if that's the case based on my HR readings. Perhaps I need to get some more readings under my belt before worrying too much about statistics.
0
Comments
-
It looks like your 2x20min efforts are being done at too low a HR - at a guess you should be aiming for 160-170 for these. How did they feel when you were doing them? Another possibility is that your 3hr data could be wrong, but that looks less likely.
You should get a proper figure for your MHR instead of relying on an estimate. Take it easy for a few days, then find a longish hill and ride up it fairly hard. Sprint full gas for the last minute and check your HR at the top.Jeff Jones
Product manager, Sports0 -
Generally my heart rate will be between 87%-92% of my max for a set of 2 x 20's. This will obviously be subject to dehydration, fatigue, overeaching, illness, lack of sleep, anxiety etc. If your doing them at a lower percentage your compromising the effectiveness of the 2 x 20 work out unless of course your doing 3/4 x 20's...Go to step 4 on "lactate threshold" to see the av hrt recommendation form Dr Andy Coggan. http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/Shakka wrote:I
My question is, What level of MHR should the 2 x 20 intervals be carried out at? Before I purchased my HRM, I thought I was putting in a decent level of effort. Now I'm not so sure if that's the case based on my HR readings. Perhaps I need to get some more readings under my belt before worrying too much about statistics.0 -
Toks wrote:
Generally my heart rate will be between 87%-92% of my max for a set of 2 x 20's. This will obviously be subject to dehydration, fatigue, overeaching, illness, lack of sleep, anxiety etc. If your doing them at a lower percentage your compromising the effectiveness of the 2 x 20 work out unless of course your doing 3/4 x 20's...Go to step 4 on "lactate threshold" to see the av hrt recommendation form Dr Andy Coggan. http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/Shakka wrote:I
My question is, What level of MHR should the 2 x 20 intervals be carried out at? Before I purchased my HRM, I thought I was putting in a decent level of effort. Now I'm not so sure if that's the case based on my HR readings. Perhaps I need to get some more readings under my belt before worrying too much about statistics.
That's pretty ,much the same area of HRM that I do 2*20 at as well. So for me it's between 165 and 173 bpm as my max is 189.0 -
Could be the resistance on the turbo. I've just started the Pete Read power sessions and he says if the HR doesn't get up high enough, it's prob that the resistance on the wheel is set too low.I must say goodbye to the blindfold
And pursue the ideal
The planet becoming the hostess
Instead of the meal
Roy Harper - 'Burn the World'0 -
Shakka
Implicit in your post is a confidence that your MHR is 180bpm. If I am correct then it would make sense to try your intervals from the other angle. In other words after your warm up ride hard enough to get your HR up to between 80 and 85% of MHR 144/153 with an average of around 150 bpm and then see if you can sustain the effort.
If you are unsure of your MHR there is a good link below to help you calculate it or alternatively do as Jeff Jones suggests.
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/maxhr.htm0 -
You say that your HRM is calculating your MHR for your - so presume you actually haven't conducted a max test on yourself? Look up 'ramp test' to determine your maximum and estimate your aerobic threshold, which is usually about 80-90% of maximum. 20minute sets are usually conducted at your aerobic threshold - if you're not having difficultly sustaining the effort for the last 5 minutes, getting tunnel vision and stars in your eyes - then you're probably not going hard enough!Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..0
-
Monty Dog wrote:You say that your HRM is calculating your MHR for your - so presume you actually haven't conducted a max test on yourself? Look up 'ramp test' to determine your maximum and estimate your aerobic threshold, which is usually about 80-90% of maximum. 20minute sets are usually conducted at your aerobic threshold - if you're not having difficultly sustaining the effort for the last 5 minutes, getting tunnel vision and stars in your eyes - then you're probably not going hard enough!
The OP uses MHR in the context of the highest heart rate that he reached during the rides and not MHR (true definition) in absolute terms.0
