Heart Rate, trainer vs road

plug1n

Got myself an Edge 305 with HRM for Xmas

I see big differences in heart rate on a mag trainer or road with the same bike so same position.

On a 30M road ride today, I averaged 143bpm with a max of 162bpm

But on a trainer riding 5 minutes easy, 10 minutes hard for an hour, I have to crank the gears right up to get my HR over 130 (dripping!)

My thoughts are this is due to weight, I'm 92KG and 53 years old and ride about 9 hours a week.

So my conclusion is that if could loose more weight I would really go faster.

But on the downside the trainer regime is not doing too much good.

Any comments?

Mike Willcox

Plug1n wrote:

Got myself an Edge 305 with HRM for Xmas

I see big differences in heart rate on a mag trainer or road with the same bike so same position.

On a 30M road ride today, I averaged 143bpm with a max of 162bpm

But on a trainer riding 5 minutes easy, 10 minutes hard for an hour, I have to crank the gears right up to get my HR over 130 (dripping!)

My thoughts are this is due to weight, I'm 92KG and 53 years old and ride about 9 hours a week.

So my conclusion is that if could loose more weight I would really go faster.

But on the downside the trainer regime is not doing too much good.

Any comments?

Riding indoors is mentally more demanding as there are less things to distract you from the effort which for a given speed or power output does not vary. Weather conditions and terrain all impact on the variability of riding on the road which it makes it easier to ride harder without realising it.

billybiker

Plug1n wrote:

Got myself an Edge 305 with HRM for Xmas

I see big differences in heart rate on a mag trainer or road with the same bike so same position.

On a 30M road ride today, I averaged 143bpm with a max of 162bpm

But on a trainer riding 5 minutes easy, 10 minutes hard for an hour, I have to crank the gears right up to get my HR over 130 (dripping!)

My thoughts are this is due to weight, I'm 92KG and 53 years old and ride about 9 hours a week.

So my conclusion is that if could loose more weight I would really go faster.

But on the downside the trainer regime is not doing too much good.

Any comments?

I'm 52, 94Kgs, so similar standard I suppose? My max HR is 196 (I just use 200 as this makes it easy to work out) and I average about the same as you (145) on a run. Yesterday, with the club, I averaged 162 but it was a VERY hard ride for me. I find it easier to hit high HRs when overweight but there is a fairly close correlation for me betwqeen HR and speed, e.g. I might be at 160bpm at 15mph and this varies very little over the year. If you lose weight I think you should see an increase in speed for the same effort especially if you are down on the drops or doing a TT as a "fat" gut restricts breathing when down on the bars. If this all seems like double dutch to you then maybe its a poor explanation of what is a vast topic!

All the best!

Toks

Plug1n wrote:

Got myself an Edge 305 with HRM for Xmas

I see big differences in heart rate on a mag trainer or road with the same bike so same position.

On a 30M road ride today, I averaged 143bpm with a max of 162bpm

But on a trainer riding 5 minutes easy, 10 minutes hard for an hour, I have to crank the gears right up to get my HR over 130 (dripping!)

My thoughts are this is due to weight, I'm 92KG and 53 years old and ride about 9 hours a week.

So my conclusion is that if could loose more weight I would really go faster.

But on the downside the trainer regime is not doing too much good.

Any comments?

Er... have you replicated that same turbo training regime out on the road?

APIII

Plug1n wrote:

Got myself an Edge 305 with HRM for Xmas

I see big differences in heart rate on a mag trainer or road with the same bike so same position.

On a 30M road ride today, I averaged 143bpm with a max of 162bpm

But on a trainer riding 5 minutes easy, 10 minutes hard for an hour, I have to crank the gears right up to get my HR over 130 (dripping!)

My thoughts are this is due to weight, I'm 92KG and 53 years old and ride about 9 hours a week.

So my conclusion is that if could loose more weight I would really go faster.

But on the downside the trainer regime is not doing too much good.

Any comments?

I was having the same thing. My HR on the turbo was only getting up to mid 140's, while my rides on the road average about 155. To be honest, I was doing turbo sessions without any real structure, just steady riding. I've now started doing more structured interval work and am now seeing my HR go up to the 160s. It still seems a way off what I would expect. The highest I have got on the turbo is 172, which was a full on sprint after a 5 minute interval. I averaged 168 on the Ventoux last year, so I know my max is higher.

plug1n

>> Er... have you replicated that same turbo training regime out on the road?

Not really, I live in a valley and have to do a climb after the first mile so my HR hits 150 after 3 minutes - not too many flat roads until I get about 12 miles from home

berliner

I'm 50 and currently weigh some 15stone 3 lbs. Too heavy I know.
Have done all the sportives stuff.
In order to get max HR on the turbo trainer I need to so in stages. A burst to say 145 then back down to say 115 . Up to 155 etc etc. I can then hold 170 for quite a period of time.
170 seems to be the ultimate max I can get out on the road. Top of climbs etc.
Funny isn't it.