HR Training & Recovery

doyler78

Have used a HRM for years however I have never really used it with any real purpose in mind other than just to look at the numbers afterwards or to see if my hr is particularly high during any parts so I can ease back a bit.

Was planning gym sessions this week as I will not be on the bike for most of it as I cycle most as part of my commute and I am on leave this week and the weather is unenticing so a good chance to do try out planned hr training.

My stats are: MRHR - 40bpm average - MaxHR - 198bpm. 37yo. 173cm. 72kg (though will get down to about 67-68kg in the next couple of months).

My programme for this week is:

Mon - 10 min warmup - 1h30m @ 60-70% @ 100+ cadence then cool down to 110bpm (just over 40%)

Tues - Intervals (never done these before so wasn't sure what to do so ended up planning following) - 5 min warmup - 3mins @ 80-90% (2mins seated, 1min standing) @ 60-70 cadence (high resistance) then 5 mins recovery @ below 60% @ 90+ cadence (low resistance) repeated this 5 times then cooled down to 110bpm

Wed - 10 min warmup - 1hr @ 60-70% @ 100+ cadence then cool down to 110bpm

Thurs - Rest Day

Fri - 10 min warmup - 5 min warmup - 30 mins @ 70-80% @ 110-120 cadence

Sat - 2hr ride outside (if the weather isn't awful) @ 60-80% @ cadence 70-100.

Sun - Rest Day

As a mainly gym based programme any advice on the way I am planning this week (I know its half over however your views will be useful for the future).

My normal riding is:

Mon, Wed, Fri - commute (15 miles there and back) with an average HR of between 145 - 165bpm with 154bpm being about the most common) so somewhere between 67%-80%.

On Tues or Thurs and SatI will do a 45 min cardio session, usually on the bike, however do use the Cross Trainer or rowing machine.

Sundays are a bike ride of at least 2 hours (but more likely at this time of year to be exactly that - if I get out at all).

As I have said I haven't done much outside commuting and I can extend these pretty easily as there are loads of back roads I can take that will get me home. I want to do a 100 mile ride this year. Most I done last year was 100km so its a big jump and realise this will take a little more prep than I have been used and that means planning my training a bit better and that's where the HR training falls into.

I am particularly interested in knowing what training zones I should be working in as this is a new area to me (ie this week is my test week) and I am particularly interested to know exactly what everyone means by recovery when talking about how quickly heart rate returns to normal. When do you start calculating this - is it from when you finish your cool down or is it from when you finish the work part of the training and what is the heart rate return we are talking about - is it the heart rate you see before you start any exercise. Once I know what it is that I am timing then how do you find out what is good or poor? Are we talking minutes or hours later? This part never really seems to be explained in any heart rate training guides I have come across.

I know about testing my MRHR and have used that for years as a guide as to whether I am overtraining or coming down with something or not and thankfully it has kept me from overtraining for the entire time I have started using it unlike before when I would regularly overtrain which lead to an extended period where I couldn't train at all hence why I got the HRM in the first place. Just not used for much else except looking at my heart rate, speed and altitude curves on my downloads.

Well if anyone has actually made it to the end and wishes to offer any advice I would be grateful.

Alex_Simmons/RST

<70% is too easy for good fitness gains. Bump those up to 75+% at least. You already have 2 rest days, so no great need for recovery rides. Perhaps if you are just starting out then one easy day which you'd gradually replace with solid training.

For intervals you will do better to train longer efforts of 15-60 minutes at 85%+. See here for an example of what happens to HR during such efforts:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... 6#14698396

HR lags behind effort (anywhere from 30 sec to several minutes) and will tend to drift up over time with a constant effort.

Don't worry too much about cadence, just put out the effort.

You will need to introduce longer rides at some stage if 100 miles is the goal. Time in saddle and learning to fuel while riding longer distances are important aspects to consider.

doyler78

Thanks Alex,

Got the core training message. Up the intensity to 75%+ to get better training benefits however should all session be at this intensity (apart from the intervals). Should one a week maybe be @ 60-70%?

Intervals are another story now. Never done them before so little understanding of them. However really 174bpm or higher to maintain for 1 hour. How many of these intervals would you be expected do and what recovery phase would there be between these intervals? The 15min intervals @ this intensity should be achievable, though not sure how many of these I could actually do however that will improve with training. Again how many of these would you expect to do and what recovery would you recommend.

Sundays are not normally a rest day as I generally do about 35 miles at this time of the year if the weather isn't really awful. Changed days just for this week because it suited me better though Sunday's weather is looking better than Sat so may change that again. Once we get better weather I would generally do 3 hour rides. Normally on the Sat it is a gym based session. So really only one days recovery.

As I have cycled through the winter this year which I have never done before I really have maintained most of the fitness I had when I had done my 100km ride in August it is really only a matter of upping the miles again come end of March and the clocks turn. I plan on getting my 100km sorted by start of May and that gives me plenty of time to work up to that 100 miler. Also plan on trying to bring in more hilly routes as I haven't really tackled any. So all in all just want to do a bit more.

Did experiment with different sports drinks and bars last year and found SiS to be great for me (though hate gels) whereas Powerbar did nothing for me and Jacobs fig rolls & jaffa cakes tasty though what benefit they have well that's one I am not sure about. Did go through rather a lot which will cost me a fortune so will probably try out my own formulations to see if I can get much the same benefits at a fraction of the cost.[/img]

Alex_Simmons/RST

doyler78 wrote:

Thanks Alex,

Got the core training message. Up the intensity to 75%+ to get better training benefits however should all session be at this intensity (apart from the intervals). Should one a week maybe be @ 60-70%?

Mix it up. The longer the ride, the lower the overall intensity but no reason not to throw in a section of higher intensity on longer rides.

I am assuming your MHR is not an estimated value of course.

doyler78 wrote:

Intervals are another story now. Never done them before so little understanding of them. However really 174bpm or higher to maintain for 1 hour. How many of these intervals would you be expected do and what recovery phase would there be between these intervals? The 15min intervals @ this intensity should be achievable, though not sure how many of these I could actually do however that will improve with training. Again how many of these would you expect to do and what recovery would you recommend.

Start with 15 min and over time introduce more of them and/or lengthen them. A few minutes rest in between (1-5 min should be enough). If you can't do 2x15min after say 4 weeks, then you're doing them too hard, so ease back a little. If they are comfortable, then up the effort and/or duration a little. They are self-regulating like that. At most people do up to 1hr total at TT levels. At tempo riding then 30min-2hrs in a single block.

Of course this is fairly general advice and may not be suitable for your individual circumstances.

Ric_Stern/RST

doyler78 wrote:

Did experiment with different sports drinks and bars last year and found SiS to be great for me (though hate gels) whereas Powerbar did nothing for me and Jacobs fig rolls & jaffa cakes tasty though what benefit they have well that's one I am not sure about. Did go through rather a lot which will cost me a fortune so will probably try out my own formulations to see if I can get much the same benefits at a fraction of the cost.[/img]

Fig rolls (newtons in US) are great, I've raced and trained with these for years (obviously, not the same fig roll as it'd have gone stale by now ;-)). I find Jaffa Cakes melt.

Also, use the High Five or SiS stuff or sometimes Lucozade Sport. Depends on my mood and which flavours i'm after!

ric