Training in Zone 2 60-70%

SkyBlueKangaroo

I am relatively new to cycling, having started to take it seriously as a way to lose weight at xmas, and hence still relatively unfit (5ft 7 and 12st 8lbs).

I've got the Heart Rate Monitor Book For Cyclists book and I realise I should be concentrating a very good percentage of my training in zones 1, 2 and 3 to get a base endurance and fitness.

Having done some tests to assess my maximum HR I have got this set at 195bpm. My resting HR is around 50bpm and ambient at around 70bpm

However, I am having concerns actually training in the 60-70% zone. My problem is I have to concentrate very hard not to go over 70%!!

I go out on the road, and barely apply any force to the pedals, but as soon as I face a headwind or even a slight gradient, I find the beeper going off on my HR monitor.

I am by no means finding the pace difficult, I'm still able to breathe nasally and easily, but my heart apparently says otherwise?

I appreciate this is probably because I am unfit and my heart rate will be high at the moment even to do relatively very easy work (saying that I can maintain an average 17.5 mph over 40 miles on rolling terrain so I don't think I'm in much danger of a coronory just yet - touch wood).

Does anyone have any suggestions or encouragement?

Should I just keep doing what I'm doing, and as I get fitter see the HR drop to do the same work as a matter of course? Or should I try another form of exercise for my zone 2 recovery sessions, eg walking (yawn)?

Any advice would be appreciated.

phil s

That zone is recovery pace for me, and I suspect for most people.

Alex_Simmons/RST

You will need to be at least >70% MHR for any real training effect and benefits begin to really kick in when riding substantial time >75% MHR.

So forget the HR for a while and go out there and ride as you feel you are able.

Johnpwr

I would suggest that you largely ignore your HRM !

At this stage you should just be concentrating on getting your feet used to going around in circles and being outside in the lanes and the sunshine, burning some calories. Use your HRM as a memo item and confirmation of how you are feeling at any moment in time rather than a strict guide. There are a lot of lumps in the road that are always going to raise your effort level so just take them on

I'd suggest that the main benefit to riding at a low effort level is that you ensure that you can repeat the exercise the next day. If you are going to miss a day or days without riding, then going harder isn't a problem as you'll have time to recover.

You might want to just ride hard to see how your body reacts anyway. We're all individual with different capacities, so don't stick too close to book based guidance that must inevitably err on the side of moderation and the use of averages. Also be aware that you become what you do on a bike, as in if you tootle around easily, that is what you will become good at, although at this stage it sounds like you have a primary aim of weight-loss, so the more time you can spend exercising, the better.

Best of luck

SkyBlueKangaroo

Thanks John

When you see it in black and white it makes sense to just 'go with the flow'. When I get serious about something I do tend to "get the book" and sometimes I forget that the main thing is to enjoy the exercise, it's all good.

I do ride some higher intensity stuff, such as a spinning class, and outings on my MTB, and I use the zone 2 sessions as recovery/active rest. But well over 75% of my time is spent 60-80% as weight loss and building basic endurance are my main goals at the moment.

I guess as I cannot ride at any lower intensity than I am already in these zone 2 sessions, I am basically doing what I am supposed to, which is allowing my legs to recover and getting a bit of blood pumping through gently to flush out the previous days harder work. So I will try to be less concerned about sticking 100% to the "rules".

richardjallen

I have the same problem as yourself. I think my maxHR is around 190+ and when I go out my heart rate rarely drops below 170. Again I do not feel unwell and I can do that for a 100 mile ride.

I read this recently:

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/fitness/a ... ining-1022

It suggests training in the zone you are talking about which I intend to try and do this weekend.

I am going to resist the urge to go as fast as possible and try to keep my heart rate low. I'm hoping a few weeks of that will start to make a difference.

Alex_Simmons/RST

richardjallen wrote:

I am going to resist the urge to go as fast as possible and try to keep my heart rate low. I'm hoping a few weeks of that will start to make a difference.

If riding the way you were was not inhibiting your training during rest of week, then why go slower? It'll only train you to go slower.

richardjallen

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

If riding the way you were was not inhibiting your training during rest of week, then why go slower? It'll only train you to go slower.

I'm thinking more along the lines that what I have been doing has not improved my performance so I'm going to try some other things. I do find that although I can get up to a nice healthy speed, as soon as there is a slight head wind I can't seem to power threw it.

nmcgann

richardjallen wrote:

.........I do find that although I can get up to a nice healthy speed, as soon as there is a slight head wind I can't seem to power threw it.

I used to worry about the same problem until I got a Powertap - I've discovered now that the reason that I couldn't maintain speed into some headwinds is that they were requiring more power than I can sustain. (i.e. going from a threshold effort that I can sustain for 30mins+ to a VO2max effort that I can only sustain for 5 mins)

Not that I'm ever going to love headwinds, but now I'm not so fixated with speed I can handle them a lot better.

Neil

Alex_Simmons/RST

richardjallen wrote:

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

If riding the way you were was not inhibiting your training during rest of week, then why go slower? It'll only train you to go slower.

I'm thinking more along the lines that what I have been doing has not improved my performance so I'm going to try some other things. I do find that although I can get up to a nice healthy speed, as soon as there is a slight head wind I can't seem to power threw it.

It is a good idea to mix it up if performance is flagging but I'm not sure about your example.

You really don't know if speed into headwind is way slow unless you know what power you put out with and without wind. Head wind really slows you down at the same power output. Or at same speed require significantly more power.

A still day at 30km/h on a flat road might require 160 watts but with only a 5km/h head wind, power requirement to ride at 30km/h goes up approx 20% to 200 watts.

To stay at 160watts, you'd need to slow down to about 27 kp/h when riding into a 5 km/h headwind.

The actual numbers depends on lots of factors such as how aerodynamic you are but perhaps you can see how speed can be very deceptive as an indicator of fitness when wind is about.

richardjallen

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

richardjallen wrote:

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

If riding the way you were was not inhibiting your training during rest of week, then why go slower? It'll only train you to go slower.

I'm thinking more along the lines that what I have been doing has not improved my performance so I'm going to try some other things. I do find that although I can get up to a nice healthy speed, as soon as there is a slight head wind I can't seem to power threw it.

It is a good idea to mix it up if performance is flagging but I'm not sure about your example.

You really don't know if speed into headwind is way slow unless you know what power you put out with and without wind. Head wind really slows you down at the same power output. Or at same speed require significantly more power.

A still day at 30km/h on a flat road might require 160 watts but with only a 5km/h head wind, power requirement to ride at 30km/h goes up approx 20% to 200 watts.

To stay at 160watts, you'd need to slow down to about 27 kp/h when riding into a 5 km/h headwind.

The actual numbers depends on lots of factors such as how aerodynamic you are but perhaps you can see how speed can be very deceptive as an indicator of fitness when wind is about.

Yes I can see that. I understand the energy increase is cubic to a wind velocity. It's not just head winds though. I feel that my overall endurance could be better. I can ride long distances and I can ride quite fast over short distances. But my average speed drops fairly quickly as I increase distance. I cannot see that I will change that by following the same routine. I must do something different if I want to see a difference.