Endurance training and heart rate zones

sampras38

Hi all,

I was wondering if any of you more experienced riders could offer any advice on the right heart rate zones to train in for endurance. I'm relatively new to more serious bike training, having been bitten by the bug about a year ago, and for the time being at least tend to ride alone.

I've always been quite heavily into fitness of one kind or another, so understand about the benefits of training in the right zones, but I'm a little clueless when it comes to bike specific stuff.

A little about me and my current stats..

Weight-wise I've gone from a heavy but muscular 15,10, to my current weight of 13st. I'm 6ft and so I guess I'm somewhere near a realistic maintainable weight, give or take a couple of pounds here or there. I'm probably the leanest I've ever been and looking to build up my training for the welsh dragon sportive in June, followed by a trip to the french alps in July to have a crack at the Jeoux plane and Cole Du Columbiere climbs. I've never done anything like this before, and so need some advice on how best to train. At the moment I'm mainly doing turbo work in the week, followed by a long ride at the weekend. Depending on family commitments I may do 2 rides at the weekend. So far I'm doing 50 or 60 mile rides, including some average climbs, and 50 miles tends to take me just shy of 3 hours. I tend to ride with a Garmin 705 GPS, and wondered if anyone could offer any advice about which heart rate zones to train in. I don't want to overtrain, but also want to improve as much as possible.

I ride a Scott CR1 Pro in good weather and Trek 1.2 in bad.

Sorry for the novel...and I really appreciate any advice.



sampras38

roadrider84

Pete,

You say you have a Garmin 705. So, enter you max HR into the device. This will then tell you which zone you are training in. When on the turbo I tend to do 20 minutes in zone 4 and 5 minutes in zone 5 (depending on how my body reacts to the rigours i'm putting it through. When out with the club I average around 158 bpm which I think is Zone 3. This is for rides between 70-90 miles.

It all depends on what type of training you do. Most of my training is Time Trial specific so I will put my body through its paces and try and maintain a high intensity workout.

I trust numerous other forum members will also give you further advice.

sampras38

roadrider84 wrote:

Pete,

You say you have a Garmin 705. So, enter you max HR into the device. This will then tell you which zone you are training in. When on the turbo I tend to do 20 minutes in zone 4 and 5 minutes in zone 5 (depending on how my body reacts to the rigours i'm putting it through. When out with the club I average around 158 bpm which I think is Zone 3. This is for rides between 70-90 miles.

It all depends on what type of training you do. Most of my training is Time Trial specific so I will put my body through its paces and try and maintain a high intensity workout.

I trust numerous other forum members will also give you further advice.

hiya,

Yeah, I have entered my MHR into the Garmin, and have been using it as a guide, but I've got to a point now where I feel I need a bit more guidance. I also use a HRM for all my turbo work, but so far have tended to follow specific hour or so workouts set by people like Carmichael and Rick Kiddle etc. It's not so much during Turbo work I need the advice, but more out on rides. Say for example I do a 3 hour ride on a mix of terrain, averaging around 17mph. That pace feels like a pretty good session, but should I be aiming to stay under say 80% MHR for most of the ride? Obviously on the climbs or sprints my HR can get higher than that.

Sorry, just to add, my resting HR at the moment is around 53-55, and my Garmin says on a 3 hour ride with climbs I'm averaging about 163bpm, with the highest being around the 182, although i only seem to get 180+ if i go all out on a climb...sometimes higher.

alp777

What is your MHR?

sampras38

alp777 wrote:

What is your MHR?

I've never seen it above 192..

alp777

If that IS your MHR then from what i've read your edurance zone should be between about 146 to 156bpm and you shoul be aming to do at leat 90 mins within those zones, try not to go out of the zone even on the climbs.

Again it all depends on what you are aiming for. You say you are training for the Welsh Dragon Sportive. I would say you should be combining edurance training with Threshold training (eg hill repeats) and one long ride a week of at least 5 or 6 hrs in the saddle.

You could write a book on this subject and i actually bought one, which i would recommend highly


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elite-Performance-Cycling-Successful-Sportives/dp/1408100495

sampras38

alp777 wrote:

If that IS your MHR then from what i've read your edurance zone should be between about 146 to 156bpm and you shoul be aming to do at leat 90 mins within those zones, try not to go out of the zone even on the climbs.

Again it all depends on what you are aiming for. You say you are training for the Welsh Dragon Sportive. I would say you should be combining edurance training with Threshold training (eg hill repeats) and one long ride a week of at least 5 or 6 hrs in the saddle.

You could write a book on this subject and i actually bought one, which i would recommend highly


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elite-Performance-Cycling-Successful-Sportives/dp/1408100495

Thanks for the advice. I have actually started doing hill repeats, and am starting to think about upping my longer rides to 5 hours+. It's not that I'm exhausted at 3 or 4...just with home life and small kids I always feel I should be heading home..;-)

In terms of my MHR, I'm not 100% sure what it is tbh..as I've read so much conflicting opinion on how accurate the usual tests are, unless of course you've been tested in a lab. I was once told my an elite rider to add 5bpm to the highest number you hav ever seen?? Who knows but it's got to be somewhere around 190-193.

alp777

Forget to mention, have you looked at the topic above about endurance training, some good info in there.

The only reason for doing a long ride ie. at leat 5 hrs is purely to get your body used to sitting on a bike for that length of time. Your fitness gains will come from the endurance/threshold training.

I will also be doing the Dragon Ride so good luck and post your time up when you have finished

sampras38

alp777 wrote:

Forget to mention, have you looked at the topic above about endurance training, some good info in there.

The only reason for doing a long ride ie. at leat 5 hrs is purely to get your body used to sitting on a bike for that length of time. Your fitness gains will come from the endurance/threshold training.

I will also be doing the Dragon Ride so good luck and post your time up when you have finished

Nice..I'm really looking forward to the Dragon ride. There's a handful of us doing it, with 2 at the same level and 2 much more experienced. I can see myself really getting into it..or as much as family life allows.

By the way, am I right in trying to stay in the saddle on climbs, or flit between that and out of the saddle? I find I can get into a better rythm if I stay seated, and don't seem to waste as much energy. I know there's a bit of a debate about this. Also watching Lance on some of his big mountain wins he seems to be out of the saddle a lot..;-) I also try and keep my cadence high. ala Armstrong stylee..

chill123

maybe try doing a field test to get your maximum heart rate calculated correctly.