Start of training and first day with HRM..what does it mean?

speed_12

Morning guys,

This morning was ride #1 in my get actually-fit-rather-than-pretend-fit scheme and was also the first time I used an HRM whilst out riding. Trouble is I don't really know what any of it means and if its good or not!

First off, its some HRM I got in Tesco's for about £20 so I'm not expecting amazingly accurate results! I will upgrade at some point if I find it useful to use (which I'm sure I will).

Anyway, details of this mornings ride are:

Distance: 13.44km (in 51mins)
Minimum HR (whilst riding): 94bpm
Max HR: 189 bpm
Average HR: 162 bpm
"Fitness Level": Level 4 - this is a function on the HRM and means my HR was between 110 and 120 5 mins immediately after finishing riding. Levels from 1 - 6 with 1 being best.
Calories burnt: 813
Fat burnt: 104 (no idea what unit thats in...)

The route I did was basically around 6km up (160m height gain), 4km down and 3 km flat. 50% road, 50% off-road roughly.

Was that any good?

My aim is to a) simply get fitter but also b) lose the little bit of "squidge" around my middle. I'm not overweight at all (5'10", 11-11.5stone, 24yrs, 31ish" waist etc) but just have a bit of fat which I seem to have always had which I'd very much like to get rid of!

The plan is for a similar ride to the above 3 days a week, a swim 2 days a week and then a much longer "proper" ride at the weekend (20-30miles+). This will be coupled with weights/toning exercises 3 evenings a week.

I'm not looking to become some super muscle tank as I want to keep weight down for riding and frankly that doesnt interest me. Just looking to get fitter, tone up and generally just be in a decent shape and healthy!

Thats quite a bit of ramble leading up to a fairly simple question! Basically, from you guys who are in al ot more of the know than me, does the above sound like a decent sort of training scheme for acheiving the goal I am after?

Erm...yeah....I shall stop now!

Cheers!

rhyko7

not really sure what you are asking? but here is some quick advice

fitness is a complicated affair, there are different tyres of fitness, you need to train both.

here is a small guide for you

using the karvonen formula work out your training zones,your best google this.

you want to do most of your rides under 75 % HR (above 65 % tho), this is your aerobic training, believe it or not by training slower you become fitter, this is known as your aerobic base. it is important not to go over 75 % during the ride

then for your anearobic fitness, you want to get your heart rate up as high as possible for short periods which you have done in your ride, you can do this by blasting up the hills

the bulk of your training should be below 75 % HR (about 160 BPM)

both methods of training will help you lose fat and get you fit, but the aerobic base is the more important one

hope that helps?

speed_12

Yeah, I don't really know what I'm asking either! I think its really along the lines of what you answered - where should my heart rate be in order to get maximum benefit from the ride. So thankyou, those tips were really helpful!

From looking at the HRM watch thing during my ride I think I was around the 75% mark for most of the ride, maybe a little more. Unfortunately the ride I chose has some pretty steep bits right at the start and then continues climbing for the first 5-6km so its difficult to get into a steady, lower HR rhythm without going up the hill VERY slowly!

I'm using my mountain bike at the moment, but will probably grab a road bike when our Cycle-to-work scheme comes around again in a month-ish. That should allow me to use some routes which are able to keep at a steadier pace for a longer time rather than the very on-off power on routes like the one I did this morning.

mea00csf

First off, unless you've done a max heart rate test, you don't know you're max heart rate or what zone you're working in. If you're moderately fit at the moment, do a max heart rate test (if you're currently unfit i'd approach with caution as it might not be too good for you)

Secondly, don't trust that calorie counter! you'd seriously struggle to burn that much with 51mins running, let alone cycling!

speed_12

Yeah, I did think 800 odd was a little high for under an hour!.....might have to invest in a slightly better HRM methinks....this one was from Tescos after all!

Will have a look into a max heart rate test as well. Thanks for the advice!

rhyko7

speed_12 wrote:

Yeah, I did think 800 odd was a little high for under an hour!.....might have to invest in a slightly better HRM methinks....this one was from Tescos after all!

Will have a look into a max heart rate test as well. Thanks for the advice!

the calorie count seems ok to me

i burn well over 1000 calories if i run for an hour (about 800/hour mountain biking), its not worth worrying about the calories that much tho really, it shouldn2 be more than 20% out, most watches or cheap HR monitors are set up for calories burnt whilst running not cycling

some more tips for you to set up your zones:

resting heart rate:
do this whilst lying in bed 1st thing in the morning, take an average over 2 minutes, do this for 3 days and take that average(-if it goes up it is normally your body saying you need a rest day)

max heart rate:
i did this on a treadmill but you can simulate it on the bike
basically start gently, then increase the resistance or speed every 2 or 3 minutes, keep doing this until your heart rate stops going up or you feel dizzy or about to throw up(its really not a nice test) it should last between 15-20 minutes to get a fairly accurate result.

as for the low intensity training, you really have to go that slow sometimes sorry, i did a run the other day and had to slow into a walk up a steep hill, i know people were looking at me assuming i am unfit, but you cant let your ego get in the way.

Paulie W

On the max heart rate test, you do need to be pretty careful as noted above. Doing an unsupervised max heart rate test will not only be very unpleasant but is also potentially very dangerous - I dont know your age or health history and both these things are important considerations. You can get these done under supervision.

There are also a lot of sub-max HR tests out there which will allow you to estimate your max rate pretty effectively and which should be fine for your purposes.