Using Heart Rate Monitor for 100 mile Sportive Pacing
stretch64
Posts: 21
I’ve been using a heart rate monitor for training and found the “zones” idea very helpful (courtesy of Cyclists Training Bible). I’ve got a hilly 100 mile sportive coming up. Any guidance on how to use “zones” for pacing in rides such as this? How far below my threshold rate should I be staying? All input welcome!
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Hi, Its not something I'd do personally. I would ride to how you feel. Are you chasing a time or just wanting to get round? With these longer events I find my level of fatigue ebbs & flows. Riding to HR would go out of the window when the legs start to switch off.
I have always finished with "gold" standards (if that's actually worth owt) & ride completely
on what my bodies telling me. If at some stage in the event you feel strong, open the taps & press on a bit. Likewise if you start to fatigue just ease back.
The Ryedale Rumble is may favourite event & that has some monster climbs to contend with. My technique was to ride the climbs at a steady constant effort & then press on inbetween. Works for me.0 -
agree with Andy and find a hr monitor only tells me what I'm feeling anyway!!
on a hilly route they're useless in my opinion. its impossible to keep to zones. if you're going up a 20%er thats a mile long your hr will go through the roof and when you go down the other side not even pedalling its gonna drop very low, so whats the point?0 -
Plus getting round a sportive fast means working with other riders - that may mean working harder or easier then you would for solo pacing in order to get the benefits of sharing the work. If you can get into a fast moving group unless it's absolutely battering you then stay with them as far as you can.
it's a hard life if you don't weaken.0 -
Not sure where you ride as I have never seen a 1 mile long at 20% that would be some hill!!onthefells wrote:agree with Andy and find a hr monitor only tells me what I'm feeling anyway!!
on a hilly route they're useless in my opinion. its impossible to keep to zones. if you're going up a 20%er thats a mile long your hr will go through the roof and when you go down the other side not even pedalling its gonna drop very low, so whats the point?
For the OP, I have used hr monitor both in races, on track and on sportive. I do not use it to stay in any particular zone, just to make sure I do not go too hard on climbs.
It is very easy to get carried away if your with some one very fast, especially on a climb.
I usually make sure I don't go above 160 max hr on a climb (my max hr is 178) because if I do I know I will pay later. If I get dropped I know I will catch up going down other side or on flat.
Last year in Pinarello Fondo my mate ( top 5 triathlete in age group in UK) passed me with ease on first climb so I just let him ride away with a group and I just carried on at my pace.
50 miles later on a big climb I went past him as if he was at a standstill and i finished 15 minutes ahead of him. I also passed many others that left me earilier and I even got away from a group of about 50 to finish with another guy and had some good pics as a result
As others said you can go by feel but I have seen guys blow up badly later on in events so maybe you can give it a try to pace yourself and when you get more experienced like some on here, go by feel.0 -
I quite like my hr monitor but I'm not up to gold standard. If I can keep under 90% on the biggest hills and 75% on the flat and down hill then I'm going to get a reasonable time, go over on iether and I'll get cramp or burn out. It also tells me the truth when I'm in a group where it's easy to believe your not overdoing it. Must admit I went a bit over 90% on Rosedale 0
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....only a bit over 90% on Rosedale! I did too, about 10% more. That's a brutal bit of road when you've done 100 miles already.
As I stated in my original post, using HRM isn't something I would do but after reading other posts it's certainly won't hurt(sic) to use one & could help you. Just be prepared to see the readings skyrocket on the hills.
Good luck with whatever route you take.0 -
Thanks everyone.....all very useful. I'm doing the Chitern 100 by the way so not too many flat bits I gather!0
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Well that is the only sportive I am doing all year so leave off your heart monitor and follow us round and save on bike weight
I am doing it as it is free for my team, not doing any particular training for it and will probably ride as a group for most of it with team and maybe do about 20 fast miles at the end for training
No long climbs as such but lots of short vry steep ones !0
