Todays Garmin data

davelakers

Can anyone with any training knowledge shed any light on my data from todays ride?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29664540

What does it all mean and is there anything I should look out for and try to improve on.

Im 15st and just beginning to get this season under way. My 705 ran out of battery 10 miles from home as well.....

hazychris

It's hard to infer anything from that without knowing your max heart rate, your heart rate at FTP, what sort of bike you were on, how you felt, how many beers you had the night before etc!

BUT, now you have a benchmark to compare against in the future, so you can see how your training is doing.

Good luck!

oldwelshman

It means you did 43 miles in 2 hours 36 mins and climbed just over 1000 feet.

davelakers

Thanks Oldwelshman, they are the stats that I actually understood................ :roll: :roll:

My Max heart rate is 185 and Im 36 years old and reasonably fit. Im not to clued up about training in particular zones and what intensity I should be cycling at to get fitter (lose weight improve indurance etc etc).

When Im out on my own, I tend to ride as hard as I think I can maintain for the full distance. My wife, who is a physiologist thinks I should be taking it easier. :? :?

hazychris

I reckon your wife may have a point!

Seriously though, there are a couple of things you could do to get more guidance:

1) Get a physiology test! I had one done last week at SportsTest (http://www.sportstest.co.uk) and it confirmed that my more-focused winter of almost purely aerobic training has improved me aerobically and given me a good base to train the higher end for my target ride in August. You'll be in no doubt as to where you sit from a physiology perspective, and then have some pretty good hints as to how to train from where you are for what you want to achieve.

2) Bang your TCX file into SportsTracks (http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/sporttracks) which is free (donations accepted!) and use the GPS2Power plugin to estimate your power on the ride. If you look carefully, and know what you're looking for, you can see (probably!) your FTP power and heart rate at FTP - that will give you some clues about training zones, but it won't be as accurate as measuring your bodily functions... it is free though, if you're happy with exploring software and tackling the learning curve.

3) Looking at you HR, it looks as though your HR at FTP is around 170bpm, based on the final hour. It's a pretty crude estimate, assumes you were riding as hard as you can and maybe a bit on the high side. Still nowhere near as useful as testing, but free, and easy - I've given you the estimate already!

It's well worth reading up on the three energy systems (http://www.timetrialtraining.co.uk/ThePhysiology.htm#Howdoesthehumanbodycope) and how to train each one - you can probably have stab at creating a plan based on the above.

Good luck!

davelakers

hazychris wrote:

I reckon your wife may have a point!

Seriously though, there are a couple of things you could do to get more guidance:

1) Get a physiology test! I had one done last week at SportsTest (http://www.sportstest.co.uk) and it confirmed that my more-focused winter of almost purely aerobic training has improved me aerobically and given me a good base to train the higher end for my target ride in August. You'll be in no doubt as to where you sit from a physiology perspective, and then have some pretty good hints as to how to train from where you are for what you want to achieve.

2) Bang your TCX file into SportsTracks (http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/sporttracks) which is free (donations accepted!) and use the GPS2Power plugin to estimate your power on the ride. If you look carefully, and know what you're looking for, you can see (probably!) your FTP power and heart rate at FTP - that will give you some clues about training zones, but it won't be as accurate as measuring your bodily functions... it is free though, if you're happy with exploring software and tackling the learning curve.

3) Looking at you HR, it looks as though your HR at FTP is around 170bpm, based on the final hour. It's a pretty crude estimate, assumes you were riding as hard as you can and maybe a bit on the high side. Still nowhere near as useful as testing, but free, and easy - I've given you the estimate already!

It's well worth reading up on the three energy systems (http://www.timetrialtraining.co.uk/ThePhysiology.htm#Howdoesthehumanbodycope) and how to train each one - you can probably have stab at creating a plan based on the above.

Good luck!

Thanks for that Chris, a lot of info for me to get my head round. I noticed the difference in the data from when I left my clubmates, the speed went up and so did my HR. The last hour was into a pretty stiff wind and was trying to keep up the speed, hence pushing a bit harder.

oldwelshman

davelakers wrote:

Thanks Oldwelshman, they are the stats that I actually understood................ :roll: :roll:

My Max heart rate is 185 and Im 36 years old and reasonably fit. Im not to clued up about training in particular zones and what intensity I should be cycling at to get fitter (lose weight improve indurance etc etc).

When Im out on my own, I tend to ride as hard as I think I can maintain for the full distance. My wife, who is a physiologist thinks I should be taking it easier. :? :?

Well your question was very open ended and you provided very little information so not surprised you did not get much feedback, mine was tongue in cheek

Forget zones, training methods and all the techno stuff for now, just go out and ride and enjoy for the time being.
You have not said what you wish to do, targets, goals etc, only that your 15st ?
Do you want to loose weight, ride endurance events, race, do sportives, race track, become a sprinter? All will have different training methods.

maddog 2

You rode past my house 8) if that's any use...

SteveR_100Milers

maddog 2 wrote:

You rode past my house 8) if that's any use...