Heart rate and hills!

Im Bald Ok

This is going to be my first full year of cycling 'regularly'. I've been doing base miles since the beginning of January and noticed my heart rate climbs up quite quickly on any kind of gradient.

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me the reason why (obviously it's a hill so my effort needs to increase). Is it because of poor leg strength? Poor aerobic ability? Yet to acquire the necessary muscles? Something else?

There must be a reason why new cyclists find hills harder than anything else. Is there anything i can do to improve my hill climbing ability at this stage? Any specific drills i can do like hill reps etc?

Sorry for the amount of newb questions.

Bronzie

Everyone's HR rises when they ride up a hill / put more effort in. The amount it rises and the time it takes to come back to a lower level will vary with aerobic fitness.

As you are new to riding, I wouldn't do any specific training just yet...........keep building up your mileage and time on the bike and you will notice improvements (lower average HR for similar speed / HR returns to lower level quicker when you've finished the climb).

Im Bald Ok

Thanks Bronzie, I had a feeling the responses would be 'just ride more' and obviously makes sense as i'm already seeing improvements. I guess i was hoping for an answer that was never there.

I'm sure there are all sorts of conflicting training advice but... the base miles I'm doing at <80% MHR (most of the time :roll: ) are making a difference. When should I start thinking about doing harder riding? I'm struggling with my discipline and would quite like to hit the hills soon to improve my climbing. I don't want to lose/spoil the progress i've made already tho.

penugent

Im Bald Ok wrote:

This is going to be my first full year of cycling 'regularly'. I've been doing base miles since the beginning of January and noticed my heart rate climbs up quite quickly on any kind of gradient.

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me the reason why (obviously it's a hill so my effort needs to increase). Is it because of poor leg strength? Poor aerobic ability? Yet to acquire the necessary muscles? Something else?

There must be a reason why new cyclists find hills harder than anything else. Is there anything i can do to improve my hill climbing ability at this stage? Any specific drills i can do like hill reps etc?

Sorry for the amount of newb questions.

You have answered your own question.

By the way, it isn't just new riders who find hills hard. Even people who are good on hills find them hard - they just get up them faster!

danowat

I've found that a high(er) gear with a slow(er) but steady cadence causes much less of a rise in HR.

Spinning up hills sends my HR sky high pretty rapidly.

inseine

If your only a month in to your cycling 'career' I'd just ride your bike and forget all the zones nonsense. You'll improve either way but take advantage of just enjoying it, while the rest of us are slogging away 'training'

Im Bald Ok

I started road cycling last year, it was just very on and off as i was playing football a lot. Think there was a point when i didn't ride for 2 months. I maybe rode 1 or 2 times a fortnight :oops:
I enjoy 'training'. It gives me some structure and motivation to get out and feel like i'm making progress. Each to their own, I appreciate your input nonetheless inseine.

Danowat i will try different cadences next time i'm out to see if it makes any difference, thanks.

Garz

danowat wrote:

I've found that a high(er) gear with a slow(er) but steady cadence causes much less of a rise in HR.

Spinning up hills sends my HR sky high pretty rapidly.

I found this true the other day but I'm going to give it more testing till I'm convinced or found a way of controlling the HR better.

Bronzie

Im Bald Ok wrote:

When should I start thinking about doing harder riding? I'm struggling with my discipline and would quite like to hit the hills soon to improve my climbing.

There's no definitive answer to this, but I'd reckon on 3-6 months "general riding" before getting too concerned with threshold intervals, VO2 max intervals and the like.

Riding hills hard won't do you any harm at all - just don't get too bogged down in structured training until you have built up a bit more general volume. You'll probably find the time is right to change your training when the improvements you are making now cease (ie you plateau).

ireland57

Hills on a bike are hard work, especially for new riders.
I'm a newbie (2yrs mtn bike; 1 yr roadie) and still find hills bloody hard work but I can beat riders now that I couldn't a few months ago. Got a lonnggg way to go yet though.

Climb all sorts of hills at all sorts of cadence (within reason; e.g. 65-100rpm) using different gears (don't hurt yourself - knees, back, etc) and sitting and standing. At some time you'll need to do both and it's a lot easier if you're accomplished at both.

I do hills once per week and vary it from series of shorter steeper hills (30 mins from 10-20% steepness) to long slow slogs (60-80 mins 5-10%).

niblue

My normal cadence is usually around 85 but it's only recently (since getting a cadence sensor) that I noticed my cadence tends to rise to 90-95 when going up hill. I find spinning up hills in a low gear easier (possibly because I'm mostly a mountain biker) however I do notice that the heart rate climbs more that I'd expected it to do from an effort perspective.

meanredspider

I don't know if this is helpful but my commute home is mostly one long 11-mile hill - and, as the prevailing wind is from the west, generally into some form of headwind (unless the temp gets below about -7C).

Here's my plots from the other night

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/67651570

I try to keep my cadence around 90rpm - but spinning or standing (I hardly every stand unless it's a short, sharp incline of no more than 30m) certainly gets the heart rate up. Interestingly my HR is lower on the way home (mostly uphill) than to work (obviously mostly down) because I'm simply more tired and the legs can't generate the power.