HR Level 4 questions

jonomc4

I could do with some advice please as my heart rate levels seem to not follow what I have read.

I am 47. and moderately fit - nothing too special for sure. I can do 100 mile rides though I have never done a long ride for two days in succession.

My resting HR is 58 and my max is 180. I am using the 85 - 90% of max heart rate target for HR level 4.

OK, the problem I have is that I seem to jump through zone 2 very quickly and 3 pretty quickly. I am able to cycle along in HR zone 4 for 50 minutes reasonably easily - and in zone 5, I tire out with 5 - 10 minutes, though after a 3-5 minutes break in Zone 3 I can do the same again in zone 5.
For the first 20 minutes when in Zone 4 I am not breathing that heavily at all and can hold a conversation fairly easily.

I have noticed that when out on a ride I seem to be in zone 4 for at least 60% of the time the rest is spread between zone 3 and 5.

So in some way I think that above implies I am unfit as I move up HR zones very quickly but then again I can hold zone 4 fairly easily.

What is going on - any advice, or am I just stupid?

Duncanandthemachine

Have you ever done a lactate threshold test?

ric/rstsport

how did you ascertain your HR max is 180 b/min?

Ric

bobones

Is your max HR really 180? How did you determine it? If it's actually 190 then a lot of your zone 4 at MHR 180 becomes zone 3 at MHR 190. Compare these two tables with MHR set at 180 and then at 190. (2 HR zone methods are shown - yours is on the right).

GiantMike

And everybody's HR responds in a different way and differently on different days.

jonomc4

Well - I didn't find my max heart rate by fancy methods, I am not really a good enough rider to make the cost of a lactate threshold test of value - I just used the go as hard as I can method a few times and see how high I could get it - the max was 180 - I certainly have never got it higher than that and I am no wimp when it comes to pain.

I tried something different today - I use 6 heart rate zones as per the bike radar article on this topic http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/heart-rate-monitor-training-for-cyclists-28838/

Zone 1 (60-65% of maximum heart rate): For long, easy rides, to improve the combustion and storage of fats.

Zone 2 (65-75% of MHR): The basic base training zone. Longish rides of medium stress.

Zone 3 (75-82% of MHR): For development of aerobic capacity and endurance with moderate volume at very controlled intensity.

Zone 4 (82-89% of MHR): For simulating pace when tapering for a race.

Zone 5 (89-94% of MHR): For raising anaerobic threshold. Good sessions for 10- and 25-mile time-trials.

Zone 6 (94-100% of MHR): For high-intensity interval training to increase maximum power and speed

Because my garmin has only 5 zones (can you change it to 6?) I have effectively made my garmin 0 - 0.9 hr as zone 1. (I can never cycle in this zone properly anyway as I zoom out of it very fast even with minimal effort)

but then the other zones seemed to match the description of my "perceived effort" much better - I had a much more stimulating turbo session tonight. I was in Zones 3,4 and a little in 5 near the end. Zone 4 was still quite comfortable but it matched the description used above much more closely

StuRichT

I've tried a variety of Max HR zone setting methods (can't remember which) and never been quite happy with how PE matched up to actual heartrate zone. I switched to Friels (or whoever came up with it) LTHR method and find it a bit better regarding zone/PE matching, have a look:

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2 ... zones.html

The other thing HR training isn't perfect, there are other variables that can have an effect, so don't get too hung up on it.

jonomc4

Thanks for that (I will check out the website) - I think you are right and I will also have a fiddle with levels as I become more experience - at my age I am not looking to be anything more than a competent rider, that's why I am not going to stump up for a power meter (well not yet anyway). I just want to make sure that my time on the turbo adds a real benefit to my time on the road, certainly the workout last night felt like it was giving me something.

amnesia

jonomc4 wrote:

I could do with some advice please as my heart rate levels seem to not follow what I have read.

I am 47. and moderately fit - nothing too special for sure. I can do 100 mile rides though I have never done a long ride for two days in succession.

My resting HR is 58 and my max is 180. I am using the 85 - 90% of max heart rate target for HR level 4.

OK, the problem I have is that I seem to jump through zone 2 very quickly and 3 pretty quickly. I am able to cycle along in HR zone 4 for 50 minutes reasonably easily - and in zone 5, I tire out with 5 - 10 minutes, though after a 3-5 minutes break in Zone 3 I can do the same again in zone 5.
For the first 20 minutes when in Zone 4 I am not breathing that heavily at all and can hold a conversation fairly easily.

I have noticed that when out on a ride I seem to be in zone 4 for at least 60% of the time the rest is spread between zone 3 and 5.

So in some way I think that above implies I am unfit as I move up HR zones very quickly but then again I can hold zone 4 fairly easily.

What is going on - any advice, or am I just stupid?

Very similar to me... I can't train in zones one or two... I can get an HR of 140+ just running up a flight of stairs. I don't think I am particularly unfit, but neither am I particularly fit (but working on it). My HR just shoots up really easily. It also recovers quite quickly. BUPA didn't seem too concerned when I had a full-body MOT last December.

I went for a 23 mile ride at lunchtime and spent over 90% of the ride between 160-177 BPM - average for the ride was 170 with a max of 178.

Strava data - http://app.strava.com/activities/40176940
(I'd already ridden 4 miles along the prom as a warm up)

Annoys me because once I get into zone 5 I have nowhere to go and have to stop and recover if I'm climbing.

jonomc4

Glad I am not the only one who gets this - I don't feel like such an oddity now. I am sure the fitter I get the better it will be but even still it is odd. I also totally agree with re the problems climbing.

When younger I was a fairly prolific sprinter, therefore zero to flat out with not a lot in-between - I wonder if this is why?

danowat

All this just highlights the limitations of training only to heart rate....

Not Another Hill

Trying to use your max HR is probably not the best method. You are unlikely to have reached your max HR unless you have been in a crit race. I thought mine was 184 but my first race at Darley Moor saw it at 194 (or was it 198? The pain was too great at the time). It's hard to get a max HR out during normal riding. If training by HR, the best method might be, as someone has already suggested, finding your LT then use Something like Joe Friel's training zones based on that.

cocksey

Finding your max can be hard, like NAH said above you've got to be at a great level of effort for quite some time, a crit race being a great example. They say absolutely going for it for about 4 mins with the last minute giving it absolutely everything to find out, and then getting a decent amount of rest, then doing it again as second time round you tend to get higher.