Stamina & Endurance training

gjmoore

Good morning,
I am currently trying to improve my stamina as I have recently taken up racing again at the ripe age of 40. My first race was the dusk till dawn 12 hour endurance race in October last year and I am currently in the thetford MTB racing winter series 2 hr races. I was wondering if anyone had any advise as to what would be of mor use a cadence sensor or heart rate monitor or wether both would be the way to go?

Regards
Gavin

njee20

They are only useful if you're going to use them to train - neither will magically transform your riding.

Of the two I'd definitely have a HRM, you can count your cadence, and actually there's fairly limited training benefit to concentrating too much on your cadence.

JayKosta

To 'monitor your condition' during a long endurance ride, a HRM would work.

To TRAIN to improve your endurance, do some intervals of 10-20 minute duration at a high (but manageable) exertion level. Once or maybe 2x per week is enough for the intervals, and be sure to have adequate rest / recovery before another training session. Without rest/recovery you just wear yourself to a lower level.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

insella

With an HRM the first thing to do is to work out your HR Max, then you can use one of the many training guides and learn to follow your feelings with a bit of experience. If you are more serious I suggest an suitable fitness trainer. It may be a little more expensive than a book, but it can be more motivating.