heartrate training

teiti93

im rather new to cycling, but have invested in a new bike and computer with heartrate.

im 20years old, been cycling for about half a year, motivation is great and im eating healthy.
when i train i seem to always go for 1-2hours with 80-90% of my max heartrate, and i cycle regularly 3times a week.
am i pushing it too hard? today i tried to do 60-70%, but went straight into a headwind, and ended up doing the usual.
will i improve with nu current training, or do i need some easier and longer rides to mix it up.

Hope you guys can help, thanks
/Teit

bahzob

I'd take advantage of the fact that you are new to training and invest in a book that will explain the concepts of training in a far more thorough and detailed manner than is possible on a forum like this. That way you will build a good foundation of knowledge that will stand you in good stead for the rest of your life. Just relying on forums is a false economy and is as likely to lead you into bad habits as good.

I always recommend this book http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=time+crunched+cyclist&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=27744418501&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1114544231155203850&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_7fzhp764p1_e

I despise the author but fact is that the information in this book is good, especially since its aimed at people living in the real world who need to balance time training with other priorities, so can only manage a few sessions per week, like yourself.

The book includes easy to follow 12 week plans. One of these is to do a 100 mile ride as a novice. I'd suggest trying this out, especially if you haven't done a century yet. Having a concrete training goal to help structure and motivate you is always good. Start now and you could be doing 100 mile rides through summer.

Couple of other pieces of advice.

- As a new rider I would prioritise getting a good bike fit over every other form of cycling expense. It should be done by an independent specialist in the subject, take a couple of hours and include riding on a turbo. It will cost, maybe £100+ but is worth every penny. You will recoup the money many times over in terms of savings on equipment/bikes that are not suitable and riding will be far more enjoyable as you go a lot faster with less pain if you are riding in the correct position.

- I'd suggest getting this book and following the drills. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tom-Danielsons-Core-Advantage-Strength/dp/193403097X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393407684&sr=1-1&keywords=core+advantage Having a strong core is also something that will stand you in good stead all your life/help cycling and this book is the best I have ever seen for doing this. Only takes 20-25 minutes twice per week and can be done anywhere, no special equipment needed.

Just do the above and you should get fitter fast + build up a good background of knowledge. Then if you have some specific questions it may be worth asking again here, though by then you will also probably know more about the subject than many posting here.

Good luck.

ednino

What are you training for? A race? Sportive? General wellbeing?

teiti93

Bahzob- thanks for taking the time, great points.

ednino- I would love to race someday in a couple of years, but right now im looking at going to some sportives. i've done 50miles in fall with my father as the longest ride, but i feel like i have improved since then, and winther has been good to me. But right now i mainly ride to stay healthy

I also don't work a lot, and can therefore put a lot of hours in cycling if needed.

cougie

I doubt you are doing 2 hours at 90% of your true MHR.

Did you test your MHR or just calculate it ?

ai_1

I think current consensus on the best approach to endurance training tends to favour keeping your hard training hard and your easy training easy rather than spending a lot of time in between which may be what you're doing.
Easy training would be long cycles of maybe 2-5hrs at a pace where you could easily maintain a conversation - somewhere around 65%MHR. Then you would do smaller volumes of high intensity training perhaps including intervals or short TT style efforts.

As cougie said, it's unlikely you're really doing 2hrs at 90%MHR. That's a pretty high intensity effort that would usually be near impossible to maintain for that period of time. I don't think I can maintain that heart rate for more than about 25mins.

Disclaimer: I am no expert so don't follow my advice without doing your homework!

teiti93

I have had 5 rides since i got my computer. I only have a estimated max pulse, by doing a 500meter climb(at 4% approximatly) and then it goes really steep at about 20% for the last 100 meters, i gave it my all, heartrate said 189. Do i need a longer climb to get my actual heartrate or how so?

i did 30miles yesterday @ 171bpm average

Iamnot Wiggins

bahzob wrote:

I'd suggest getting this book and following the drills. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tom-Danielsons-Core-Advantage-Strength/dp/193403097X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393407684&sr=1-1&keywords=core+advantage Having a strong core is also something that will stand you in good stead all your life/help cycling and this book is the best I have ever seen for doing this. Only takes 20-25 minutes twice per week and can be done anywhere, no special equipment needed.

NapD recommends this on Twitter but do you need a set of weights to perform any of the exercises mentioned inside? As you'd expect, the Amazon "look inside" feature doesn't give too much away!

cougie

teiti93 wrote:

I have had 5 rides since i got my computer. I only have a estimated max pulse, by doing a 500meter climb(at 4% approximatly) and then it goes really steep at about 20% for the last 100 meters, i gave it my all, heartrate said 189. Do i need a longer climb to get my actual heartrate or how so?

i did 30miles yesterday @ 171bpm average

Spooky - my max tested was 189 and I'd be able to Timetrial 10's at about 171bpm- but that was for a max of 24 mins or so. http://www.livestrong.com/article/12714 ... 0-maximum/ Its unlikely you can keep that level of exercise up for 2 hours.

I don't think that one climb is good enough. You need to be rested and very well warmed up.And throw a few intervals in to really get yourself warmed up.

Do that climb, go back down, go again, go back down, go again... When you see you've peaked then that was probably your max.

teiti93

Sorry, i only did 30 KM yesterday, not miles. 24,5km/h average, took me 1hour and 13min, 6 degree C, average heartrate 171bpm. 315m of elevation.
Thats the stats for yesterday

It must have been a miscalculation, my MHR probably is much higher than 189, over one hour at 90% sounds very unlikely..

I think i will buy some books, and find out whats best for me

bahzob

I think the above gives some sense of how it can be difficult to tackle a big subject like training in a forum.

One example is MHR which is notoriously variable and unreliable. The book I recommended has a test procedure early on that will provide you with a much more useful HR measure and, even more importantly, has a set of structured workouts that use this measure to build fitness. This will give you consistent results for yourself but you may well find if you compare HR to others it will be wildly different.

PS just to confirm, as I said in my original post the core training book requires no equipment at all.

Iamnot Wiggins

bahzob wrote:

PS just to confirm, as I said in my original post the core training book requires no equipment at all.

"no special equipment" doesn't translate to "no equipment at all" but thank you for clarifying, appreciate it.

ednino

cougie wrote:

teiti93 wrote:

I have had 5 rides since i got my computer. I only have a estimated max pulse, by doing a 500meter climb(at 4% approximatly) and then it goes really steep at about 20% for the last 100 meters, i gave it my all, heartrate said 189. Do i need a longer climb to get my actual heartrate or how so?

i did 30miles yesterday @ 171bpm average

Spooky - my max tested was 189 and I'd be able to Timetrial 10's at about 171bpm- but that was for a max of 24 mins or so. http://www.livestrong.com/article/12714 ... 0-maximum/ Its unlikely you can keep that level of exercise up for 2 hours.

I don't think that one climb is good enough. You need to be rested and very well warmed up.And throw a few intervals in to really get yourself warmed up.

Do that climb, go back down, go again, go back down, go again... When you see you've peaked then that was probably your max.

I average 185bpm for a 2 hour XC race. I think what he's saying is perfectly possible

ednino

teiti93 wrote:

I would love to race someday in a couple of years, but right now im looking at going to some sportives. i've done 50miles in fall with my father as the longest ride, but i feel like i have improved since then, and winther has been good to me. But right now i mainly ride to stay healthy

I'd say get more miles in then. I look to do a 4-5 hour ride on Saturday & same Sunday. Shorter faster rides after work during the week

My resting heart rate dropped the most from doing long tempo rides, not hard intervals etc..

damocles10

I have had 5 rides since i got my computer. I only have a

I average 185bpm for a 2 hour XC race. I think what he's saying is perfectly possible

A race is actually a good way to find out your MAXHR, mine would max at around 210bpm during a sprint or break away, once your MAXHR is established you can work back using a chart to find your zones so you know which HR number is best for, say 75% endurance 3hr ride.

If you really want to know do a ramp test, it will hurt, but at least you will know your zones for best result.

I would also ( like others have mentioned ) advise mixing up each session a bit with sessions for different speeds, distances and terrain ( 50miles is pretty good, btw )- keep the body guessing and then rest(repair and rebuild) and then do it again but don't over do it. I used Joel Friel's Cyclist Training Bible as a guide, that was written a while back so theories might have changed. It worked for me, 4th to 2nd Cat in half a season, I was doing a lot of structured training ( topped at 22hours a week during winter training and tapered down during the race season to 10hours - you must build up to this ). I think I have gone off topic, sorry.

teiti93

great advices, thanks guys! now spring coming wuhu!
slowed down the speed and went out for 2, 5 hour today, longest ride on my own good heartrate throughout, i can see why i need more endurance rides!