Threshold changes. Weird.

Dippydog3

For some time I have had steadily increasing thresholds with FTP now 200 and LTHR 149. FYI my maximum heart rate 179. the bands derived from this seem right to me in terms or perceived exertion.

Today I completed in a TT that took about 50 minutes. I was so pumped at the beginning I hit the start with a heart rate of 170 and of course had nowhere to go. Despite my best efforts at goofing off downhill I never got the rate down and finished the event with an average of 167. So, Training Peaks has recommended an LTHR increase to 162 which is over 90% of my MHR. Seems a weird thing to do with no power increase.

My inclination is to avoid this adjustment as the situation was unusual. Advice please?

sloppyschleckonds

Try a better warm up routine

ozzzyosborn206

what was your power in the TT like? did you have anything that could have increase your heart rate before the race, coffee, caffine gels etc?

bigpikle

pre-race high HR isnt that strange - I did a TT this year on a super fast course and had put huge expectations on myself leading up to the start. The result was exactly the same, and I rolled away from the start about 5bpm below my TT HR.

I'd ignore the change in TP as 1 odd result doesnt make valid data.

BeaconRuth

Your experience shows why a 'LTHR' is not really very useful or interesting if you're able to measure your power output. Why are you paying any attention at all to HR while racing if you've got a powermeter? It can be extremely misleading.

Ruth

Grill

BeaconRuth wrote:

Your experience shows why a 'LTHR' is not really very useful or interesting if you're able to measure your power output. Why are you paying any attention at all to HR while racing if you've got a powermeter? It can be extremely misleading.

Ruth

Basically this. HR is a guide whereas power is the law.

ozzzyosborn206

Grill wrote:

BeaconRuth wrote:

Your experience shows why a 'LTHR' is not really very useful or interesting if you're able to measure your power output. Why are you paying any attention at all to HR while racing if you've got a powermeter? It can be extremely misleading.

Ruth

Basically this. HR is a guide whereas power is the law.

I know where you are coming from, but there a days when you simply have hold your threshold power due to various reasons, I did a TT last year and a guy who normally beats me but 30-40 seconds was struggling to hold his normal power, was down on me at the first turn, cracked and packed. I went on to do a pb which was faster than he has ever gone and the guy in 2nd also did a pb, I didn't have a PM the but guy in second did and his power was also down on normal but he had a good ride, had he ringed himself to hold his threshold he may have cooked himself and then not pb'd, but as his HR was up and he could see he was going fast he kept at it.

Dippydog3

I may have confused things.
I do not have a power meter. When I said no power increase I simply meant that my FTP, which I do on a Wattbike, has not changed recently.
I did a very good warm up. Felt perfect too me.
Yes, I did have a gel before hand, but nothing else.
I think I was just really excited about the race (actually it was a team triathlon) and I don't think the 100m run with the bike from the transition area helped my heart rate either.

I read a Joe Friel article and he basically says ignore heart data from races. Its not natural. I use the heart rate for monitoring things during training rides. I have done so for ages now and I am very comfortable with my zones and what I can and cannot do.

It was just weird to me as I never really race, and I guess I just wasn't prepared for the effect of the race environment, adrenalin etc. During training rides I can occasionally get my rate into the 170's by pushing it on steep hills, but I only last a few minutes like this. On Sunday I did almost an hour with a 167 average!

The prudent thing seems to stick with what the rates that I achieve in training. After all, its training that I want them for.

That may well be my last race anyway. Its really not for me.

xavierdisley

A low aero position that you're not used to can also affect your heart rate. It's a metric with so many variables that it's extremely difficult to use for pacing, especially in a TT where there will be corners/hills and dips and peaks in HR which you have to mentally factor in. Much better to use RPE

Dippydog3

xavierdisley wrote:

A low aero position that you're not used to can also affect your heart rate. It's a metric with so many variables that it's extremely difficult to use for pacing, especially in a TT where there will be corners/hills and dips and peaks in HR which you have to mentally factor in. Much better to use RPE

RPE easy.

I was on the edge of collapse from the moment I started until I finished. And then I did collapse.

If I had wanted to run, I would have entered the whole triathlon, instead of just the cycling bit.

Silly me really, I should have just ambled my way through transition. It would have killed the team time, but my bike time would have been better.