Does a newbie training for a century require a HRM?

Thigh_burn

I'm doing the Prudential Ride London-Surrey. I'm behind schedule on my training. Having now done some reading, whilst I realise I need to ride, Forest, ride. I also need proper pacing.

Reading the British Cycling guides, Cycle Surgery and Prudential websites, it seems that figuring out your FTHR and then training around that is essential? But is it? Thank you

markhewitt1978

Essential? No of course not. You just have to be in tune with what your body is doing and know when you're going too hard (or too easy). I've done 100 mile rides (and numberous 80 mile ones) without a HRM, power meter or anything else like that.

But then that's without aiming for any particular pace, so if your aim is just to finish then fine, but it can help with pacing if you want a faster time, if only to stop you going off to fast, but again, not essential

apreading

As mark says, unless you are training for specific performance then dont bother. They suck the fun out of riding.

Listen to your body - it will tell you how you are doing and with experience you learn how to understand and react to that - the HRM is then really superfluous outside of elite level.

I went on a long tour doing mountains with a group and one guy used his HRM religiously - he was constantly slowing down to keep within a set range and I powered past him and left him a long way behind. But he was fitter than me and I am sure could have gone alot harder than he was.

If you are training for something specific then you may benefit from the knowledge gained by using one for a while but then you can stop wearing it and use that knowledge based on how your body feels.

kingstongraham

No. Just ride.

Thigh_burn

markhewitt1978 wrote:

But then that's without aiming for any particular pace, so if your aim is just to finish then fine, but it can help with pacing if you want a faster time

apreading wrote:

As mark says, unless you are training for specific performance then dont bother. They suck the fun out of riding.

Thanks for that. What I didn't make clear in my first post was that I'm thinking of one to help me to train, to ensure that I do get around and don't embarrass myself. Beyond not finishing like Mr Blobby, I'm not too focused on a fast time. It's also because the training plans for centuries seem to imply knowing what zone you're in is important if you want to complete the plan.

slowbike

There are other ways of gauging your efforts.

I suggest that for pacing - you look at how well you can hold a conversation - if you can't string a sentence together then you're probably going too hard for a century ...

For training, you could do with going harder - that way when you come to do the century you can "back off a bit" and carry on for longer more easily.

grenw

Did my first hundred without ever using one. A few years on a MTB meant I managed it on my fourth road ride and it was only the eating side that I needed to really learn from. Have bought one since but only really use it on the turbo when you can control the conditions more. Just find a pace that you can ride at for long periods of time and you'll be fine.

If you can get up the couple of slopes in the Surrey Hills you'll be fine on the Ride 100. Newlands is a slog but nice and wide surface, Leith is longer and steeper but okay really (just pace your effort) and Box Hill is easy. Loads of riders end up walking part of Leith Hill anyway is it just gets logjammed.

napoleond

The longer you put off getting any kind of metrics and stick to just enjoying riding as a thing in itself the better.
Just measure time/distance so you know you are getting towards riding 70ish miles.
If you can do 60-70 solo ok you'll be fine on a 100 mile group ride.

KINGGARY

NapoleonD wrote:

The longer you put off getting any kind of metrics and stick to just enjoying riding as a thing in itself the better.

Probably the best piece of advise I've heard in a long time !

diy

I think the only time it can really help, is if you have a tendency to bimble or get distracted while riding. In that case they can be good, but so can checking you are breathing hard and have a feeling you are pushing along.

fenix

You know when the ride is - so just work back from there. You should be able to add 10 miles a week to the long weekend ride with no real drama. Try and get out in the week a couple of times too if you can.

On the long ride remember to keep eating and drinking and at a sensible pace. Don't go too deep.

On the day people get much faster times than you'd think just due to drafting and following wheels.

slowbike

diy wrote:

I think the only time it can really help, is if you have a tendency to bimble or get distracted while riding. In that case they can be good, but so can checking you are breathing hard and have a feeling you are pushing along.

I think it can help if you have a tendancy to push too hard up a hill ..

When I did my first century I heeded the advice to keep my HR down (and cadence up) - so kept my HR to max of 150 out of 186 max - it was a hilly circuit which I hadn't trained for and hadn't put many miles in beforehand either - yet it's still my fastest 100.

I didn't need the HR moniter to keep the level lower - but it helped quantify the effort I was putting in.

diy

You're right there - I've done a few endurance events where I've been about 10% higher than I should be only to regret it after about the 6-8 hour mark.

stueys

Depends how much you want to improve in the time you have. If it was me I would find follow something like time crunched cyclist and be doing intervals on the turbo in the week and longer, endurance riders (that steadily got longer) at the weekends. A HRM would help you pace both the intervals and the longer ride at the weekends and would let you track your fitness progression. Its by no means essential but it would help.

The ride London is a great event and the course is fairly flat, so of you are an 'OK' level of fitness I wouldn't sweat it too much....