Training for hills HR Monitor

rob39

Hi all, I've a very hilly sportive in 3 months time (Ayrshire Alps) with long 1.5 - 2 mile climbs from 4% to 8% 7 climbs in total. Just completed a 100km sportive over the weekend (Drumlanrig) and felt pretty good over the climbs but want to improve for this one. Using a HR monitor how can I use it and it's zones to improve my power and speed over the climbs?

meursault

You determine your threshold first

https://help.trainingpeaks.com/hc/en-us ... te-or-Pace

Then set your zones

https://www.endurancepath.com/resources ... alculator/

These are Joe Friel's recommendations, others are available.

rob39

Already done and zones set (5 zones) so which zone to concentrate on when climbing or even on the flat

imposter2.0

If you want to get better at hills, then get used to riding at HR threshold, which is generally around 88-90% of MHR. 10, 15 or 20 min intervals, depending on whatever you can sustain or how new you are to it...

Midlands Grimpeur

Follow what Imposter says. If you are fairly newish to cycling or have not done much interval work before I would start off doing shorter intervals of maybe even 5-8 minutes.

A good starting point would be 4-5 intervals of 5-6 minutes duration at threshold HR with 2-3 minutes easy pedalling in between each interval. If that is easy enough then either up the interval duration or the number of intervals (or both). If it's too much then decrease.

On the flat try to do some aerobic efforts as well. A solid 45-60 minute ride at around 80% of max HR a couple of times a week should improve aerobic fitness and also contribute to your ability to carry out the interval work.

cougie

Or just ride hills as hard as you can. Recover on the downhill and repeat.

bristolpete

cougie wrote:

Or just ride hills as hard as you can. Recover on the downhill and repeat.

Or ride them as smartly as you can.

meursault

bristolpete wrote:

cougie wrote:

Or just ride hills as hard as you can. Recover on the downhill and repeat.

Or ride them as smartly as you can.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/the-25-most-stylish-cyclists-of-all-time-160810

bristolpete

Nice. Very clever. Gotta love a dapper cyclist.

Alex_Simmons/RST

Midlands Grimpeur wrote:

A good starting point would be 4-5 intervals of 5-6 minutes duration at threshold HR with 2-3 minutes easy pedalling in between each interval. If that is easy enough then either up the interval duration or the number of intervals (or both). If it's too much then decrease.

While the training suggestion is fine, the problem with using HR to guide such efforts (if ridden correctly) is HR takes a couple of minutes before reaching the "zone". If HR rises up to "zone" quickly it means you are going way too hard for the intended effort and you will likely struggle to maintain pace for the duration (although HR may remain elevated since you are dealing with replenishing an O₂ deficit).

HR lags effort, so for guiding shorter efforts it loses its utility. It's a bit like driving a bus while only looking in the rear view mirror.