First day with new power zones - and HR on vacation!

[Deleted User]

Hello everyone.  I don't think I need to be overly concerned about this, but I thought I would run it by everyone for input.  I recently got a power meter, and did my first official test to get power zones this week as part of the Nov. OS.  Ended up with an FTP of 201, and BLTHR of 179.

This morning I did my first ride with the new zones.  Nailed the power pretty well, but HR was much, much lower than where it should have been.  For Z4 work, my power should be 191 - 201, and HR should be 172 - 178.  For today's first 1 x 6' @ 95 - 100% I got a Normalized Power of 194, and ave. HR 155 - about 20 beats too low!  Same power for the second 6', with an ave. HR of 160 - better but still very compared to test.  The 15' interval results were similar - power right on but HR about 20 bmp too slow?

Now, I did do the test in the afternoon, following a good dose of coffee in the AM.  And I did the workout pre-caffeine and in the morning.  But could that explain such a discrepancy?  For the bike test I felt like I put out a damn good effort, and my HR shows it.  I'm thinking I should just stick with the power zones and watch HR for future reference, but the HR just seems so low for some reason...

Any input?

Thanks!

Jim

 

 

mgraffeo

Yes, big difference am/pm, and big difference caffeine vs. No

Like you said, go with the power, and let HR sort itself out.

mkmiec

Gotta remember that heart beat lags behind effort. I don't train with power yet, but would def advise to stick with those numbers.  I go by my pace numbers for the run and heart rate is ancillary information.  I'd have to start out way faster than my Z4 running pace  to get my heart rate to my Z4 bpm 6 minutes in!   

 

Also agree that am/pm and coffee played a factor.   

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the feedback guys! Just seems strange for HR to be so low for the bike workouts - especially reading about other struggling to get through the 15' intervals.

Coach Patrick

I think we discussed this last night in the chat...it's a combo of AMvsPM, CAFF vs NOCAFF, 40' TEST vs 6' INTERVAL. I mean, while you were at it, why not do tri bike for test but road bike for intervals, move the trainer from the basement (test) to the backyard (workouts) and start using an altitude tent.

Power baby, power.

[Deleted User]

Yeah - I did launch this bomb in last night's chat...  thanks again for the feedback!  Only a couple of workouts in and I can see the advantages of training with power.  As well as the shortcomings of HR only.  It can be done with HR only, but it seems like it would be very easy to go way too hard in shorter intervals in an attempt to quickly bring up the HR.

For his morning's brick I tried to shoot for the upper end of the power zones, rather than the middle, and that tweak got my HR to a little more where I though it should be.  Also the longer intervals helped.

Beth_S

For the first few weeks of power, I definitely watched heart rate -- when it is "on" it just seems to settle on a number and I work. Good to look at both. And I good reminder to me to get the heart rate monitor out of storage. Valuable data there, too!