Heart Rate Athletes - Bike
Hello fellow Turkey Team members! I've been doing the OS for about 8 weeks now but just joined officially this week.
Just wondering if there are anyother HR athletes on the team... (I see lots of posts re: Watts, so I'm not sure) I was close to using watts, but the Kinetic bike computer I bought wasn't playing nice so I gave up on it. (That's a whole other story!)
Anyway, I am wondering about the bike training zones for HR. I'm in Week 8 now and notice there is no retest for HR athletes on the bike. I have noticed that although I feel like I am working just as hard as in Week 1, i find it harder and harder to get in and maintain my HR in Zone 4. I'm assuming it is because I'm getting fitter? Why no test to adjust to new zones? I'm thinking once I get into VO2 part of training, Z5 is going to be near impossible to hit...
Anyone else with similar experience?
Comments
The end result is that I'm working really, really hard. But, i don't see any other metric that RnP can use other than HR if we don't use power.
Joe
I'm also on the " don't have power, so I'll use HR" side of the team. And I'm not very good on the bike, so take this for what its worth.
First of all, I thought there was a bike test in week 8, so I did one. Was able to hold 4 bpm higher than the first test. And I'm not sure that the increase really means anything.
As I've watched all the precise data posted for watts and w/kg, I've come more and more to the realization that for me at least HR is a measurement that I can't draw alot of precise conclusions from about the "work" completed as there are too many variables. Add the bike variables ( if someone can tell me a reliable way to get equal tire pressure on the trainer I'd appreciate it) to the HR variables (time of day, nutrition, hydration, general health & fatique level, etc.) and I end up with more variables that I can solve the equation for.
So I've ended up pretty much where Joe said, I believe I'm working really really hard. Sometimes when the stars align properly, my interval HR is above the top of the target, and on others there is nothing I can do to get there. Either way, and whatever the HR says, there is a RPE to me that feels like 95-100%, and if I honestly get there I think I''ve got a good workout in. At the end of the day, I'm working harder on the bike right now than ever. And I'm taking it on faith that the improvement will be there when I acutally get on the road in the spring.
As to Z5, I'm a couple of weeks behind the Nov OS, so the VO2 starts next week. I don't see any way of averaging 120%, might be able to get there by the end of the interval, but 120% is about recorded HR max for me. We'll just have to see what happens when we give it a shot.
Brian
I am basically just dropping down a couple of gears from the gear that I use for Z4, and calling that my VO2 or Z5 level. So, basically I'm trying to base my zones on the gear that I 'm in, and ride at a consistent cadence.
Try the following:
Look at your FTP test and note the gear, speed and cadence for the session.
Then for the V02 sessions, drop it two COGS down from where you were on the test and hold a 90 - 100 rpm. That should equate fairly closely..........
Good luck!
SS
Unfortunately, I have no idea what gear I used for my test, and that was outdoors and now I'm on a trainer.
Z3 - moderate but sustainable discomfort
Z4 - very hard...definitely suffering
Z5 - sheer agony with tongue dragging on the road
Does anyone know what the goal of a HR retest is? It's possible you could be working harder with the same avg HR, or maybe it goes up because you are able to work harder, or maybe you are less fit doing the same work at higher HR? It almost makes me want to get a power meter except I can't see myself bothering to look at the results.
good luck
Paul - excellent post. I've been hammering the bike and as I get fitter, have to work harder to get the HR up. Then, I tested really well and now have an even higher HR zone to work. End result - I've worked myself into a hole I usually get into late in the season and my run is now suffering. So, now I'm going to the perceived effort you have listed above. AND, I will also get a PM next year. I work with numbers all day and really wanted to avoid another obession - but it is clearly the way to go. Until then - you are spot on!
For my initial test, I used an outdoor ride for my test (http://tpks.ws/W5GW or http://connect.garmin.com/activity/57740822). When figuring out my LTHR to put in the Data Tool, It appears I may have used the wrong column of data (max HR versus Avg HR) in Training Center b/c I can't make the numbers work for LTHR from that ride. That being said, my LTHR on the week 8 test did take about 4 minutest to get up to the 160ish range even though I did the full prescribed warm-up/spinups. Week 8 test info here: http://tpks.ws/ru9VqQH0 or http://connect.garmin.com/activity/62901562
For my intervals so far, I usually would hit my target HR about 1.5 - 2 minutes into it. I did not 'over-achieve' the first part of the interval so as to get my HR to rise faster. Nor did I make the rest interval harder so as to keep my HR higher between the intervals. I would pick a gear the gear that I knew was the effort (an RPE if you will) that would (a) be difficult, but not impossible to keep for the interval, and (b) would not cause my HR to go stratospheric. Over the course of the 7 weeks, my speed on my trainer for each interval did increase by just over 1mph, so I know I was working harder as the weeks went on.
What does that mean for me with respect to the lower LTHR from the last test? A couple of things. First, I very well may have been over-doing it on the intervals for the past 7 weeks. Or, second, I may have underperformed my LTHR test. This is my first OS, so I don't have a lot of data points to go on, but I am inclined to think it is a mix of the two.
Where will I go from here? I will use the new, lower HR zones for the Z4 intervals (but will start with my known gearing/cadence that has been working so far), and then just drop down a cog or two for the Z5 intervals. I expect my HR will spike and will get close to the numbers by the middle to end of the interval.
And then I will see what happens.
@Paul: Thanks for pointing our the garmin vector. I have been seriously looking at powermeters but have problems with various configrations of bikes: road bike has 650 c wheels and shimano drivetrain, tri bike has 700c wheels and campagnolo drive train. I will wait for the garmin. Switching pedals is easy....