Just back to training after a 3 month lay off, got myself a garmin 800 for christmas and has a HR monitor which I’m now using. I’m seeing some rather high numbers and appear to be having a higher average % max heart rate than my ‘percieved effort’ would suggest. Was after some advice about how best to interpret these figures.

If anyone is bored and knowledgable here is the gpx from my ride yesterday. This I’d describe as a moderate ride as there was alot of rest/wait time as a group of mixed fitness.
http://connect.garmin.com/player/61283520

I’ve read that the best measure is recovery rather than max or % max – You can see I maxed out at 198 towards the end on a hard climb, and was back to 132 in 94secs before we set off again. Is that good or bad? Or is it all relative and I need to keep a log of data and see how it progresses when training?

Oh – 32yr old male.

If anyone could recommend some straight forward easy to understand webpages or book on HR training I’d appreciate it.

Y.A.C.F….some sensible stuff here

High max is good, so is your recovery.

This page more or less sums it all up: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm1.htm

Just keep it simple go for intervals of say 50% rising to 80%, a dozen or so times in an hour. Or generally aiming to stay between 70% and 80%.

“The Heart Rate Monitor Book” by Sally Edwards makes great reading 🙂

You need to do a stress test to find your max heart rate, all the 220 / age variant formulas are bollix and can be out by 15-20bpm, until you’ve stress tested and found “your” max heart rate going of % is pretty pointless

There is nothing you can do to change your max heart rate, it is what it is, unless you get seriously I’ll, it’ll also slowly get lower as you age,

Without going down the route of vO2 max, lactic thresholds, or any other intricate bollox, your best indicator for improving fitness is recovery rate (done on a session with all the same variables) or your resting heart rate ( which should be done on waking , before you get out of bed)

Find your true max heart rate

The majority of your training should be in the 75% mark

Hard sessions should be around the 90% mark , but you shouldn’t be doing to many of them

Recovery sessions (v important) should be sub 70%, depending on how your training just as important if not more than your 75% sessions

Is the perceived wisdom not that base training can be dispensed with, to some extent at least, of you have limited training time and a good base to start with?

In any event I’ve always wondered why training at 60-70% is that relevant to racing at 80%+

I think base is probably still important over winter even if you have good fitness to avoid thrashing yourself over winter and getting colds etc. A good read may be time crunched cyclist training by Chris Carmichael. Also very good advice on Joe beers podcasts on iTunes. Usually does a few re base training in early winter. Download back to September and it’ll give you a few ideas.

+1 for time crunched cyclist as a good starting point

Move onto mountain bike training bible when you want to get more specific. It is by Joe Friel.

Pushed for time there’s no probes with trying to get that little bit of extra peak from +80% session, long term you’ll get much better results sticking to 70-75% the odd hard session and a sensible amount of recovery sessions, constantly training hard your gains are a lot slower in real terms, all your doing is desensitising your body/mind to the pain of pushing yourself hard. It’s a phycological thing compounded by lack of knowledge on how the body works

In any event I’ve always wondered why training at 60-70% is that relevant to racing at 80%+
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Your enhancing the quantity and quality of your mitrochrondria, think of it as a building built on a foundation of reinforced concrete opposed to soft sand

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/11/quick-guide-to-setting-zones.html

That is a good guide on how to set your training zones, also lots of very good information on Joe Friel’s blog in that link.

Thanks for the input – I got the Joe Friel book for xmas but if I’m honest its a bit in depth for someone who is looking at using a HRM for training for the first time.

I have seen 202 max on gym machines when doing flat out 5k rows a few years ago, but always assumed this was wrong and that the gym machines were inaccurate. I was surprised to still see such high figures when I got a proper HRM. (based on the 220 – age calc)

For now I’ve set the garmin to bleep at me when I go over 180 (around 90%) as it seems to be the magic number and I know I cannot sustain that HR for more than 3-4 mins before blowing up, but even on my usual ride I am regularly and consistent going over it and I feel like I’m riding really slow.

So far I’ve been on 3 rides since getting the garmin and returning to the bike, and my HR has been averaging 165 for a 2.5hr off road ride (7.8mph av) to 170 for a 1.5hr (8.8mph av)

These figures seem ridiculously high (over 80% max) based on how I feel during / at the end of the rides. Ie. Not half dead.

Factor in I have sat on my arse for 3 months nursing a broken collar bone and gaining a stone in weight it just doesn’t seem right.

I borrowed a friends polar HRM today to check on a run and it was recording similar figures to the Garmin, so its not a dodgy monitor

I’m finding it all a bit confusing, the hypercondriac in me is murmuring I may have a heart problem…..I’ll dig more into some of the other links posted!