Racing Heart Rates, by Distance?

jim.egan

Every book I have tells me how to train with a heart rate monitor. What about racing? With respect to % of LTHR, what are the guidelines for racing? How would it vary according to time/distance/intensity?

memphiscyclist

Depends on the race. If you are doing an individual time trial, you want to try to remain at your lactic threshold for the entire race, keeping your power output constant. If it is a road race, you need to worry more about conserving your energy for sprints and climbs, where you might go over your LT. This means drafting as much as possible! So during most of the RR you might likely be well below the LT, unless you get stuck pulling.

tafi

My HR always skyrockets as soon as I start racing, so i have learned to ignore it and concentrate on how hard i feel i am doing. i'm still learning but i think that the perceived exertion is more important than HR which can be affected by nerves/adrenalin. You may not become very popular if you spend your whole time hiding in the pack. It is more important to be involved in the race, that way you stand a better chance of responding to attacks etc and you may even get a helping hand in return for your good sportsmanship.
In a time trial you will need to be able to maintain a constant effort for a fixed period so HR would be more useful as an indicator here once the adrenalin has worn off.