Heart Rate and Intensity?

Whenever I'm out on the road, I just can't seem to keep my HR down below 85%. If I'm on the home trainer, I can just sit there and keep it at 70%. Obviously there are many factors that influence this, but how can I get my HR on the road down? Do I just have to ride a lot slower?

 

[quote author=ltsop link=board=19;threadid=2483;start=0#21301 date=1033368322]<br />Whenever I'm out on the road, I just can't seem to keep my HR down below 85%. If I'm on the home trainer, I can just sit there and keep it at 70%. Obviously there are many factors that influence this, but how can I get my HR on the road down? Do I just have to ride a lot slower?<br />[/quote]<br />How fast are you riding on the road when your HR is around 85%?<br /><br />85% is close to most peoples AT zone.....maybe you do have to rider slower.<br /><br />My HR sites between 120-135bpm (65%) when doing about 30kph on a flat road with no wind

 

My HR also sits pretty high on the road but I find I can maintain it for long periods.<br /><br />On Saturday I did a training ride with a bunch of friends that arnt as fit as I am, so I ended up towing them for a good 20 km. I found that my HR sat in the high 80's low 90's but I was not getting tired. I was able to pull them quite comfortably at 32km/h for this distance.

 

[quote author=ltsop link=board=19;threadid=2483;start=0#21301 date=1033368322]<br />...but how can I get my HR on the road down? Do I just have to ride a lot slower?<br />[/quote]<br /><br />Depends what you are training for. If you are doing a base ride, then yes, 85% of your MHR is maybe too high for an aerobic workout. If you are doing interval training or LT training, then no, 85% of MHR is fine.

 

I made an interesting observation while on a training camp two weeks ago, which I think will add an angle here. . .<br /><br />I was riding with people alot stronger than me and we were doing 130 - 150km per day for 7 days. Days 1, 2 and 3 were okay but as soon as we hit the hills on Day 4, I suffered like a pig. To cut a long story short I was dropped on a major climb early in the ride (day 4) and ended up riding by myself for 110km.<br /><br />This is what I noticed.<br /><br />While riding in the bunch on the previous days, I would be fine as long as I kept my HR below 160bpm (+-73%). If we went any quicker, I would get a rush of lactic acid which would take fowever to wash out so I found it quite hard going from the 3rd day.<br /><br />When I rode by myself though, I selected a harder gear than I would have in the bunch (for fear of bonking) and relaxed into a rythym and despite a moderate head wind, still managed to maintain 40kmph on the flats for over 50kms. The odd thing was that my HR was sitting at 175bpm (+-83%) over this entire period but my legs didn't hurt half as much. Another thing that I definately noticed was that I could get my speed upto 45 about 5 minutes after eating a quarter of a zone bar and this would last for about 15 minutes when I would eat another quarter.<br /><br />I suppose I rode at a cadence I was totally comfortable with and had no pressure of keeping up with anybody, and if I got tired I could just slow down. Has anybody ever experienced this? (The road was very flat with only a few undulations, hence the high average.)

 

[quote author=Lab_Rat link=board=19;threadid=2483;start=#21333 date=1033394788] Has anybody ever experienced this? (The road was very flat with only a few undulations, hence the high average.) <br />[/quote]<br /><br />Quite often actually. I find that if I keep my own pace at a comfortable cadense, then my HR can sit quite high (normaly upper 80's) with me feeling fatigue. However as soon as an incline apears then my legs dont want to know about it anymore.

 

Well, I should be doing a base ride :-\<br /><br />I think I just get caught up with the traffic, and try to match their speeds ;D I'm normally going at around 30-35km/h. And normally uphill overall (where I normally ride undulates, but steadily rises) and normally into a headwind. Guess I just need to look around for some flatter roads for my base rides. Thanks guys.

 

I've just read that some guys do base rides with a cadence of 60-65 rpm ??? Does anyone have any thoughts on this? The lowest I usually go is 80...

 

<br />You call uper 80's high? i know some one (not a cyclist) whos resting hr is 90.(i know thats not normal)<br /><br />Lab_Rat those blokes you rode with where just a bit better and faster than you which flung you of the back. You are probably not used to riding with riders of this calaber? just keep it up. they will be then struggling to keep up with you ;D. Do you do Hill climb/Mountain climb intervalls. Ive been doing them lately and find that it improves my climbing a lot with much less lactic acid

 

Base training means riding at a pace thats comfortable to maintain for hours on end. I normally spin the pedals during base rides, how fast doesn't really matter, as long as I stay aerobic for the duration of the ride.

 

I'm with you VO2.<br /><br />Back to the original question, I think you just need to ride slower. But you may also want to think about things that 'artificialy' raise your heart rate like dehydration, spinning 'excessivly', etc.

 

[quote author=Gear Grinder link=board=19;threadid=2483;start=0#21358 date=1033459108]<br />Lab_Rat those blokes you rode with where just a bit better and faster than you which flung you of the back. You are probably not used to riding with riders of this calaber? just keep it up. they will be then struggling to keep up with you ;D. Do you do Hill climb/Mountain climb intervalls. Ive been doing them lately and find that it improves my climbing a lot with much less lactic acid<br />[/quote]<br /><br />Actually I think not. Seven of them are professionals. <br /><br />I do intervals but not as diligently as I should.<br /><br />( edited messed up quote - Steve )

 

From your earlier post it sounds like you were progressivly running out of carbs (i.e. glycogen depletion) as you went through the week. Hence why your performance improved when you ate. <br /><br />Its a good idea to eat too much (in carbs) when your on a training camp to maintain your work rate throughout the week!<br /><br />Oh and by the way, carbs are required to make lactic acid! Your heart rate would have been higher later in the week for the same intensity as you were fatigued!<br /><br />Again, training and nutrition would help!