Training question

On 6 Apr 2004 15:13:15 -0700, [email hidden] (Franck Mangin)

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I am 38 and I started training regularly this year using J.
Friel's book, and have been participating in a few x-
country mountain bike races.

I have a question about HR zones & training strategies: I
had the HR monitor on during my last race, and it shows an
average of 188 on a
1:20 off-road course with almost no climbing. The
highest value I have ever read is 193; and I spent
1:10h above 185.

The first question is, how can that HR be so high if - I
quote - LT is roughly the HR you can maintain for one hour
but not more? All the 'perceived exertion" indicators put
my LT around 174 (erratic breathing shortly after going
past that HR, and at the lower end of the scale getting
slightly out of breath arount 148).

The excitement and stress of racing can elevate your
heartrate a lot -- it's not the same as training

JT

"Franck Mangin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The second question is, how should I adjust my training?
There are 2 ways to look at this:
1. My aerobic capacity really sucks since I am anaerobic
99% of the race, so that's what I should work on with
long slow training, or
2. Since I am in my anaerobic zone 99% of the time I
should focus on training my anaerobic abilities through
intervals to improve performance.

Any suggestions?

1) Don't bother to wear a heart rate monitor in a race
unless you're Cat 2 or above and using the race for
training purposes. You will ALWAYS show higher than your
calculated LT until you become really good.

2) Friel's books make a good training guide. One of the
things to remember is that "training" is supposed to be
more or less two types of riding - either the "oh my God
I can't do this another second" which you then maintain
for another minute. And the "This can't POSSIBLY be
doing me any good it's sooooooo slow" which in fact DOES
do you a lot of good. For this reason when you are
really training it is probably best to avoid club rides
which always have some divit and his buddies riding too
fast to qualify as a slow ride and too slow to qualify
as a fast ride.

3) No matter what you might think of your own ability right
now, after you've been racing for a couple of years you
won't believe the condition you'll be in. It generally
takes a couple of years of racing to achieve a fitness
level high enough to BEGIN serious training. Don't get
impatient or discouraged.