Training4cyclists

Cycling Training Tips

cardiosport

Which Heart Rate Monitor is the Best for You?

by 1 Comment


Buying a heart rate monitor doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact a cheap heart rate monitor might very likely be one of your best investments in your cycling career.

If there was a performance-improving per money index, I guess a heart rate monitor would rank in the top. It is possible to buy quality heart rate monitors like the ones from Polar or Cardiosport for reasonable prices. There are also several copy products, which also have a high performance and might save you a few bucks.

Basic heart rate monitors

All companies producing heart rate monitors have some basic models made for beginners. These watches have a very limited amount of details, but are delivered at a very fair price. Measuring of heart rate is very accurate at basic heart rate monitors because they use the same techniques for measuring as more expensive models do. Basically these watches measure the current heart rate and that is it.

If all you want to know is the current amount of beats, a Polar Basic heart rate monitor could be a good choice for you. There are also some other basic models which offer a few options like target zones or average heart rate. Especially the avg. heart rate can be useful, exciting and motivating to use during training. I think that these options are an absolute minimum for a serious cyclist.

Advanced heart rate monitors

If you want to get more details and options about how your heart performs during the training session, you will have to invest in an advanced heart rate monitor. Here you will get more details about your performance and the monitor will store more data for you. E.g. how much time you have spent above you target zones.

Some of the monitors in this category can be connected to a computer so you can make graphs of your training sessions. This can be very enjoyable for some people and very useful for others. The amount of data stored on these monitors is often limited, especially when you compare with how much data you can store on an iPod or MP3 player.

For some reasons heart rate monitors have not taken part in this development. In many ways heart rate monitors are old fashioned, probably because of very few competing manufacturers. For many years Polar was the only reliable heart rate monitor on the market. Nowadays the competition is intensified, which makes the heart rate monitors both better and cheaper.

Professional heart rate monitors

If you have a scientific approach to your cycling or just want to get all details registered, you have to buy one of the professional heart rate monitors. These watches store huge amounts of data. Actually they can store every single beat from your heart. This makes it possible for you or your coach to make some very comprehensive analysis of your training on your personal computer. To get the full value out of a professional heart rate monitor like Polar s810, you need to have some interest in exercise physiology.

Power Meter Training for Beginner Triathletes

by 2 Comments

Heart rate monitors like Polar and CardioSport have been the most used strategy in triathlons because these events have such long durations. If you like to use a heart rate monitor for pacing, triathlon and especially ultra distance triathlons are definitively the place to wear heart rate monitors.

It is clear that when a constant tempo is the ideal pace in a race situation, then there is a good chance that your heart rate will show you how tough you current workload is. In cycling races the workload (Watts) is very inconsistent (sprints, jumps, hills, breaking, corners, etc.). In a traditional triathlon race there is lot more consistency in the power output, thus there is a lot better correlation between heart rate and workload.

Power Meters to the People

Power meters like SRM, Ergomo and PowerTap are very common among pro triathletes, but actually they would be at least as helpful for beginner triathletes.

When a triathlete enters a competition for the first time, he will realize that it is very difficult to get an efficient pacing strategy. It is very tempting to hunt down the opponent in front of him and it is difficult to save the energy for the final part of the race (hint: there is a run AFTER the bike race in triathlons”¦)

Even though there is a better correlation between heart rate and workload in triathlons, there is really good arguments to start considering power meter training. By knowing your critical power outputs for the distances you compete in, you have the best opportunity to optimize your training program.

As an example I would like to mention Dave Simonson who participate in the power meter project. He has gained several watts because he has learned how to pace himself and trained at the right intensity.

Heart rate monitors are good for pacing, but they are still influenced by several external factors (temperature, caffeine, level of recovery, etc.) This indicates that there is a great potential for beginner triathletes to improve their performance.

Power meter training improves their skill for pacing and that is one of the most important non-physiological skills in triathlon