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Cycling Training Tips

How To Find Your Maximum Heart Rate

The ideal test is a short warm up followed by a gradual increase in intensity until you reach your maximum heart rate. Sounds simple, but damn hard!

I have discovered that using a power meter might be one of the best ways to make the increments in intensity just as smooth as needed. Making small increments of 10 Watts every 30 seconds is a successful approach to attain your maximum oxygen consumption. You might have noticed that I recommend the same strategy for Watt Max Testing.

Typical mistakes when testing Maximum Heart Rate

Starting out too fast
If you start out too fast there is a great risk that you get exhausted before your oxygen uptake is ready to perform at 100%. The reason for this is that your body uses anaerobic metabolites to produce the required energy.

Starting out too slow
If you start out too slow it is very unlikely that you will have the power when you need it. Again you can conclude that pacing strategy is very important for the final result.

Not motivated
If you are not motivated when you perform a maximum heart rate test (or any other physical test) it is obvious that your performance will go down. Try to motivate yourself before the test and have a training partner or personal cycling coach to support you through the whole event.

It is not an easy to job to find your maximum heart rate, but if you prepare a physical test with the tips I have recommended above, there is a good chance that you can make a new personal record.

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Polar S-410 Gives a Rough Estimate of Energy Expenditure

Many heart rate monitors and bike computers has a feature to measure the energy cost of the exercise. But can we believe these numbers? I have always been sceptical to these calculations since they are based on very few variables (percentage of maximum heart rate and total time). I have always said to my riders that they can use these numbers for fun, but don’t count on them when they cook dinner. There is probably huge variability in the quality of calorie metres, some gives a rough estimate and some doesn’t.

Can heart rate monitors be used to calculate energy expenditure?

Yesterday I found a study published in Medical Science of Sports and Exercise that tried to figure out how accurate the energy expenditure calculator of the Polar s-410 heart rate monitor was. They used three different calculations of the energy expenditure: 1) Polar s-410 using predicted values of VO2 max and maximum heart rate. 2) Polar s-410 using actual values of VO2 max and maximum heart rate. 3) Indirect calorimetry (You might have heard about this one in school”¦)

The results showed that the Polar s-410 did a quite good job for the men with no significant differences between the three calculation methods. The women’s numbers were overestimated when using predicted values of VO2 max and maximum heart rate. The estimation was better when they used the actual values but still overestimated with 12%.

Read the full article about Polar S-410

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Optimize your cycling training with basic knowledge

Cycling training should not be made more difficult than it already is. Consider how many cyclists who have won great races, championships and honour without knowing anything significant about cycling training principles, nutrition or training planning (not to mention heart rate monitors, power meters etc.) There are a lot athletes having success, because they have talent and do a lot of clever things without knowing it: They train hard, they rest and they eat proper amounts of food.

Thus, they make above 95% of their potential performance by doing these things right. Advanced training methods can only add a few watts to this, but in tough competitions these can be crucial. But for a beginning it can be valuable to read these articles to avoid the most common mistakes and understand the basic principles of high quality cycling training:

Recovery Tips for Cyclists

Basic Principles of Cycling Training

Heart Rate Monitor Training Mistakes

Strength Training Mistakes

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5 Biggest Mistakes in Heart Rate Monitor Training

1 – Comparing heart rate values with others

The fact is that you can only compare heart rate values with your own previous registrations. The reason for this is that we all have a different anatomy of our cardiovascular system. But these systems are all based on the same physiological mechanisms. Thus, we can learn from each others’ physiological experiences and adaptations, but we can’t compare individual heart rate values. E.g. your resting heart rate is 58bpm while your friend’s heart rate is 42bpm, still I can’t say which one of you are in the best shape nor have the highest VO2 max.

Your maximum heart rate is correlated to your age, but that does not mean that we all fit in to 220-age formula. There is a huge standard deviation because we all are anatomically different. Just like with the resting heart rates, maximum heart rates does not predict performance.

2 ”“ Not being aware of factors affecting heart rate

Your working heart rate at the same external workload changes from day to day because it is affected by several factors including caffeine, water balance, temperature, physical stress, psychological stress etc. Thus, you should know how these things affect your heart rate since that is essential if you want to use your current heart rate for pacing. Taking action of the response from your heart rate monitor on your effort is an important part of using this tool. E.g. if you feel your heart rate is too high compared to the workload, then consider if there is a good reason for this (dehydration, too much coffee etc.) When you have found the answer, then take action on it.

3 ”“ Not analyzing heart rate data

Heart rate monitor training is much about analyzing. If you have an advanced or professional heart rate monitor from Polar, you can collect tons of data for analyzing on your personal computer. This is an important process if you want to get the full value out of your heart rate monitor. When you get used to see your heart rate records, you will begin to get a deeper understanding of how your body works. If you add some studying in exercise physiology to your analyzing, you will be able to make better decisions about your future cycling training. And that is exactly the point of spending reviewing your bike rides.

4 ”“ Wrong use of heart rate monitor during races

When you enter a race, you will see that you are able to ride faster than you normally do at training. It is difficult, if not impossible, to make clever decisions based on your current heart rate in a cycling race. I’ve heard several riders give up, when they were trying to jump from the peloton because they thought their heart rate indicated that they should slow down. That is definitively a big mistake since there is large tactical factor in play in cycling races. Thus, if you are lucky, the peloton will slow down and stop struggling to close the gap. And that is why experience is so much more important in races than heart rate registrations.

5 ”“ Wrong use of target zones during training

Heart rate target zones are a way to categorize different types of training. Many riders use basic training programs where they are supposed to work at percentage of their maximum heart rate. But these programs are born to be inadequate since there is a huge deviation in relative working heart rates (Just like with minimum and maximum heart rates). Thus, these target zones should be based on your personal experiences and testing procedures, not a general formula. Also I will recommend you to not making the target zones to small, because of the factors influencing on the heart rate. One day you are in top of the target zone and the next day you are in the bottom, but the subjective feeling might be the same. Thus, if the interval is too small you are likely to cross the limits which will make you work either easier or harder to stay in the target zone.

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Power Meter Training for Beginner Triathletes

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

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How To Determine Your Target Heart Rate

There are some basic rules you should know when you start to use a heart rate monitor. First of all it is important to know that your heart rate is affected by several internal and external parameters. It takes months (if not years) to get enough experience to understand how the heart rate reacts.

Heart rate monitors work best for pacing at aerobic cycling, since there is a slightly delay on the pulse frequency. If you accelerate the bike to a new steady state pace, you will reach the steady state pulse a few minutes later. That is really important to know, and I guess that is why many riders push too hard in the beginning of intervals, because they are trying to get their heart rate up in the target zones. That is a big mistake that could easily be avoided if these riders used a power meter.

Read how to determine your target heart rate

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18 Hours Per Week Training Program

This training program is designed for serious riders who already have a solid mileage. I will recommend that you use a heart rate monitor or even better a power meter in your training. During short intervals a heart rate monitor is worth nothing because the reactions from the cardiac system are delayed with a few minutes. People that enter this program should know about the terms overreaching and overtraining.

Have a look at the 18 hours per week training program

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16 hours per week training program

This training program is for serious riders who already have a solid mileage. I recommend that you use a heart rate monitor or, even better, a power meter in your training. During short intervals, a heart rate monitor is worth nothing because the reactions from the cardiac system are delayed by a few minutes. This

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