Training with a HRM as a beginner.

[TheFungle]

My wife has decided to enter a 100 mile sportive in June, I'm confident she has the detertmination to complete it as well as the discipline to train for it.

Her brother is a handy cyclist/ironmanist and is very much of the opinion that training with a HRM is the way to go and even for the event itself.

I'm of the opinion that as long as you don't try to blast every single ride then you will follow a similar path of base mile building up.

One article I read suggested that keeping your HR in zone 1 or 2 is ideal, do this for 2-3 hours and if needs be walk up hills in order to keep HR low.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

HR is an ok measure of how hard you are working over a period of time. As a total beginner she would probably be better served ensuring she is putting in the miles initially. When the limiting factor becomes time then there is a degree of substitution that can be made between miles and effort. i.e. 30 miles at a higher intensity will help her make the jump between being able to ride 80 and 90 miles at a much lower intensity. It's the same principal as interval training. At that point HR is one measure that will show her how hard she is working.

[Rich_W]

I have a Timex HRM somewhere. Used it a fair bit few years ago. Wrote down all the figures from every time I used it. Was the full nerdy type. Stopped for 2 reasons. 1) Boring to keep logging data and 2) Completely useless on a bike! The bike is so stiff, it transmit false bumps to the HRM. So apparently on numerous rides my Peak was 240 The other point is that it's pointless knowing that on 3rd Feb you do XYZ during your training, since on your event on Xth June is when it matters.

My suggestion is to go for Rate of Perceived Exertion.

So do your long stuff slow, and your fast stuff REALLY fast. Don't waste time doing anything in the middle grey zone. Oh and don't periodise like they used to (lots of slow stuff in winter, fast stuff in race season) Do one of each type of session each week. Main thing your wife needs is 10-12 weeks of consistent training more that a HRM imo.

[upsidedownmark]

Agree with 90% of that - however 1) is subjective (personally I find having the log/record handy for motivation) and 2) is wrong - spikes aren't uncommon, but HRM's work fine on bikes for lots of folks the world over. Good write up on causes and cures for spikes here: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/04/troubleshooting...

[croftsj]

RPE is as bad as train how you feel.
On a budget and time pressured? Use heart rate zones.
On less of a budget and less time pressured? Use a power meter.

HR zone training works, it's easy to understand but takes discipline, results speak for themselves.

[Rich_W]

upsidedownmark said:

Agree with 90% of that - however 1) is subjective (personally I find having the log/record handy for motivation) and 2) is wrong - spikes aren't uncommon, but HRM's work fine on bikes for lots of folks the world over. Good write up on causes and cures for spikes here: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/04/troubleshooting...

Re 1) I do log mileage, what sort of seesion and how I felt. Just didn't need all the minutae.
Re 2) The HRM I have is not a high end one. It simply lists pk, av etc at the end when you stop it. There's no graph or anything to upload. It was never a problem with non-cycling use. So I just Obviously that could be upgraded but as I've stopped using it it's a moot point. Though I must admit was swayed by some of the Garmin Forerunners or the 910 recently I was already doing the lick the strap thing

croftsj said:

RPE is as bad as train how you feel.

Scenario for you.

You've had a crap day at work, left half hour late. The traffic was terrible getting home. etc etc. Still go and do that 10 x interval session? Or go and train how you feel? If you NEVER push yourself. Then obviously gains will be slower. But most people will be able to gauge if they are going easy or whether they are going hard. You don't necessarily need to spend £200+ to be able to tell if you're knackered

[Barbarossa]

HRM good. I would recommend that she buys "tTime Crunched Cyclist" by Chris Carmichael, it will tell her how to use the HRM and gives some training programmes.

[Rich_W]

Barbarossa said:

HRM good. I would recommend that she buys "tTime Crunched Cyclist" by Chris Carmichael, it will tell her how to use the HRM and gives some training programmes.

Chris Carmicheal claims Lance Armstrong as a former client.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/08/news/carmic...

I guess some of the "programmes" might not be what the OP wants

[Barbarossa]

Nothing wrong with a few shortcuts .