Average Heart Rate

[screenman]

I think a lot of zone 2 talk goes back to Peter Keen was doing with CB 20+ year's ago. From memory it was around 80% of mhr.

 

[VamP]

Okay, given the above, I agree with the former, not so sure on the latter. I'd say 8-10 hours a week is a moderate training volume, would you agree? In that context, it would seem that a lot of people in the know and getting results (Matt Bottrill being one example) aren't shunning the L2 work even with a moderate training volume

I have in the past been an advocate of "tempo or nothing" but am beginning to question it.

8-10 hours I would say is medium volume in the context of amateur racing. I agree that there are people who advocate including z2 work, but there's plenty who question it's value as well. Plenty getting results using both approaches, which suggests to me that z2 is not the important piece of the story. A lot (like nearly all) of my training is done on the commute, and I ride my morning rides quite gently, straddling z2 and z3. If I am fatigued I will stick to z2 only. But I am not sure it's doing me any good. The purpose is mainly to get me in position for the evening ride

But certainly from the OPs question it wasn't clear if he was doing anything other than z2, and that was what I was getting at mainly. Z2 without some actual training rides as well, will do very little, probably nothing.

 

[Stonechat]

If you are a British Cycling Member you can download their training plan - I am doing London-Brighton in June
Their approach is to measure FTHR instead of MHR. Zones are derived from that.

 

[Licramite]

yes my doctors told me to lay off the strenuous exercise as my heart (because of its stenoisis) has to work harder to achieve the same result (he said this in much vaguer terms)
But what does that mean/?
at present I'm trying to stay under 140bmp when training which according to my heart rate stage is stage 4 and in the green zone (my max heart rate is 168-172 based on an adjusted age system )
and I do struggle to keep it under 140 - but is this right - I have no idea.

 

[screenman]

The adjusted age system sets my max at 162, I can ride at that rate for, well not quite sure but a long while. I would say mine is not around 180.

try looking at some of the studies by Maffetone, I did when I came back to cycling after a break and found it quite interesting.

 

[VamP]

Your maximum HR is unique to you, and cannot be calculated. So unless you have tested for it, then you won't know what it is. If going to the maximum is undesirable, you could test lactate threshold HR (usually around 90% of HR max) and set your zones based on that.

As you have a medical condition, I would suggest testing in a lab setting, which is something you will need to do in any case, to measure lactate levels.

 

[Stonechat]

yes my doctors told me to lay off the strenuous exercise as my heart (because of its stenoisis) has to work harder to achieve the same result (he said this in much vaguer terms)
But what does that mean/?
at present I'm trying to stay under 140bmp when training which according to my heart rate stage is stage 4 and in the green zone (my max heart rate is 168-172 based on an adjusted age system )
and I do struggle to keep it under 140 - but is this right - I have no idea.

You may need to set your targets in conjunction with the Dr
I did a 20 minute effort to assess my fthr (which actually takes 30 mins)
This is supposed to be the effort you can keep up for an hour

In your case you need to be cautious though

 

[screenman]

You want to be able to do long steady rides, can I suggest you train for them by doing long steady rides I stuck by the Maffetone method for 5 months and got my real world average above 17mph, with a heart rate at the time of 130 bpm not bad I feel for what was a fat old duffer at the time.

Mind you getting overtaken going up hills by old ladies with the shopping in took a bit of self control.

 

[Licramite]

Yes I know I should get it checked but my local gp is , useless, hopefully after the op I may get some proper advice.
I was going to have a stress test in hospital and they set my max hr at 168-170. 140 does feel easy.

Before I got slowed down I was happily doing 30-60 hilly mile,s rides, and on my turbo I normally ran at 150-160bpm
I shall have to badger (oh hang on they shot them all) Harris my gp for some proper assessment.

 

[Tin Pot]

I whole heartedly support low heart rate based training - it worked wonders for me, but I had to try it to realise it.

I still use interval training and am looking at pace backed training for run, but if the OP can be patient with low intensity training the science backs surprising results.

Most that are new to training try far too hard - I was one of those guys and wasted about nine months. It turns out, like most things, time & patience wins out over brute force.

 

[VamP]

Hmm. In my opinion most that are new to training don't try hard enough.

 

[Roscoe]

Lots of useful information there, thanks everyone.

As my aim is to get to a decent level of fitness and be able to comfortably able to ride 50/60 miles, I'm going to log onto the British Cycling site and use the training plans there.

Cheers

 

[Rob3rt]

Hmm. In my opinion most that are new to training don't try hard enough.

Or they do try hard enough at 1st, but then think a bit of tiredness is overtraining and start slacking

 

[screenman]

What is the point of training hard if all you want to achieve is a medium steady ride, I am definitely not new to training been at it 43 years.

 

[VamP]

If all you want is a medium steady ride, then I suggest there is not much point in training. Just ride your bike.