Heart rate zones are the best entry level way to zone training, but if you have the money getting a powermeter is the most absolute way to measure output. Speed can fluctuate due to wind, weather, road surface. Heart rate can fluctuate due to temperature, time of day, general health. Powermeters are the most absolute, and not surprisingly, also the most expensive.
(Worth mentioning that a lot of companies are combining GPS and topography technology to provide lower cost "wattage estimations" but are the first to mention that their results are most accurate on uphills in mild weather with low wind. That's a pretty controlled sample.)
There are tons of HR Zone training plans out there. It's worth trying a few out and seeing what you're most comfortable with. But finding a regimented routine and finding riders of a similar skill set who are involved with similar goals to train with is probably the best advice I have.
― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 29 July 2010 16:48 (fourteen years ago) link
coz, two ways to find your zone. self-administered field testing (doing 20 minute/60 minute efforts and calculating percentages afterwards) or lactate threshold testing by a coach.
pick up joe friel's book the cyclist's training bible if you want to learn about training. are you thinking of racing or just want to be faster than you are?
― cutty, Thursday, 29 July 2010 16:51 (fourteen years ago) link
finding your zone sounds expensive (tho worthwhile, i imagine)
cheapest: (0.75)(220-yr age)
pin yr HR there until you work out an actual training plan
― pies. (gbx), Thursday, 29 July 2010 17:09 (fourteen years ago) link
cutty, bit of both. def want to be faster than I am and the prospect of racing is appealing but don't want to be embarassed. will pick up that book right now
― colossal fucking snob (cozen), Thursday, 29 July 2010 17:13 (fourteen years ago) link
hmmm that puts me at 138 which is WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY lower than reality.
― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 29 July 2010 17:19 (fourteen years ago) link
lol u old (j/k mine is 143)
i mean if you're just starting out and all you've got is a pulse, that's still a good heuristic---guessing coz is in the same ballpark, and if ~140 feels like a cakewalk, amp it up a bit. like, the single biggest part of "training" is ~actually doing it~. step 1 is "go out on a hard ride"
worry about the zone-y stuff when you are going to really train imo
― pies. (gbx), Thursday, 29 July 2010 17:24 (fourteen years ago) link
my very first LT test was 161. it's north of there nowadays (I can hold 172 for 40mins).
80% of max may be a cheaper estimate. :D
― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 29 July 2010 17:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Cozen - it also depends what kind of racing/riding you want to do. From my experience there's a world of difference between, say, an hour-long road race over a hilly 2km circuit / a ten-mile time trial over a gently undulating dual carriageway / a 94-mile sportive. You need to be fit to do all of them, but fit in different ways. For road racing you need to be able to deal with sudden random and short bursts of high speed, for time trialing it's more about holding a fairly high but even pace, and for sportives it's much more about endurance. You can do interval training for road racing and time trialing, but the latter would require much longer intervals.
― Jerome Personnel Cheeses (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Thursday, 29 July 2010 21:03 (fourteen years ago) link
maybe I'll just get a heavy bike
― colossal fucking snob (cozen), Thursday, 29 July 2010 21:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Now you're talking
― Jerome Personnel Cheeses (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Thursday, 29 July 2010 21:11 (fourteen years ago) link
no
― cutty, Thursday, 29 July 2010 23:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Even though I'm quite fit I have a weird HR which is nice and low resting - 50 or so - but then shoots up on the first hint of exercise. It also comes down quickly, too, but I'll be in the 170 range when friends are about 150.
― Mark C, Friday, 30 July 2010 11:56 (fourteen years ago) link
how do I shot "hill reps"
― thank you so much mr funk (cozen), Sunday, 1 August 2010 21:39 (fourteen years ago) link
OK this week's ride with the harder group has clarified my training aims
I want to be able to ride 100 miles at 19mph+ in a group and stay with the climbers on the hills
so essentially I want to get better on hills - am I looking at hill intervals to get better on them?
― that's what she said (cozen), Sunday, 1 August 2010 21:43 (fourteen years ago) link
you need to focus on your base first, but yes hill repeats wont hurt!
― cutty, Monday, 2 August 2010 03:09 (fourteen years ago) link
how did you fare on the ride?
your daily bicycle log
― that's what she said (cozen), Monday, 2 August 2010 06:37 (fourteen years ago) link
nice work cozy, esp in that weather.
in order to ride 100 miles at any speed you need to (as cutty states) build up your endurance.
for hills, repeats will definitely help as well as increasing your ability to recover (via intervals).
100 hilly miles at 19mph is about race pace for sporty amateur riders so it will involve some training and logging lots of miles.
― _▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂_ (Steve Shasta), Monday, 2 August 2010 19:42 (fourteen years ago) link
― tea wrecks electric warrior (haitch), Tuesday, 3 August 2010 05:59 (fourteen years ago) link
:|
― cutty, Tuesday, 3 August 2010 16:04 (fourteen years ago) link
rollers finally turned up. bit of a wobble-fest frankly!
― tea wrecks electric warrior (haitch), Monday, 9 August 2010 11:28 (fourteen years ago) link
pls record and post to CYCLING LOLZ
― cozen, Monday, 9 August 2010 11:31 (fourteen years ago) link
I've got a couple more time trials to go before the normal racing season finishes, but I'm already starting to think about the actual end of the season which is my club's hill climb championship on the first Sunday in November. I got second place last year (which, while good, isn't amazingly so, seeing as there were only ten or so riders in it and some of them were at the er.... less competitive end of the spectrum) with 2.51. The first placed guy, who is much better than me and has won a couple of road races this season, got 2.35. This is on a climb about three-quarters of a mile long which has a false flat in the middle and the steepest section is about 12% (according to the sign at the side of the road).
I'm trying to do some strength training to prepare for this. I was advised to do this last year by a coach (but didn't get round to it). On Wednesday I went up it staying in the big ring the whole way up (53x21 and then 53x23 on the steepest bit) staying in the saddle and grinding, thinking this is what I'd been told to do. When I got home I re-read the instructions from a year ago and saw that what I'd actually been told to do was go in a ridiculous gear (53x17) and try to sprint up out of the saddle until I reached the point where I couldn't ride any more. Then I was supposed to mark this point, turn around and go back downhill and ride for a few minutes until my heart rate had recovered, then repeat it four more times seeing if I could beat the point I'd marked.
I still haven't tried this, but on Friday I went back to the hill again to do some timed practice. I went up in the big ring (53x21 all the way), this time out of the saddle and pushing hard, and managed 2.59. Then I did a loop and came back to try it again, this time using the big ring on the flatter bits, but down to 39x19 39x21 on the steeper bits. It felt horrible at the end but I managed 2.50 (so better than I did in the actual race last year).
― Running the Gantelope (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Sunday, 12 September 2010 07:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Chapeau! Do you think you'll be able to get to 2.35? Or close enough to give him a fright?
― Mark C, Monday, 13 September 2010 07:51 (thirteen years ago) link
To be honest, no. Fifteen seconds doesn't sound like much, but it feels huge.
― Running the Gantelope (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Monday, 13 September 2010 12:00 (thirteen years ago) link
just go up it faster
― post below to show ur support for I love football separatism (cozen), Monday, 13 September 2010 12:30 (thirteen years ago) link
That might just work...
― Running the Gantelope (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Monday, 13 September 2010 12:36 (thirteen years ago) link
I recommend using a lighter bike
― post below to show ur support for I love football separatism (cozen), Monday, 13 September 2010 12:36 (thirteen years ago) link
TODAY MARKS MY FINAL DAY OF TRAINING OF THE 2010 SEASON AND I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER ABOUT IT!
― Fartbritz Sootzveti (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 28 September 2010 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
always be training.
regardless. you are a winner. you showed real motivation this year and you killed it! <3
― cutty, Wednesday, 29 September 2010 02:31 (thirteen years ago) link
youre both remarkable!
― my stomach is full of anger. and pie. (Hunt3r), Wednesday, 29 September 2010 02:41 (thirteen years ago) link
honestly, cutty is a saint for putting up with my incessant barrage of n00b racing/training questions.
but both of you guys have been such rad support. *hugglez*
― Fartbritz Sootzveti (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 29 September 2010 04:11 (thirteen years ago) link
are you going to make the step up to a heavier bike next season
― otis pain (cozen), Wednesday, 29 September 2010 07:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Filthy weather again this morning, but I went out and had another go on the hill climb. This time I tried going all out earlier than normal and just counted on adrenalin to help me gasp my way up the final stretch. I smashed my PB by 8 seconds and got 2:42. Felt so spent afterwards I had to just ride home again.
― Running the Gantelope (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Friday, 1 October 2010 09:19 (thirteen years ago) link
guys i think i figured out intervals/tabata training
― kanellos (gbx), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 01:19 (thirteen years ago) link
any tips/recommendations etc for improving pedalling technique? I have noticed that when I go for a higher cadence (on real bike or indeed stationary bike at the gym) I get ... "bouncy". I'm sure you know what I mean - arse lifts off perch at every stroke almost, feels really really inefficient. Is it a question of more and more miles? a simple case of cranking up the gear? or are there exercises/methods for improving smoothness?
― problem chimp (Porkpie), Thursday, 13 January 2011 08:22 (thirteen years ago) link
its been consistently v. v. cold and 8" of snow is lingering, so i went to spinning classes on sunday and last night. i may know how to ride a bike, but apparently i don't know how to "spin." like, i was pretty baffled by the "jumps," where you stand for just 4 pedal strokes and sit for 4 pedal strokes at 90 rpm. also, contradictory instructions about intensity levels.
all i really want is to use a spinning bike for my own workout, but neither venue i go to appears to allow that.
― end aggro business now (Hunt3r), Thursday, 13 January 2011 13:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Chris/Porkpie - are your feet clipped into the pedals? is the saddle high enough?
― Sepp Blatter quipped (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Thursday, 13 January 2011 16:44 (thirteen years ago) link
Clipped in yes, maybe the saddle does need to go up, but I set it up as per the prescribed method (can't remember the details but it involved measuring and a bit of maths). Of course there is the random factor of being 6'3" but with only a 32" leg.
― problem chimp (Porkpie), Thursday, 13 January 2011 17:38 (thirteen years ago) link
buy a spin bike for the home!
― cutty, Friday, 14 January 2011 16:14 (thirteen years ago) link
I have a mystery knee injury that has appeared from nowhere. I must have twisted it, possibly while playing toddler games, or possibly through dancing while intoxicated. Common sense says I should just rest it until it feels better, but I've had two months of scarcely cycling and the start of the new season is getting closer. If I just go out and ride tomorrow regardless, am I going to regret it?
― Sepp Blatter quipped (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Saturday, 15 January 2011 21:20 (thirteen years ago) link
my mystery knee injury that used to only hurt on my right side now switched over to my left side. right side's fine though.
― jaxon, Saturday, 15 January 2011 21:41 (thirteen years ago) link
That sounds encouraging
― Sepp Blatter quipped (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Saturday, 15 January 2011 21:45 (thirteen years ago) link
[warning: EMO]
I am really, really, really, really out of shape. Very disappointing. Getting "looks", "talkings to", "bailed on"... and it's like 85 miles with 5500 feet of climbing in under 5 hours is pretty groundbreaking for me, but still coming up short.
What sucks:I bonked on this 5 mile climb today. 2 guys I ride with are in really good shape (one seems to be peaking at the moment, he threw down 400+W for over 10 mins the other night in spin class) and are not shy about showing off their early season fitness.Kinda had some "neg" feelings today about LL this, which sucks because I'm usually a pretty "posi" dude about training/racing.Basically need to HTFU and stop being slow and lose more weight.
― i love you but i have chosen snarkness (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 15 January 2011 21:51 (thirteen years ago) link
LL = all
jaxon, maybe pay a visit to 3Db1k3f1t in sausalito, it's the same guy who set you up at BN.
nb&s: if you've ridden through similar pain before, it's worth a shot. otherwise it's probably going to take a doctor visit. :-/
― i love you but i have chosen snarkness (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 15 January 2011 21:53 (thirteen years ago) link
anddddddd i left my phone, credit cards, cash at a shop like 15 miles away. awesome! I really feel like driving across the bridge in traffic to go get it.
― i love you but i have chosen snarkness (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 15 January 2011 22:53 (thirteen years ago) link
leaving your shit behind sucks, but not being a january spinning champion-- i'd not worry about that one iota. when you drop those fools when it counts, you will be happier.
i weighed in at 177 on thursday, thats 6lbs weight gain in 2 months. plenty of it is from lifting, but still, i'd like to be 165 in may.
― end aggro business now (Hunt3r), Saturday, 15 January 2011 23:50 (thirteen years ago) link
FAT
― ullr saves (gbx), Sunday, 16 January 2011 02:11 (thirteen years ago) link
MANTIS