Heart Rate and training- questions, help!!

I'm confused, hope some of you trainer types can help me.

We did a threshold class in spin, using HRM's to supposedly establish what our individual aerobic/anaerobic threshold is.

(keep in mind that the various instructors have everything from a health club certification to real athletic training degree, not sure what Catherine has)

the basis was the standard simple formula, 220-age as maximum. The class was based on this: warm up, ride for 20 minutes at the highest level you could hold consistently for 20 minutes, but not go higher than, recover for 2 minutes, then go another 20 minutes at that same level as before, then the cool down.

Using the hrm as a guide, I found I was able to maintain right at 88% of max ( with little swings to 87/89) but I could not mainatin above that... she says that I should consider 88 my threshold number.

so, how do I use this in the future... Just for awarness, or what?
Was this done properly? Or was this method rather simplistic...Is 88% a "good" number? I know my recovery was good, I dropped into the mid 60's pretty quickly during the two minute recovery...

any help interpreting this stuff would be appreciated!!

thanks

Irulan

Happy Holidays sweety!:D I used to know this stuff inside out- Lactate threshhold training and such. Sounds like what you did was ride a set of intervals. For you dear, this may not mean much because as a singletrack burning animal your actual max is probably higher than the one the formula uses. If she was really doing training numbers, you would have gotten really juicy warmed up and gone for personal max one day, then ridden other number tests other times, like where you go anerobic, yada yada. I have to wonder if this wasn't just something to do with the shiny toys. Civilians love to stare at the flashing numbers on the HRM.
If you read Covert Bailey, they found different people have different max by nature and level of fitness; then different people train best at somewhat different percentages of that max. You can raise your max, too, by training.
So anyway- I bet you weren't at 88% of max for you. The formula is for the Normal People :p . So it means you're really fit, but without a true max to interpret the number you can't tell where you stand. Wear the gizmo on the skis and as you want to heave as you top a hill, look at it. That's probably your max, when you don't have any more to give. You know when you're there. Then watch how long you take to recover to a nice pace while you keep moving. Bet your #s drop like a stone.

Lizzy, who has been drinking cocktails and eating bon bons and is paying for it. Bleah!

I bet the Thursday Roadies newsletter has a good book on this if you want to really get into working by the numbers.

20 minutes is too long for an interval. I've done interval training with trainers who know this stuff. We generally work up to our max - not just go flat out - for 3 to 4 minutes. Then you test your max for 2-3 minutes (it takes me 4-5 minutes to reach my max, though) and then slowly cool down. Rinse & repeat.

The size of your heart matters. Smaller hearts have more rapid heartbeats (think of a bird). Your actual conditioning, as Lizzy said, matters too. So, use the 220-age as a very rough guide.

Does it matter in your riding? Only if you're doing LSD rides (LSD=long slow duration) or if you want to do intervals. As far as power output, no. As a trained woman, you can probably ride at 70% MHR and smoke most other riders.

I would agree 20 minutes was a long time to try and maintain just under what (I think) your instructor was trying to relay as you anaerobic threshold (85%-90% and above). So if my max is 200, theoretically if I stay under 185-190 BPM I am still working aerobically.

I don't think she was trying to have you do a 20 minute interval (if she was, she needs a makeup lesson in interval training), but rather was setting your threshold and forcing you to work at or below it to stay aerobic.

I am not sure though I agree with her technique, it was skimpy on information and could be misinterpreted. Also, it sounds like it may have been a little boring!! I hope she was doing different things during those 20 minutes!!

venus, thanks that sounds about right, what you said.

Irulan