My !@&^% heart rate!

[Irulan]

Other than going to a sports lab, do you think it's reasonable to go to the gym and sprint for a long time until I can't go any longer to try to figure out my max heart rate?

Sally Edwards has a lot of good information in her various heart rate books. No, I would not go to the gym and go as hard as you can to figure it out, there is a method to how to do it.

If you do have a gym membership, you might look at spin classes. They are a great way to build up an aerobic base and get to understand effort and heart rate. I find if I spin regularly in the off season I am much more prepared for bike season.

[lovelylibrarian]

If you do have a gym membership, you might look at spin classes. They are a great way to build up an aerobic base and get to understand effort and heart rate. I find if I spin regularly in the off season I am much more prepared for bike season.

Yes, I spin 4 days a week now. I'm thinking of changing one of those days to a low intensity longer ride. Thanks.

[bluebug32]

Other than going to a sports lab, do you think it's reasonable to go to the gym and sprint for a long time until I can't go any longer to try to figure out my max heart rate?

I think it's easier and more helpful to figure out your lactate threshold. If you've been riding regularly with your HR monitor, you should already have a good idea of approx. what your max HR is. Joe Friel's books are great references. I did his LT test (basically a 30 min TT) and then used his charts to figure out my different HR zones. I reprogrammed my HR monitor and it feels pretty accurate and like I'm getting a better picture now.

Basically, mountain biking is a real kick in the butt. I've been trying for several years to not feel so exhausted and like my heart is going to pound out of my chest. I think road biking more definitely helps, as does the trainer in the off-season and just sticking with it and realizing that it will come in time.

[RoadRaven]

Other than going to a sports lab, do you think it's reasonable to go to the gym and sprint for a long time until I can't go any longer to try to figure out my max heart rate?

Sprinting for a long time on a spin bike is maybe not the most effective way to "max" out.

A sprint, by its definition on a bike, is short and intense. So that is what you should aim for.
By all means warm up, but when you "sprint" you need to burn everything you have in your body.
If you train using sprint intervals, you build up to a sprint of maybe 20-30seconds, and in between you rest for about 2minutes to allow your heart rate to drop.

So try that. Warm up, then ride for 5 minutes increasing the intensity til you are going about as hard as you can... and then it is time to sprint. Give it everything you possibly can. When you feel like you are going to throw up (which should be within half a minute) you are nearing max heart rate. If you actually do throw up, you have found your max heart rate.

So ideally all you need to find you max heart rate is your bike, a wind-trainer, someone to yell at you to make you push yourself harder... and a bucket

Oh... and if you use this method, when you get off - don't step in the bucket

[spokewench]

Mt. Diablo has some really tough climbs - really steep so if you are having a bit of a hard time there, don't sweat it. I can remember many a ride on Mt. Diablo where I was in granny gear, just barely holding my front wheel down on the ground and spinning ever so slowly, slowly up and up and up and up! And, walking some too. So if your heartrate is way up there, that is where it is supposed to be when you climb something like Diablo! It will probably never get better there, cause a lot of those climbs are just what I call
"maxed out" climbs. You are maxed and it is all you can do to stay on the bike (or not)! Hang in there, you stay on longer and longer as you ride that sort of thing, but it takes a while to be able to push yourself that hard.

spoke

[kenyonchris]

I'll chime in here (I am a personal trainer)...to increase your cardiovascular fitness you must increase and decrease your heartrate several times over a period of time. MTBing does this naturally, but you can simulate it at home...but be careful of not pushing your heart rate high enough, for long enough...or "adapting" (true technical term).
For example...I am a professional rider (of horses). I can ride along for some time, thinking of other things, and barely break a sweat. A beginning rider is using muscles that they have never used, so posting a trot for 10 minutes leaves them breathless, with their heart rate somewhere near Mars. Take that same rider who is totally worthless (fitness wise) and stick em on a MTB and, if they are proficient at MTBing, they can go longer and faster easier than someone else who can run a marathon, but has never been on a MTB.
So, if your exercise is MTBing, you have to continually fight adaption to truly become fit. Pedal harder, faster, stand more (if you tend to sit) or make yourself do seated climbs if you prefer to stand. And, to get fitter, allow yourself to recover, then hit it again.

And here is my personal hint...I can't stand to hear myself breathe. It makes me feel way tireder (is that a word??). So I iPod it. I use one bud unless I am on a deserted trail or road and don't listen to myself pant. I use a HR monitor only while spinning. And before you know it! Fit!