Hi…

Just a question for you – how did you come up with that max HR? Formula? Other?

What range you train in could be the subject of endless discussions. I guess I would ask – what are your goals? What do you want to do? Is there some objective/ride/number/feat that you want to achieve?

The reason you train intentionally at a lower HR than what you can sustain is entirely in how it affects the body. Riding at the highest HR you can sustain is going to be very different, on your body, than riding at a lower HR.

A generally accepted and successful way to train is to do a fair bit of long-distance, moderate paced riding. This is typically called LSD. This builds up your aerobic base, makes you more efficient, conditions your muscles/joints/tendons/ligaments/etc. When you’ve done a decent amount of this, say 250-500 miles, then you can start higher intensity workouts.

I ride 3x/week like you do. My typical approach is 1) LSD ride on weekends, say 40-60 miles at a moderate pace, 2) shorter ride with all hill intervals and hill repeats during the week, at say 95-105% of my lactate threshold heartrate (LT), 3) similar to #1, but a bit shorter, mainly for recovery.

If you ride hard all the time you will quickly plateau. The body needs to be pushed, yes, to overcompensate and be stronger – but it needs just as much time and rides, where it can recuperate and heal. Ignoring one will make your overall fitness suffer.

I’d suggest books like Joe Friel’s Cyclist Training Bible.



Here’s an excerpt from one of his books – a person asked – why is easier better….

The answer to your question really depends upon where your current fitness levels are. Simply riding for two hours in a relatively easy state (heart rate zones 1-2) will not improve fitness very much if you already have sufficient aerobic endurance and muscular adaptations necessary for higher intensity workouts. But, if you have not built sufficient aerobic fitness and have not gradually introduced more ride time to your muscles, riding a two-hour workout within heart rate zones 1-2 can be very beneficial towards your overall fitness and race results later on.

Have you ever heard the saying "races are won and lost in the winter?" What this refers to is an athlete's true peak fitness is first established within the preparation and base periods. The larger the base (to a point) the higher the peak and less risk of injury. By skipping a proper base period an athlete will risk having lower fitness during their peak, as compared to if they had a high quality base period. As mentioned earlier, the risk of injury also rises with a short base period and if you're injured you certainly can not compete at your potential.

On a slightly different topic you mentioned a percentage of max heart rate within your question. Ultrafit Associates does not describe training intensity by using max heart rate. By doing so there is an assumption that two athletes with the same max heart rate are performing at the very same intensity levels. When in fact heart rate levels are highly variable between athletes when it comes to the percentage of max heart rate at which they become anaerobic. We base intensity, with respect to heart rate, on the percentage of an athletes lactate threshold heart rate as a determinant of intensity levels. You can read more on this within any of Joe's "Training Bible" books.