Heart rate?

[Brandi]

I posted a thread on hills. And noticed a few talking about heart rate. I am curious, does anyone know what it should be when you are going up hill working hard? Mine is around 160-170 and I am 38 (I think).

[yellow]

Brandi, check out this thread on heart rate. Even though it's about running it talks about max heart rate and heart rate training quite a bit.

Training heart rates are individual. So what may be good for you as a 38 year old may not be good for another 38 year old. Some people have naturally high heart rates, others have super low ones.

I suggest you figure out what your max is and go from there. It's like bike sizes: there is no one magic formula that works for everyone.

[fatbottomedgurl]

Go with what feels best, not necessarily a formula. My doctor says it's more important that the beat is regular and steady. When I am really pushing up a climb on the mtb I can get to 190. I don't let myself get much higher than that.

[Grog]

I took the riders I was leading into an introductory club ride last night on hills. It was only a few of us (five total) and two of them struggled a bit more on hills (it's very hilly going pretty much anywhere around our club's base). They were eager to improve. So I took them on one of my favorite recovery drill: slow racing up a hill.

The goal of the "slow race" is to go up the hill as slow as you can, keeping your heart rate as low as you can. Remember it's recovery day. I don't think there are many physiological benefits to be reaped from this exercise, but there are many psychological ones. First, you learn to control your heart rate and not to let it shoot through the roof as soon as you hit the hill. Second, you realize that hills don't have to be painful and that you can actually spin up them, all the while gossiping with your girlfriends. Third, I'd say that the speed you loose is less than the energy you're saving. What I mean by that is that it's not THAT much slower. So, returning to #1, you realize that controlling your heart rate on a climb is do-able and possibly more efficient than dying out there 'working hard' at 95% of your max heart rate.

So, to come back to your question: sometimes I'll do intervals and my heart rate will shoot to 200 and more going up a hill (I'm 28 but as the thread pointed above shows the equations for heart rate are all pretty wrong). On purpose. Recovering from that effort is what makes my heart stronger. Other times I'll go very slowly. On purpose. My heart doesn't really care but my mind gets stronger out of it. Doing this, I have learned to control my heart rate on hills I will not climb at much more than, say, 175-180 so I don't need to have a lot of time to recover once I'm at the top. Still on a club ride on a tough day I may be working hard not to loose the pack and my heart rate will go well beyond 200 and I'll struggle for a while after the top of the hill just to keep up on the flats. But that situation happens to me less and less often now...

Enjoy those hills! Sorry for giving such a contorted answer!

[SadieKate]

The FitChick column in the July O6 issue of Bicycling is about getting fitter and faster. The elite coach she used as the source for this article recommends you leave the HRM at home for periods because, otherwise, you can loose touch with your body, pushing too hard or not hard enough because you're fixated on numbers rather than your body. He recommends taking a month off from the HRM and staying with breathing-based training zones:

Zone 1: deep, steady, relaxed for aerobic and endurance
Zone 2: short, quick, rhythmic breathing for lactate threshold
Zone 3: gasping with your eyeballs on fire for VO2 max

Beginners and intermediate riders should spend 70% of time in Zone 1, 25-30% in Zone 2, and 1-5% in Zone 4.

Advanced riders should spend 60-65% in Zone 1, 30-35% in Zone 2, and 3-7% in Zone 4.

I find that focusing on my breathing and keeping it in the control (appropriate to the situation) will help me keep my heart rate lower and ride harder -- all without the use of a HRM. And I'm getting faster by incorporating Zone 2 and 3 into my riding, not just going out for a ride.

[Brandi]

you know though the hrt has made me push myself more. I do believe that leaving it at home sometimes does make sence. But since I have started using it I am not so lazy when I ride. And I think improving. I just don't want to give myself a heart attack!

[Grog]

I just don't want to give myself a heart attack!

I was the girl in aerobics class that stopped counting after 20 beats when taking my pulse on a 6-second basis because I didn't want people to know that my HR went over 200. (Even if I was pretty fit.) I always worried a little bit about this...

When I got my heart rate monitor I first tried it during a tough winter hike. I was with a cardiologist-friend of mine and he was not at all moved when I hit 194 on a hill. So don't worry too much about this... If you don't feel like you are going to faint you're probably not going to die from this. Of course, I am assuming that you have no counter-indication for hard exercise.

The measure of your improvement is how fast your heart rate goes down after an effort...

(I was really scared the thing would start beeping really loud if/when I hit 200... it didn't. I have been to 225 so far and nothing special happened.)

Take it easy, but not too easy.

[Brandi]

I like that you were afraid it would beep at you, that's funny! Tell me more about recovery?

[Grog]

I like that you were afraid it would beep at you, that's funny! Tell me more about recovery?

Well basically you want to get to a point where your heart rate goes down fast. Ex: You work hard up a hill, bring your HR to 180, and about one minute after you've started riding the flat you're down to 150-160, and if you stop altogether your HR will quickly (within minutes) drop down to 100ish values.

Besides, you improve as you recover, so you don't want to spend too much time in the higher values, but you want to go there many times. While doing intervals, for example... (you push very hard for some time and relax for some time, one or two sessions of this a week - if you search "intervals" on this site you'll find a lot of info).

Enjoy the recovery time...

[Brandi]

I follow pretty much what you just said. I try to work a little harder on those hills every time. As a matter of fact my last ride has made me pooped tonight. And a little sore! Just took a therapy soak! AHHHHH warm smelly water to relax in always makes me feel better. My heart rate really comes down pretty fast. I am going to pay more attention to what it does maybe keep a log and see where I am at or going lol. Thanks for all your info. I need to eat some kind of recovery food after the harder rides. I don't do that enough which is why I think I am pooped too.

[Veronica]

... I am 38 (I think).

You don't know how old you are?

V.