What is your heart-rate max?

by Tiki on May 28, 2007 11:10 AM EDT

As a postscript to an earlier diary entry, I'm curious to hear what other people's age and heart-rate max are. Actually, what I'd really like to hear is:

Your age.
The highest number your heart-rate monitor has recorded.
Your estimated heart-rate max.

I am 40 years old. At yesterday's Cat 4 criterium in Hartford, my heart-rate appeared to average about 173, and it peaked at 186 in the finishing sprint. I estimate my max to be 192. So my numbers (at least for this point in the season) would be: 40/186/192

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Mine is 49/173/180

"The ox is slow but the earth is patient."

by Teel 22 on May 28, 2007 11:28 AM EDT reply actions

45/188/?

I have no idea what my max is. I've not used a monitor for about a year. I've seen 188 on it in the past and have felt like it's gone higher on a few occasions. FWIW

"I need a dump truck baby to unload my head" -- Bob Dylan From a Buick 6

by ELVISGOAT on May 28, 2007 11:33 AM EDT reply actions

33 / 165 / ?

I do my best not to work too hard these days, so I was really frustrated with myself when I recorded that 165 reading ... I hope to never find out what my max is. I've never trusted that 220-age formula: when I was 15, I actually recorded 220 bpm a few times. (Cue Bruce Springsteen's song "Glory Days" ...)

by ancien equipier on May 28, 2007 12:58 PM EDT reply actions

35/204/204

In a long sprint at the end of a race I can get it over 200.

A guy I raced with last year who is 51 regularly recorded 200+ in the finishing sprint--he was an old track sprinter, and a maestro of following wheels to win, so I think the 220 formula isn't too useful.

-K-

by KevinK on May 28, 2007 1:10 PM EDT reply actions

43 and

Generally 177 is about where I max out in a race, although I have hit 183 once.

Vlaenderen die Leu

by Mr Van P on May 28, 2007 1:36 PM EDT reply actions

31/195/

and guessing 198 or 199 as max.

by Sui Juris on May 28, 2007 1:55 PM EDT reply actions

45/172/192

172 is tested LT, 192 is the highest I've ever seen on my HRM.

by johnw on May 28, 2007 4:19 PM EDT reply actions

It amazed me to race

And see how much higher my heart-rate is than when I'm by myself or even on a group ride.

by Tiki on May 28, 2007 4:22 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, I was afraid

to look after a while at Ninigret a couple years ago. I think while training and riding in groups it's easy to back off a bit. Generally if I'm training 156-170 is as much as I'll see.

Vlaenderen die Leu

by Mr Van P on May 28, 2007 5:46 PM EDT up reply actions

I've noticed the elevated HR while racing, too

I tried to learn to relax and not be too jumpy while racing. I should bust out the HRM and see how it's changed since last year.

-K-

by KevinK on May 28, 2007 5:45 PM EDT reply actions

Glad I posted this

and I'm hoping more people will chime in. Mostly I'm intrigued to find out that there are lots of 40-year-olds and older riders who are still breaking 180 regularly.

by Tiki on May 28, 2007 5:57 PM EDT reply actions

43, 192, who cares

That 192 was last August on a nasty-hot West TX day on a hill sprint on a kill-your-friends ride. Highest so far this year is 184--this past Saturday while getting my doors blown off in a crit.

The whole max hr thing is a crock. All I care about is where my AT is, and trying to gauge how long I can last above it.

by R Mc on May 28, 2007 10:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Exactly

Max is irrelevant. AT is what all your other interval training numbers should be based on.

"I don't know too many monkeys who could take apart a fuel injector."

by Drew on May 29, 2007 8:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Wonderful

And "AT" means?

by Tiki on May 29, 2007 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Anaerobic threshold

I paused before typing that, because there's some debate about what to call that transition point, how to measure it, and even what's happening.

For years people used AT and lactate threshold somewhat interchangeably, because the assumption was that once you moved from using primarily aerobic energy to anaerobic energy, the build-up of lactic acid increased to a point where your body couldn't handle it anymore.

Problem is, that some researchers have discovered that cells USE lactic acid as an energy source, AND that the level of lactic acid concentration that produces problems is highly variable for individuals (and appears to be somewhat trainable). (There was an article in the NY Times about the guy most responsible for this research last year, but I've forgotten his name. The point was, however, that lactic acid very well might NOT be the explanation for what makes your muscles hurt so much during hard efforts--what does, though, seems to be an open question. If I have all this wrong, I'd love to learn more (at a level that an literature prof. can handle, thank you!)

So, I tend to focus on the anaerobic threshold as the point where the body goes from using a primarily aerobic metabolic path (i.e. somewhere around the effort you can sustain for an 8-10 mile tt when you're motivated). I haven't switched from hr-based training to power yet, so I still track it based on hr.

by R Mc on May 29, 2007 12:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Tower Climbs

I've kicked off my training for the past 2 seasons with a "Tackle the Tower" event--people 'run' up stairs of local office buildings--about 500 feet. By the end, my lungs feel like they are hanging out.

I found that tracks pretty well with my AT power output measured with a power meter (iBike Pro), and previous Conconi tests on an ergometer, and matches my AT heart rate.

If you want to calculate the watts, it's pretty easy to get a ballpark number from a climb like that:

Weight in kg x Height in meters x 9.8 m/s2 = Energy in Joules

Energy / Time in Seconds = average power

You can probably get a reasonable power calculation on a 10%+ grade climb with the same method, just include the weight of the fully loaded bike. I used to use the NASA World Wind mapping program (free download) to get the topo maps and elevations for my test climbs.

An interesting thing I found was I could produce much more power for a sustained duration when climbing out of the saddle than I could on the flat--that really puzzled me for a long time. I finally started riding the climbs seated in my normal flats hammering position. That seemed to boost my muscular endurance quite a bit.

-K-

by KevinK on May 29, 2007 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Not sure if this is correct or not

but I once heard that a layman's description was the point where the muscles stopped using the metabolic energy available and started trying to break down part of the muscle itself in a effort to get the energy needed.

The Gravity Assisted Flyers

by Clydesdale on May 29, 2007 1:25 PM EDT up reply actions

All this is wonderful, but...

what number do you watch while training? Power/watts? Some formula of hr, wattage and speed? And what do you do with the number? Try to make it easier to attain over time? Try to produce lots of it for longer periods?

by Tiki on May 29, 2007 4:52 PM EDT up reply actions

The AT number is the biggie

This year I tried to follow a pretty commonsense approach. Spent the early season training endurance--well below AT.

Then switched mostly to training near, or at AT--basically a hard tempo, approaching Time trial pace.

Now I am switching into the tough stuff--going above AT, then riding just at or below--like you would do launching a breakaway, and doing surges up hills, riding just under AT, then 2xAT.

I think it all pretty much boils down to trying to duplicate race situations, which tend to revolve around the AT number. Short pack splitting attacks will be well over AT, riding at the front of the field to reel in a breakaway will be right at or just below.

-K-

by KevinK on May 29, 2007 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions

8-15 minutes

is about the maximum that anyone can sustain above AT. Training above AT is designed to help develop the lactate buffering systems--if I remember right, what's happening is that your mitochondria get better at consuming the lactic acid and turning it back into energy.

But ideally, you want to increase your AT point (even a 2 beat improvement makes a difference) because that means that efforts that had you blowing up are now within your capabilities.

Once you get a good base of tempo workouts and some decent 3-4 minute threshold intervals (3 min on. 3 min off; the killer workout is to do 30/30s: i.e. 30 seconds all-out; 30 seconds recovery. Do no more than 16 reps (8 minutes of ON) at first, tops would be 20 reps. Of course, most people feel like they're gonna die by the 3rd set--mostly because by that set, you stop recovering significantly during the 'rest' 30--you'll stay over AT for most of the workout after that. Fit one of these in a couple of weeks before you want to be good, and you'll find that your in-race recovery has improved. (And, if your hr DOESN'T go well over AT by that 3rd rep: stop the workout).

(Doctor's disclaimer: I have a Ph.D. in American lit. NOT exercise physiology, so make sure that you have at least 6 weeks of interval work done before doing it (and maybe a doctor's permission)--it's vomit-inducing hard, done right. Lastly: leave two days to recover and only do one of these workouts a week. Peace.

by R Mc on May 29, 2007 10:29 PM EDT up reply actions

way high one time

I'm now 50. Last year at an indoor TT I got up to 204! I told the guy next me to call 911 if I fell off the bike.
For the most part when I'm going full bore it's 175-184.
I did an expert mountain bike race last month and it about killed me. I was 165 to 172 for 2 hours and 20 min. It was one of those courses where there was no big hills of any size. No resting at all. I have a lot more respect for mt bike racers after suffering through that. resting rate is 44. cheers

by beerme on May 28, 2007 10:53 PM EDT reply actions

25 yrs old

and the highest I can get is 185. Doesn't seem to be holding me back though. Resting HR is about 30 so maybe it's just slow all around

by pbrmeasap on May 30, 2007 10:18 PM EDT reply actions

That doesn't matter any

with a resting HR of 30 that gives you a HR range of 155, which is terrific.

"I don't know too many monkeys who could take apart a fuel injector."

by Drew on May 31, 2007 9:13 AM EDT reply actions

38/209/200

I'm just starting to work hard at 180. But it matters not a wit as others have pointed out. Power at threshold, whatever h.r. that happens to be, is the performance indicator.

by ghisallo on May 31, 2007 6:39 PM EDT reply actions

The logical follow on

is "What's your power at threshold?"

Truthful answers may be hard to come by.

My last tested (December) number was 255 at threshold. But, then again, I suck.

I'm feeling stronger now, and I plan to get retested in June.

by johnw on May 31, 2007 9:00 PM EDT reply actions

Modified Conconi History

In the winter of 2006 I started training to race after a long period of not riding at all. (I used to race a lot back in th 90s).

An interesting thing was how quickly the adaptations happened:

December 31, 2005: 182 bpm @ 270W (2.35 W/kg)
January 13, 2006: 186 bpm @ 290W (2.56 W/kg)
January 28, 2006: 189 bpm @ 300W (2.64 W/kg)
March 25, 2006: 186 bpm @ 350W (3.0 W/kg)

I lost 30 pounds since last year, and boosted my power a little, but haven't done a Conconi test, but estimate it @ 360W or about 3.6 W/kg.

Last year I could not compete in a race with more that a slight hill. This year, I've ridden in races with some rollers that would have blown me apart and hung in there.

I'm pretty competitive in flat races, but will die 1000 deaths in anything with a long climb.

-K-

by KevinK on May 31, 2007 11:08 PM EDT reply actions

My turn

37/198/?

I started racing on the road three years ago, and I am on my second on the track, after about ten years of mnt bikng. In '04 I did a 24 hour mnt bike race solo, and go my HR up to 193. Then just a few weeks ago, I go my HR up to 198 on the track doing some intervals for kilo training. I have no idea what power I generate, but might invest in a power meter next year for kicks.

And I hurt on the hills too! I'm 170 at 5-8, so I haul a bit more up hill.

Go Broken Spokes!

by DanR on Jun 3, 2007 1:06 AM EDT reply actions