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Post by Oggy on Nov 8, 2009 21:33:34 GMT
Well after doing a fair bit of training the last few months i have finally decided it has been a bit of a waste of time. My training has involved going out on my bike all the time and hammering it and recently i have started back in the gym. Although the total unstructured training I have been doing has clearly increased my fitness I think i have hit a Plato and it just doesn't seem to be increasing anymore. After a bit of reading round on the Internet I have decided to try and put a bit of structure in place and it seems like going hell for leather all the time just in not the way to do things. Most of what I have read involves the use of a heart rate monitor in order to get the correct training intensities in. Ive won a heart rate monitor on ebay today and have a couple of questions which are as follows - 1. I obviously need to find my max heart rate, which is the best method for doing this? Ive also read that the 220 method is rubbish, is this true? 2. Are the max heart rate tests you pay for any good, can the gym do them, how are the conducted? 3. I want to be keeping a lot of my riding for the next couple of months at 70%, how is this possible on a MTB ride, I would imagine its difficult Any advice appreciated as im completely new to this and only know what ive read
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jedi
Grunt
Posts: 22
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Post by jedi on Nov 8, 2009 21:35:07 GMT
max heart rate is useless. you want to train to percenatges of your race heartrate (10m tt)
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Post by Oggy on Nov 8, 2009 21:41:43 GMT
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jedi
Grunt
Posts: 22
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Post by jedi on Nov 8, 2009 21:47:12 GMT
ten mile time trail
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Post by Russ on Nov 8, 2009 22:10:35 GMT
1: Yes - For example 220 minus my age (43) = 177. However mine is in fact 198 2: Lot of Uni's do them or specialist fitness centres. 3: Don't - you need to do varied stuff, a proper plan.
Start recording your resting heart rate, as soon as you wake up every morning, before you even sit up, measure your resting heart rate. It's one indication of your fitness level, after a while you'll get to know your average resting HR. Then if the day after a hard training session it's elevated from your average then you have not recovered from the previous day's training session and it's best to take a rest/do something different/take an easy session or you are sickening for something.
Once you know your resting HR and your Max HR then you can look to do zone training - as part of a proper plan, it's no good just blatting around everywhere at 70% all that will happen will be that you will be good at going at 70%!
Even on a weekend ride you can get more riding in, for example get to the top first, don't wait around go back to the bottom and do the climb again, keep someone company at the back.
10 Min TT, 24 mins or less is a good target to aim for.
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Post by Oggy on Nov 8, 2009 22:22:15 GMT
Nice 1 Russ, the elevated resting HR and not being fully recovered is very intresting.
I thought the reason for doing 70% for a while was to build endurance then you bring the higher intesity stuff in closer toward race season?
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jedi
Grunt
Posts: 22
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Post by jedi on Nov 8, 2009 22:27:45 GMT
200 minus age is rubbish max hr has no bearing on training at all
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Post by Oggy on Nov 8, 2009 22:31:53 GMT
max hr has no bearing on training at all Thats not what most people seem to say
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Post by Russ on Nov 8, 2009 22:32:21 GMT
Yes but you still do some moderate/high intensity stuff too. First thing you need to do is set yourself a measurable target, for example by date x you will be compete in Y etc... Then you can start working on your plan, what will you do to achieve your target. Here's a good plan to look at for the Merida's www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/training/training.phpBut remember you put your body under stress and then while you rest your body adapts itself to cope with the new levels of stress. So the right amount of rest/recovery is just as important as the exercise.
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Post by Oggy on Nov 8, 2009 22:36:13 GMT
Yes but you still do some moderate/high intensity stuff too. First thing you need to do is set yourself a measurable target, for example by date x you will be compete in Y etc... Then you can start working on your plan, what will you do to achieve your target. Here's a good plan to look at for the Merida's www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/training/training.phpBut remember you put your body under stress and then while you rest your body adapts itself to cope with the new levels of stress. So the right amount of rest/recovery is just as important as the exercise. Ive been reading the merida stuff and it says that during the base training weeks to do no high intensity stuff at all
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jedi
Grunt
Posts: 22
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Post by jedi on Nov 8, 2009 22:41:04 GMT
most people dont know what they're on about then
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Post by Russ on Nov 8, 2009 22:43:20 GMT
and can you manage on a weekend ride out with the gang to meet that limit?
Even thou you have a plan it would be bloody boring and hard to stick to without having some fun. So treat them as the moderate/high session. As an example over the winter some roadies still get a few less frequent races in by doing CycloX instead.
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Post by Oggy on Nov 8, 2009 22:50:01 GMT
most people dont know what they're on about then ;D Im asking for some helpful advice (take note of the replys that Russ is giving me) Im not after one lined 'know it all answers'. Thanks all the same
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Post by Oggy on Nov 8, 2009 22:54:30 GMT
and can you manage on a weekend ride out with the gang to meet that limit? Even thou you have a plan it would be bloody boring and hard to stick to without having some fun. So treat them as the moderate/high session. As an example over the winter some roadies still get a few less frequent races in by doing CycloX instead. Thats what I thought. I went round the marin today and I was trying to take it easy to keep my HR down a bit but it was bloody boring holding back. Will be intresting to see what my HR patterns are when it arrives.
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Post by Russ on Nov 8, 2009 23:03:22 GMT
Jedi, is correct thou, Max HR on it's own is not a lot of use, there's a hell of a lot more.
For example you can do the same distance in the same time on two consecutive weeks and have two different max HR's and ave HR's for the ride, is this down to you getting fitter or loosing fitness? the tyres being a diff pressure, no oil on your chain, weather conditions, different cadence.. could be a lot of reasons..
Gathering info off people off the internet and Google searches has probably highlighted to you that it's a massive area. I can dig out some book references that are highly recommended for cyclists, however if you are that serious about it then maybe it's worth consulting with a professional/expert in endurance type sports training?
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