Had a yarn with my doctor today about HRMs and heart rate etc. His advice about what level to work at was based on the thought that I'm a middle aged bloke just trying to survive rather than a specific targetted regime (which he didn't seem to think much of - probably fair enough cosidering the subject animal).
Max load (eg, climbing a steep hill)? - let your body tell you and regard the HRM monitor as an interesting distraction.
Anything under 160 is acceptable but at 160 you're really working too hard to sustain (no !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !!
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The big problem is that HR isn't a useful measure for the 'am I about to die' question - what we need to be measuring is blood pressure and he did muse for a moment or two about the usefulness of carrying a blood pressure monitor on your bike.
Apparently cycling is one of the five or six exercises recommended for us more mature gentlemen.
The above fits in nicely with what I've been thinking. All the cycling programs I've found seem to think you're some sort of super athlete ... and I've read lots and to be honest, have yet to find one I'm tempted to follow. Yes, I have had a look at the Polar site, registered and all that but wasn't really tempted by their program.
I've found that my HR soars when I put a bit of load on the system, but after that, it wants to stay high (140 - 150) mark. Also that my max HR is over 185 (haven't found it it yet) which blows yet another hole in the 170-age formula (no surprise there either). The most complex interataction is HR vs cadence - I can maintain a cadence in the mid-eighties (though I aim for 90) with a HR down in the recovery area of 120-130 only on dead flat ground and my HR drops dramatically as I let my cadence drop. I'm going to work at developing that high cadence though (just need to get fitter ... I hope).
I'm not wedded to the numbers, just using them as a guide to learning what my body is telling me ... and one of those messages is that the 'breathing' test is too subtle and delayed to be of real use to someone like me. It's good to be getting some correlation between the HRM and what my body's doing at last.
My program for the next month or two will look a bit like this.
Hills - work as hard as my body will let me.
Rolling country - let the heart rate run up to 160 if needed but try to keep it down at the 140 mark using the gears but keeping my cadence up around the 90 mark.
On a planned, long ride (50+ km), keep HR below 130 for endurance.
The day after a hard ride, do a one hour 'recovery' ride - dead flat ground with HR in the 120-130 mark (these seem to work for me).
On any day I don't do a long or hard ride, I'll do half an hour on the stationary bike - cadence 90, HR what it wants (though that's about 140 at the moment) - I'll die of boredom if I try for a longer time.
I'm not going to fuss about intervals and all that nonsense because this area has so many hills you get the interval training by default. Besides, I'm not chasing racing type fitness. I reckon this'll do and, of course, I'll look at it again in a few months.
Another interesting thing from the doctor was that montoring your HR over time gives an indication of how you fitness is growing. The hope is that at some time, I'll be fit enough to put some of these damned 'fitness programs' into effect. He also commented that blokes like me tend to go like blazes - which I do I admit, so I'll be using the HRM to keep some sort of leash on my efforts.
That's my plan anyway. Feel free to poke at it, particularly if you don't agree with something.
Richard