Conference noted::bicycle

      Buy a book!  "Serious Training for Serious Athletes" by Rob Sleamaker
    gives a great overview of heart rate training.  Most of the book is
    about building a training plan, but the upfront grounding he gives
    is excellent.  
    
      You must also do some testing to find your max heart rate and AT. 
    This book tells you how to do these tests.  It worked well for me as 
    the "225 - age = max HR" was really off.  
    
    

    I second Peter's motion.  Sleamaker's book is excellent.  You learn
    things that may seem weird -- like taking a long ride at 55-65% of your
    max -- but he explains it all.
    
    Justin

    
    Mr.Mod. You may want to change the note title to HEART... :-)
    
    Graham.

    
    
    
     I have not read Sleamaker's book but have heard its excellant. Another
     highly aclaimed book is "Lactate Pulse Rate" which I also have not
     read. Heart rate training is best only when riding alone. I mix my
     training with individual and group rides. In my opinion it does not
     make sense to use pulse rate training with group training unless you are
     the coach. What I found worked for me:
    
     1) Determine your maximum heart rate. A "general" rule is 
        maxhr=220-age. That general rule seems to hold for me. If
        you are unsure about the formula try working yourself until
        you "see god" a few times and note the heart rate. My favorite
        "see god" technique is to ride hard for say 10 km to the base of
        a long hill then let everything go accending the hill. Con-
        sentrate on making yourself come very very close to blowing up
        but not actually blowing up. You have to be in shape to do this
        properly.
    
     2) On rest days do not exceed 60% of maxhr.
    
     3) Ride at 80% + of maxhr for 1.5 hours once per week. I found
        this great for race type training. Trying this can be a shocker.  

    Thanks for the tips.
    Can you give me the ISBN-numbers of these books. It's much easier to 
    order them.
    
    Rgds....P.
    

      I have read "Lactate Pulse Rate".....and got VERY little out of it.  In
    fact I'll give it away free to anyone who wants it!  IMHO it isn't worth
    the space it's taking up on my bookshelf. 
    
      I'll look up the ISBN number for Sleamaker's book when I have a free
    minute.
          

    There was an excellent article in Bicycling magazine about 5-6 months
    ago about heart rate training, with suggested schedules, etc.  It kept the
    subject relatively simple, and also stressed the importance of
    low-intensity training to build an aerobic base.  It turned out I was
    exercising too hard most of the time (the old "no pain - no gain"
    philosophy). Now I almost look forward to intervals!           

    
    FYI there is a new gadget on the market that checks your level of
    lactic acid. The benefit here is that it really does let you discover
    what your anaerobic level is exactly. It's mentioned in this week's
    Cycling Weekly and they said that the tester discovered that he wasn't
    training nearly as hard as he should.
    
    Still �300 means that it's for dedicated competitive cyclists only.
    Actually, even it's use is only for them as well.
    
    Here's a question. Do people know more or less about there bodies with
    these new toys than when they did when there were no gadgets? I can't
    make up my mind, but talking with some local cyclists who ride with one
    eye on the HRM and one eye on the road implies to me that people
    actually know less. They look at the pulse rate and have stopped
    listening to their bodies. At the top end when the Lemonds, Boardmans
    and Indurains of the world are able to spend weeks analysing, it's
    different, but I think that it's getting to the stage where too many
    riders are looking at pulses and forget about everything else. If they
    ignore everything else, how do they know what there pulse rate means?
    They use the vague formulae to work out levels, but what they need to
    see is at what pulse levels certain things happen in their bodies. I
    get the distinct impression that the majority of average racing
    cyclists that I've talked to haven't done that bit.
    
    Graham.

    For the average Joe, knowing some of the basics is the most important
    including: resting pulse and pulse rate to some level of pain you
    enjoy.  This can easily tell if you are getting sick, have over
    stressed your body the previous day, or are generally fatigued.  For
    people who need goals but are wimpy at times, watching the heart rate
    can be a motivator to push harder.  If you enjoy is use it...
    
    steve

    
     I'm with Steve, my monitor helped me learn some of the basics. The
    most important thing is to realize (which the HR monitor helps you
    see) is:
    
     a) Your body will trick you into thinking you are working harder
        than you really are - when training hard.
    
     b) Your body will trick you into thinking you are going too easy on a
        rest day.
    
     For the most part I leave my expensive toy at home as I think most
    racers do. I bring I out occasionly to check myself. I just dont see
    the need to use it all the time. It actually helps you to learn what
    "hard" and "easy" should be like and after that you should'nt need it
    much.
    
    
    note:
    These are the opinions of an endorphine addict and are not to be con-
    struded as anything but that.
    -regards
    Wayne V
    

>     For the most part I leave my expensive toy at home as I think most
>    racers do. I bring I out occasionly to check myself. I just dont see
>    the need to use it all the time. It actually helps you to learn what
>    "hard" and "easy" should be like and after that you should'nt need it
>    much.
    
    The key there us that you only use it as a guide. I see a tendency to
    use it as a bible with some of our local 3rd cats and I reckon that can
    do more harm than good (eg, forcing a rate that you know that you can
    usually do but your body won't do today for some reason).
    
    Graham.

    Re:.11 Absolutely.  The human system is more than heart and lung.  
    I recently went hiking with a man from India who does trek's in 
    Nepal/Tibet/Northern India and is was really interesting hearing him
    talk about one weak link can break the system.  He had such total
    control of his whole body.
    
    steve

RE: <<< Note 2824.10 by KAOFS::W_VIERHOUT "I like cats - dead cats" >>>

>    It actually helps you to learn what "hard" and "easy" should be like and
>    after that you should'nt need it much.

Amen. I also got a heart rate monitor to share with my wife because I was
really curious what my heart rate was during different levels of perceived
effort.
						-- Tom

re .13

Doesn't this belong in EF94::The pervy note ???

		;>)    (just this once...)

RE: <<< Note 2824.14 by HERON::CODGER::HEMMINGS "Lanterne Rouge" >>>

Say, I hadn't thought of that before! A new training regimen!
						-- Tom

    Once had a Holter Monitor on for 72 hours.  My wife wouldn't go near
    me, figuring that the docs would figure out what was going on...
    
    :-(