I will be participating in IM Whistler and am primarily training with just yoga. My theory is that my heart beats per km will be in the same range as other contestants. I’m curious to know what ratios folks are posting up on the run and bike portion. I’d like to compare my “efficiency”.
From my latest half iron I got:
Bike:
Avg HR = 119 bpm
Avg. Pace 2:17 min/km
2.28 min/km x 119 beat/min = 271 beats per km
Run
Avg HR = 123 bpm
Avg. Pace 7:05 min/km
7.08 min/km x 123 beat/min = 870 beats per km
Obviously not going that fast because my heart rate is limited to what I can do in yoga class.
I will need to do some math. Course and climate kinda matter, like a bunch. I generally try to race on the bleeding edge of HR before blowing up. Maybe I should do yoga vs zumba.
Hey synthetic. Not sure what a troll post is…my first time on the forum.
I’ve been tracking my HR in yoga and it’s fallen from 120ish to around 100. The studio I go to has a 45min spin class, so I’ve been doing that to supplement and I can get up to 125 Avg HR.
I’d be curious to learn more about beats per km… as pace and HR zone don’t really help me compare my training method.
I have started a blog but forum rules suggest I can’t share. I’m basically doing yoga 2-3x per day
Hey synthetic. Not sure what a troll post is…my first time on the forum.
I’ve been tracking my HR in yoga and it’s fallen from 120ish to around 100. The studio I go to has a 45min spin class, so I’ve been doing that to supplement and I can get up to 125 Avg HR.
I’d be curious to learn more about beats per km… as pace and HR zone don’t really help me compare my training method.
I have started a blog but forum rules suggest I can’t share. I’m basically doing yoga 2-3x per day
Thanks
Obviously you don’t have hot chick in your class wearing revealing clothing.
My theory is that my heart beats per km will be in the same range as other contestants.
From my latest half iron I got:
Bike:
Avg HR = 119 bpm
Avg. Pace 2:17 min/km
2.28 min/km x 119 beat/min = 271 beats per km
Run
Avg HR = 123 bpm
Avg. Pace 7:05 min/km
7.08 min/km x 123 beat/min = 870 beats per km
ok, ignoring the yoga thing…
i’m not sure that’s a good theory. HR corresponds roughly to effort, but your pace at that effort depends on fitness and physiology. so basically, since other people’s paces will be different at the same HR, they’re covering much different distances in the same number of beats.
in my last few olympic-distance races, i’ve been somewhere around (very roughly) 250 beats/km on the bike and 600 beats/km on the run. i’ve never done a half, but based on my estimates of HR and pace, i actually wouldn’t expect those numbers to change much.
the idea of beats/km as a metric is kind of interesting to me, but more in how it changes (or doesn’t) at different distances for one person. wouldn’t expect it to be the same for different people.
Hey synthetic. Not sure what a troll post is…my first time on the forum.
I’ve been tracking my HR in yoga and it’s fallen from 120ish to around 100. The studio I go to has a 45min spin class, so I’ve been doing that to supplement and I can get up to 125 Avg HR.
I’d be curious to learn more about beats per km… as pace and HR zone don’t really help me compare my training method.
I have started a blog but forum rules suggest I can’t share. I’m basically doing yoga 2-3x per day
Climber 7: That makes good sense. As a comparable between individuals, this may not be a good metric given all the variables (e.g. distance, temp, age, etc.) And nice work on the run #s… that seems incredibly low (give my data point of 1)!
I agree that these #sites may not change for distance, but they might if you changed your pace.
So on an individual basis this might make sense… I now wonder if we could find the find ‘optimal’ HR or pace that minimizes beats per km? If so, wouldn’t this be the target for someone trying to just complete Ironman? How might someone find out? Perhaps a treadmill at different pacing while measuring HR?
Re: signature… only did that because someone called me a trOllie and rules suggest this is OK.
HR is a very crude measure of performance… basically some people have diesels and put out great performance and low HR and some have turbo-4’s that rev much higher.
As other’s have mentioned, HR is also greatly impacted by a variety of factors beyond effort level. Fatigue, hydration levels, altitude, humidity, etc… I have a friend I ride with who has not had his HR over 150 in over a decade, but we do paceline work on a bike and he is putting out 300W at 135 BPM while I’m at 170 BPM and getting dropped. (we’re both in our 50’s)
Something you may be interested in is a MAF test. This is a test invented by a guy named Maffetone to measure fitness. Basically you run around a track at a constant HR for a given time, 20-30 minutes I think. If you run further, you are getting fitter so the logic goes. ( His concepts are not universally accepted here on ST, but I think it is a pretty conservative approach and unlikely to cause harm. ) https://philmaffetone.com/maf-test/
That sort of test should give you a feel for what your HR zones are, and what you can sustain for endurance race distances.
I will be participating in IM Whistler and am primarily training with just yoga. My theory is that my heart beats per km will be in the same range as other contestants. I’m curious to know what ratios folks are posting up on the run and bike portion. I’d like to compare my “efficiency”.
From my latest half iron I got:
Bike:
Avg HR = 119 bpm
Avg. Pace 2:17 min/km
2.28 min/km x 119 beat/min = 271 beats per km
Run
Avg HR = 123 bpm
Avg. Pace 7:05 min/km
7.08 min/km x 123 beat/min = 870 beats per km
Obviously not going that fast because my heart rate is limited to what I can do in yoga class.
Climber7; interesting data… thanks a lot for sharing! This is very helpful.
So the variance in pacing has little impact on your beats/km… Well there goes that theory!
This suggests that the only pacing that really matters to me - is the one that can meet the cutoff during IRONMAN, and that pacing is dictated by the HR training zone that I achieve in yoga and spin class, which is about 120bpm.
I was hoping that there might be an optimal pacing/HR to maximize efficiency. I’ll start collecting some more data to see how consistent my numbers are.
For interest, my last HIM - 636 beats/km, my last interval run 617 beats/km, my last recovery run 613 beats/km, my last 5km race 623 beats/km, my last (and only) IM run 719 beats/km. Spot the one where I was suffering the most!!!
I don’t think you will find many folks who have the data you are seeking particularly for bike, though if you look around you can maybe get data for running a little easier.
If you get a garmin connect membership you can go to the date of the race last year and actually get a fair few data files showing average heart rate and average speed for last year’s iron distance race you are planning for.
You have several things working against you here in looking to check vs others.
Different people have largely different heart rates at a given pace, meaning their meters per beat is also wildly different.
1a. That is partly due to some people having a high revving engine, just the way it is.
1b. Also different people run different speeds at a given % effort, your run pace at 70% effort might be my pace at 90% effort.
Conditions change this a lot. On a cool day you might run 5 minute per k at 145 bpm, on a hot day it might get you 165 bpm. Add in lack of sleep, training state etc and there’s a lot of noise in there.
On the other hand, if you controlled for temperature (the biggest one) you should see your distance per beat metric improve as you train through the year. As I said, I’d expect a lot of noise, but hopefully it would improve. That is ONE of the improvements you would expect to happen as you train.
But another aspect of training is that not only does one’s efficiency improve, but you would also expect your ability to hold a given effort and not blow up to improve as well. For instance you might start training and find that you can run at 145 bpm forever but at 155 you blow up, stomach won’t work etc. but if you keep at it, you might expect that number to improve a bit, depending on the type of training you are doing.
And lastly, you seem to be training in a manner very differently than the vast majority of people.
I track this metric for every workout - run or bike (duathlete - no swim). I’m on travel, but can get you my numbers next week FWIW. BUT - the key difference (other than pace) is vertical m per km (or similar). All things equal, hillier courses = greater heart beats/ km than many other factors. Although some have suggested good ‘other factors’ such as temperature…