Help shifting from power-based training back to HR (or a combination)

Triathlon Forum
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Looking for some guidance from ST. I’ve been ‘trainin with power’ for several years…and have learned a bit in the process (which is a whole thread in itself).

My 2009 schedule is a mix of road races/triathlons and endurance MTBs races. Quite honestly, I don’t want to be tied to my power meter any longer. I forgot the head unit at an IM back in 2007 and had a panic attack (had a friend break into my house and FedEx to me), ran out of battery during a stage race when I had it set for 1 sec intervals (PC V), sensor has slipped multiple times…etc. These are all user-error/stupidity issues. The real issue is that not all my bikes have power (mostly the mountain bikes, which perhaps need it the most).

Is there a strategy to convert “back” to HR and/or a means to take my SRM data and come to some conclusions via HR?

i.e. I know my power zone via power…and thus the HR which correspond (at least at the time of testing). Can I use the same HR zones (at least for endurance)?

What are the gaps/issues?

In my situation, I have (2) SI SRMs which work with two of my road bikes and my tri bike. I’m missing power on my CX bikes, MTBs and crit bike. Honestly, I’d rather just use my Garmin 305 for everything.

Thanks.

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Bueller?

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Is there a strategy to convert “back” to HR and/or a means to take my SRM data and come to some conclusions via HR?

Hmm. It seems like either you know the answer to the question above from having trained with power, or you don’t, which I’d be less inclined to believe. For me, I’d never want to go back to using HR; I think I’d be more likely to rely on perceived exertion and mostly ignore HR, knowing what I know about how variable HR can be for a given power.

If it’s mostly an issue of being chained to technology, that’s something you can get over without abandoning it (although admittedly it might be offortful to do so). If it’s mostly the issue of not having it on all your bikes, consider yourself lucky for the knowledge you have when you can’t use power, or outfit them all. Seems to me you’re stressing about a relative non-issue. Use the hard data when you have it, use the knowledge when you don’t.