I would love to hear your opinions on (1) whether or not your wear an HRM during a race, (2) if so, opinions on percentage of Max HR you maintain during an Olympic distance. Getting ready for my 3rd Oly and trying to be more deliberate so I don’t burn out before the run. I’ve been experimenting in training and 85% of Max HR for the ride and 90% for the run seems to be a good sub-threshold HR I can maintain for that duration, taking into account drift due to dehydration.
Thanks,
Chet
Race HR and training HR are two completely different animals. In the majority of people, their HR range on race day is actually higher than their training HR (assuming the typical field tests). So if they go solely by their training zones for racing, they will short change their efforts and will not maximize their abilities. This is why power on the bike becomes important. Those numbers don’t lie. HR is far to suspect and there are too many variable in my opinion to race by (or to even train by for that matter to me).
And it takes a good 1-1/2 - 2 hours before drift really starts to even come into play. Also it is not really a dehydration issue. It is simply a body fatigue one.
I just finished an Oly. I wear a HRM just to have the info after the fact.
Bike: settled out to 84% of max (10 bpm less than threshold) but that took almost the whole ride to get to that point. At the start it was 4-5 bpm higher. FWIW I haven’t been on the bike a lot this year, so conservatively paced it at 90% FT.
Run: pretty much 89% of max the whole way (6 bpm less than threshold) except when kicking toward the end. I didn’t have a great run, by the way, was maybe 2 min off my best Oly run. Tried to pick it up a couple times because I could tell, but that was really all I had.
I just finished an Oly. I wear a HRM just to have the info after the fact.
Bike: settled out to 84% of max (10 bpm less than threshold) but that took almost the whole ride to get to that point. At the start it was 4-5 bpm higher. FWIW I haven’t been on the bike a lot this year, so conservatively paced it at 90% FT.
Run: pretty much 89% of max the whole way (6 bpm less than threshold) except when kicking toward the end. I didn’t have a great run, by the way, was maybe 2 min off my best Oly run. Tried to pick it up a couple times because I could tell, but that was really all I had.
So by these statements your threshold is roughly about 95% of max HR. Seems pretty high to me.
JJ
Haven’t done the math. Bike was 155, threshold is 164, max is ~180. Run was 168, threshold is 175, max is 190.
Run threshold is estimated from last 20 min of a 30 min all-out run. Bike is measured max effort over an hour.
Haven’t done the math. Bike was 155, threshold is 164, max is ~180. Run was 168, threshold is 175, max is 190.
Run threshold is estimated from last 20 min of a 30 min all-out run. Bike is measured max effort over an hour.
So is your max HR 180, 190, or something else? You can only have 1 max HR.
JJ
his bike max HR is 180 and his run max HR is 190
Why can’t you have more than 1 max HR? My run max HR is 195, does that mean if I twiddle my thumbs at max effort my HR is going to go to 190?
his bike max HR is 180 and his run max HR is 190
Why can’t you have more than 1 max HR? My run max HR is 195, does that mean if I twiddle my thumbs at max effort my HR is going to go to 190?
Doesn’t quite work that way. You only have 1 max HR. The max you can achieve running or cycling is going to be due to your motivation & test protocol. Just because he’s only hit 180 on the bike doesn’t mean he can’t hit 190 if the conditions are right. But if his Max is 190 it’s 190, period. No test protocol is going to get him higher.
JJ
“You only have 1 max HR”
Too funny. So maybe if I crank out a hard set of 200 burpees and hit a HR of 200 everything should be referenced to that?
Sport specific max HR has SOME meaning since all activities involve different muscle groups, but I really don’t care. I only put it in there since it was in the OP’s question. Personally I reference everything to threshold, which is definitely sport specific.
Nothing more to see here.
“You only have 1 max HR”
Too funny. So maybe if I crank out a hard set of 200 burpees and hit a HR of 200 everything should be referenced to that?
Sport specific max HR has SOME meaning since all activities involve different muscle groups, but I really don’t care. I only put it in there since it was in the OP’s question. Personally I reference everything to threshold, which is definitely sport specific.
Nothing more to see here.
Obviously I’m wasting my time here but I just can’t help myself because I just sooooo enjoy beating my heat against the wall, so let me give you a clue since you obviously don’t have one.
There is no sport specific max HR so it has no meaning.
There is a sport specific anaerobic threshold which is a percentage of your absolute max HR and this will vary from sport to sport but, you, yes you 00, are capable of hitting your true max HR on both the bike and the run with the proper protocol and the number will be the same.
But please don’t take my word for it, poll the ST experts like Slowman and Coogan and Tom A. and even PowerCrank Frank and see if they think you have different max HR’s.
JJ
keep beating your head against the wall, but max heart rate is sport specific and usually higher on the run than on the bike.
What Kus said (PS - welcome back, Stefan!)
You’re wrong. Max HR AND LTHR are both very much sport-specific.
It’s been well documented that, for the vast majority of athletes, run LTHR > bike LTHR > swim LTHR.
Max HR AND LTHR are both very much sport-specific.
Are you sure about this?
So you are saying with proper training I can hit 190bpm twiddling my thumbs? There is hope for me yet!
*“The use of heart rate to denote exercise intensity requires an awareness that the mode of exercise will affect maximal heart rate; namely lower body (leg) exercise will elicit higher maximum heart rate values than upper body (arm) exercise (16,25). Although a large database is lacking, swimming is associated with mean maximal heart rates that are essentially 13 beats per minutes lower than those recorded while running (25), whereas arm ergometer exercise is associated with mean maximal heart rates that are approximately 11 beats per minute lower than values recorded during leg exercise (16).” *
ACSM’s Advanced Exercise Physiology, page 7.
Note that I am not a MD or an exercise physiologist, but I do read a few things here and there…
he might be asking about the LTHR though, not max.
Over the years I’ve used them for both cycling (when I just purely road raced) and then for triathlons and running. In all those instances my absolute highest numbers I’ve hit have been within 1 beat of each other regardless of running or cycling (both around 203 - 204). It has been my experience that the two exercises are so incredibly close in “max” value to be statistically insignificant. Throw some other activity into it and I think you may not be able to hit that sort of max. But to me, that does NOT mean that your max is lower in different sports. It simply means you cannot tax your body to the limit where you achieve the maximum your heart will do.
So call it semantics, but to me there is only ONE maximum heart rate you can achieve. It may take a different sport to hit it, but your heart will only beat so fast under normal conditions (as opposed to someone like me with a tachycardia condition where I have seen erratic 250+ HR when I’m having an episode - but that is never during exercise).
But absolutely, the differences between LT values for every single sport will be different and in MOST individuals, the progression is true with run LT > bike LT > swim LT. Not always true, but mostly true.
Agree, the max HR is a physiological limit, most people cant acheive their max HR on the bike as easily as they can on the run, but it’s still there. The result is your FTHR is different percentage of max in the different sports, this also gives you some insight as to where you need to work, if your FTHR is significantly different maybe you need to work on the bike more so that you can operate at a higher percentage of MAX.
I personally find that even when well trained, I bike about 5beats lower than I run in a sprint to Oly race.
hilarious stuff – only on ST
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I would love to hear your opinions on (1) whether or not your wear an HRM during a race, (2) if so, opinions on percentage of Max HR you maintain during an Olympic distance. Getting ready for my 3rd Oly and trying to be more deliberate so I don’t burn out before the run. I’ve been experimenting in training and 85% of Max HR for the ride and 90% for the run seems to be a good sub-threshold HR I can maintain for that duration, taking into account drift due to dehydration.
Thanks,
Chet
Chet -
I wear a HRM during races. Typically, in OLYs, I try to keep my HR in the same ranges as you stated above. That typically allows me to sustain solid power on the bike. I’m typically around 90% for the first 4 miles or so and then push it as hard as I can on the last 2.
Have fun and Good racing!