After reading bcreager’s rr on the Soma 1/2, I wondered why my HR is so low. He said his avg for the race was 170, compared to my 145 at timberman. (I am assuming same percieved exertion, which for this distance should be comparable) Since HR is so individual, I wondered what most triathletes race at to find out how abnormal my HR is. I heard Mark Allen had this kind of scenario in his training/racing.
So give it up, what do you race at? Feel free to include long ride/run training HR’s too.
Mine is around 145 for the bike part. Maybe more 165-170 for the run and mid 150’s for the swim. On a half that is:-)
Percentage of maxHR is more relevant. Regular HR doesn’t mean much. And also depends on how long the race takes you. If it takes you 7 hours and him 5, then that is also going to be a big factor. There are loads of other factors as well. I imagine the spread of HR’s even among the 10K finalists at the Olympics, all of whom are much closer in fitness/build/etc. would be pretty different, just because of genetics.
Yeah i should have been more specific. My AeT for running is about 135 (~7 min/mile) and mine for biking is about 132. My time was comparable to his for a 1/2 IM using my 5 hour time at timberman. The only weakness in this comparison is I had to walk due to lots of cramping on my run portion several times.
Still, the differences due to genetics is pretty interesting comparing straight numbers, even I imagine at the olympics like you said.
My max HR for running is about 175ish for reference, so 170 bpm seems mighty high for me!
Interesting that bcreager ave HR is so high. That’s pretty impressive to keep an HR that high for so long.
Mine isn’t as great… ha!
swim - 151
Bike - 155
Run - 165
Overall - 156 - not my max is about 186 so that’s an average of 83% of max.
I thought 170 for a HIM bike seemed very high when I read that post yesterday. That would be 85% of a MHR of 200! My LTHR running is in that neighborhood, and it’s 5-10 or so beats lower on the bike depending on the season. I am below 170 until the last 10K or so of a marathon. I can’t imagine sustaining that kind of effort for ~2 hrs on the bike and another ~1.5 on the run.
My HR for SOMA for the bike was 159 avg, and it felt very relaxed and easy. HR is very individual. Guys under age 30 will have (more often than not) lower HRs than guys over 40 with similar RPE.
Genetics, and prolonged HR training play huge rolls. As an ex-swimmer, I used hr training alot, so use that as my main training tool because I am so use to it.
For reference:
Max HR staying aerobic: 175-180
Max HR being anerobic: 190-200
These numbers are EXTREMELY close compared to most. I do most of my training in the 150-170 range. For my long base training (3 hours +) I try to peg 160, and keep it there. For faster stuff (like the 30 mile race pace ride from work) I try to hit the 170 range.
I have a huge downward trend for the different disiplines. For swimming, I could maintain 170-175 race pace forever, this is the range I get the most bang for my buck, almost to the point of lactate, but not quite. I have the most experience with the “feel” of “work” in swimming. For biking it drops to about 160-165, more then that and I start to suffer after a while. Running is even worse (and needs the most work). I can only maintain 160 for a short amount of time before I am toast.
-bcreager
My AVERAGE HR for 1/2 IM works out to 80% of Max HR. (168-42)x0.8+42=143. (my actual was 142) At that effort it gave me 4hrs50min for 1/2IM @ age 63. Conditions were cool with a moderate wind, so increase in HR due to high temp was not a factor. That should give you a basis to see if you’re working hard enough.
For Half-Ironman races?
Timberman: 148
Portuguese LD Nationals: 153