I don’t get this. I use HRMs, but I can’t for the live of me understand their value in a tri sprint. The last sprint I did, I think I saw 7-8 people wearing them, most of them in 40 > AG’rs.
What is there to regulate here, to dispense in a controlled manner? Lets say in a 500 yard swim, 13 mile bike, and 3 mile run. Its just not enough: A, time, and B. distance to do anything but run and bike like a madman! And C, the whole race intensity is so insane, its just bedlam. Who’s got the time to check that stuff during a sprint. I would think Your heart rate should be by definintion about as “out of control” as possible.
I can see possibly, okay, maybe in an Oly, definitely for sure in a Half or Full Ironman, but I’m just not getting the value of checking Heart Rate watch for a sprint.
Some people seem to get so tied in to their HRMs and watch them like a hawk that they forget to use it in conjunction with Perceived exertion, so they forget how to listen to their bodies.
The only useful purpose I can think of is regulating effort on the bike. Basically the trick is keeping the bike effort dialed at superthreshold without going deeply anaerobic, which would hurt a good solid 5K performance. I know in sprints if I want to run a sub 18:00 5K I can’t race the whole bike deeply anaerobic. But I don’t race with a HRM, I ‘listen’ to my body.
Either that or maybe some people get too excited and go all out on the bike without a HRM.
I’m 50. I haven’t “flat-lined” yet. I beat most people who are younger than me. I wear a HR monitor for all 3 legs and use a PM on my bike. The meters are more useful in longer races–they are supervaluable in a race like Eagleman tomorrow. Even in sprints, they can help at times. I do have a good sense of perceived effort but this can be thrown out of whack for a vairiety of reasons. For example, my first two races this year were in very cold conditions and it was hard to drive my body to threshold–my HR monitor was telling me to go harder.
I also need a HRM and a PM to regulate my early effort and on hills on the bike. MY power curves are getting much flatter because of this.
As stated above, the data afterwards in very valuable. I’ve known in my first 4 races this year that my base oriented training has left my threshold power below where it needs to be–but it has been improving. As I roll into my build phase, I expect to be able to race at a higher HR and more threshold power. I’ll be watching tomorrow in Cambridge!
To each his own. HR and PMs really help me. Having a coach helps as well. Working out 25 hours a week works…find your own solution and don’t worry what the other people do.
I wear my HRM for sprints and actually every race. Generally, I don’t pay much attention to the HR info on it during the race.
My reason is this: I use the Polar speed sensor on my bike and it is tied into my HRM. As long as I am going to wear the watch, I may as well put the chest strap on.
I imagine that some people just like to have that information, for whatever reason. I don’t think that they are wrong for wanting it. Maybe some people are using it because they are “training” through a race and they don’t want their heart rate to go above 150, so they limit themselves with the HRM. Maybe for some people, a sprint is the equivalent of a 1/2 for somebody else. Maybe they are just gadget geeks.
I think that someone could easily ask the question, “Why do people CARE why other people wear Heart Rate Monitors in Sprints?”
I ran 2 half marathons in the last couple of months:
The first, paying attention to my hrm - early in the race to keep my effort high, but not spiking; and later to make sure I didn’t overdo it - but for the last couple of miles I ran hard without looking at it for an AG 3/75. The second one (5 or 6 weeks later) I had the hrm on, thought the beginning pace seemed very easy for the numbers I was seeing, so I pushed to the level of perceived effort of the earlier race, with the result that I melted down in the second half to get a substantially slower AG 3/5.
SO tomorrow I have a sprint, in which I will use the hrm to keep a lid on 2 areas: the first 5k of the bike and the first half of the run. Everywhere else I will basically be going ape. I don’t particularly care that it’s not cool (ok, I care a little), but it’s how I want to race MY race. Last year I did my first sprint (I usually do the longer races) and had a great time just letting it all hang out - but I’m noticing 2 things - especially in long races the run can be very miserable and far below my ability because I want to go too hard on the bike; and my best races have tended to be those in which I have moderated my initial effort and had negative splits on the run - it’s really great to actually still have some energy and speed in the second half of a run.
As an epilogue: I mostly used hrms just for data, but would log my mile splits etc. in races - but last year the battery of my nice watch gave out just before a half marathon, so I used my hrm, just to have something to play with, which gave me a tough but enjoyable run and an AG 2/33. It was this that has prompted me to consider using the device more in racing (even in last year’s IMC, my first, I only used it on the bike) j.
In addition to collecting data for post-race analysis, my HRM (625X) also tells me the all-too-fast pace I default to when just off the bike, telling me to slow it up for a minute until my legs realize they’re no longer biking.
I use one in every race. Nope, its a cheap model so no data available later. Some people, me included, use the thing to increase effort. I don’t use it to tell me to slow down. I use it to tell me 'I’m slacking"…“speed up”!! If I listen to the old body (I’m 52), my screeming knees, and my bad hips, I’d be walking to the finish. I use it to keep my heart rate sky high during sprints.
BTW - I’m a top 3 age grouper and top 10 - 15% overall. So not too bad for a non-swimmer that has a 1" leg length descrepancy, bad knees and bad hips. There so NO such thing as an easy run, they all hurt every joint in my body. I"ll use the HR monitor to keep pushing this old body.
So, be careful when judging people you don’t know : )
Actually, it might be a good indicator of what one’s LT really is. In a race like that one would probably be slightly below or right at LT the most of the time. In a sprint tri I wouldn’t do anything with the info, but I like to know–just to know. when I do hill sprints, I like to see how high my HR goes, too.
Hey! I’m an admitted Geek.
I’ve thought about doing it to find out my true maximum HR, which I should reach at the end of the run. But I have never done it because I was afraid I would look at it too much and then even maybe slow down if it got too high. Seems to me the only value is max HR.