IMO, endurance training & racing is all about mind-body integration. Aside from monitoring specific workouts (CompuTrainer interval sessions, track workouts), the only things I keep track of are training durations and distances.
I monitor my efforts by keeping in tune with my breath rate, and guaging my effort accordingly while I aim for the target effort designed for the workout. This is especially true during races, where I am monitoring food/fluid intake, effort, course conditions, weather, etc.
How in the world can you stay in tune with of all that if you are “dis-integrating” your mind from your body with an outside distraction like an HRM?
you’re far too “zen” for me. I like to know all details all the time. I compare hr data with same races from previous years. I like to know when I’m “redlining” it so I can adjust my effort accordingly. With race adrenalin flowing, I can overdo it without knowing it. Just a couple of reasons…
If you cna download the data after the race it can be a great learning tool. For instance I can’t see my HRM during the swim but I can look at the data and it can help explain things like bad pacing that started early.
It can be a helpful tool on a course like IM Canada for not going too hard early on the bike when the course is deceptively easy and it is tempting to just ride 28 mph.
I guess I don’t see the difference between paying attention to your breathing rate, perceived effort, speed etc and also knowing what your heart rate is. I can zen out looking at my Polar just as well as I can by concentrating on my breathing.
I wear mine for a couple of reasons.
I am still fairly new at triathlon and bike racing so I’m collecting data I can use to help me improve.
I just like to know what my heart rate is, just like I like to know what my speed is or what my perceived effort is. I have always been a compulsive pulse taker and I get off on knowing what my HR is during a race.
I’m far enough back in the pack that sometimes my only “victory” is maintaining a higher average or hitting a new max HR.
It comes down to personality type. Some folks like to have every piece of info they can get there hands on. Others go by feel. I’m a feel guy, they only thing I compare year to year is the finish time. What ever make you feel good and in control is ok by me.
All interesting stuff & pretty much what I expected to hear back…but if monitoring specific feedback is the primary reason, do you also maintain & analyze extensive data for specific training efforts? I sure do – how else would I monitor improvement, or make adjustments to my training? I also use this process to correlate my breath rate to my HR and PE.
I actually wore an HRM for a 1/2 Marathon once, specifically to collect data. My running AT was about 176 at the time, but my average HR for the last hour of the 1/2 marathon (1:13 total time) was 186, and I finished strong.
I guarantee I would have slowed down if I had tried to govern my effort by a number on my wrist. And I’d bet that just about anyone who slows down due to their HRM number could improve their results if they bailed on the HRM during races.
In addition to what the others said, I found it usefull for hilly races at altitude like Xterra Big Bear/Incline and the Donner Oly. I was able to climb hard but still stay in a zone that I knew I could sustain. Going over that zone at altitude seems to be tougher to recover from than at sea level - don’t know if there is any science to back it up, but that’s been my experience.
On the flip side, I like to do occassional workouts without the HRM, so you do not become completely married to an indicator that can sometimes be off. Even if the HR says you are in or out of your zone, you have to use your judgement and feel and adjust accordingly. I did a 1/2 IM without the hrm as it died right at the start of the race, so those workouts without helped me get through fine.
Sure, but why not just process more oxygen, get your breath rate in synch with your cadence, and monitor the lactate buildup in your legs while you’re riding? I guess it’s just style and approach, but I’m betting that you’re holding yourself back needlessly with limited feedback.
Train to condition & figure out your body. Race to find your limits, no?
Perceived exertion can be a problem depending on your current physical state. A friend related that his perceived exertion and heart rate the week before an Ironman are quite different than in training. He found that the hr/exertion that he would normally associate with half-IM were possible to achieve at Ironman hr and exertion because of his tapered/rested state.
However, past Ironman efforts and lots of experiments have taught him that he cannot sustain the higher power output throughout the whole IM, especially not with the run to follow.
So he keeps his power and heart rate down early in the race when other people are blowing by him because they "feel" so good. Late in the race they always come back to him, blown and dying.
I'm not saying you can't race well using PE, but you have to be very conscious early on in races because PE can deceive you.
C’mon, SAC, you don’t know me too well. Of course I did several Conconi tests on a track over several months, taking splits at 200m intervals while gradually increasing the pace to exhaustion, then plotting the results to find the deflection point. How else would you do it?
The monitor is more accurate than your mind and tells you so sooner. I was pretty fresh for IM and felt so good and with all the excitement was way over where I should have been. On the bike I wanted to stay in the 140’s and was hovering around 160 and had to force myself to back off, glad I did. I think the temptation to go harder is more dangerous distraction forcing you to forget the essentials. Now if it’s a shorter race, I like to go till I blow.
My Question is, why would you not wear a HRM in a race.
If you belive that training & racing is all about mind-body integration a HRM can only help strengthen that relationship by providing quantifilable feedback from the body to ensure your PE is where you want it to be. Most people overestimate their PE (especilly in an IM, either on the bike and then they have a poor run or on the early stages on the run and end up walking). Take a look at your mile splits at your races; did you slow down? Unless you ran very even splits, your PE isn’t where you think it is and a HRM will help.
I think I’ve refined my PE as best I can. Last year at IMB I ran the last three 10ks of the marathon within 7 secs of one another, but I still used my HRM just to make sure my effort was where I thought it was. So, it’s no more of a distration than listening to your breath or monitoting your nutrtion.
I could do it in many, many ways. That is one of the ways, albeit not a very reliable. But I’ll use it. Anyway, you can be one of those athletes that show a deflection point that does not coincide with their value for “AT”.
As for your initial question, my personal experience is that not everyone out there is so much in tune with their body as you seem to be. Sometimes even those that think they are, turns out they aren’t. So for all those athletes, HR is a useful training tool. Funny that I was having this conversation with desert dude earlier
I could do it in many, many ways. That is one of the ways, albeit not a very reliable. But I’ll use it. Anyway, you can be one of those athletes that show a deflection point that does not coincide with their value for “AT”.
Hey SAC, I’ve read that 25% of the people do not have a definable deflection point - for those that do what is the % of people where it does not coincide with AT?
My Question is, why would you not wear a HRM in a race.
I don’t benefit from the distraction, and I correlate my breath rate to my cadence on the bike and run. The ability to do that has come from wearing an HRM in training – notice I didn’t ask why you would wear an HRM, EVER – and then being free to just race while monitoring my condition.
The Man didn’t even wear a watch. I’m down to just putting one in my running shoe to grab in T2 so I can check a few splits on the run. So far I’m happy with the improved results and experiences.
You will have to look at the paper, I haven’t done as many Conconi tests to have a large sample. I prefer to use data from actual racing, like that half-marathon that the original posters mentioned. Beats the shit out of any Conconi test
