A4 racing - eeeuughhh

[johnd]

So I went A4 racing on Sunday - jaysus!!
I had kind of fallen off the training wagon the past 6 weeks, but this was still a lot tougher than I expected. And it didn't get any easier when a group of A2 & A3 riders caught us and drove the pace on for everyone. Pace was fast slow fast slow, and some of the efforts needed to stay in touch with the pack were inhuman, but then everyone would slow down another bit again.
A lot of cycle racing appears to be in your head as in knowing when to chase and when to settle, but janey you need something strong in the legs as well.
Anyway, lessons learned. Fell off the back eventually having made a silly error and getting caught off guard for a jump in pace and just could not bridge back, my lack of any kind of endurance training showing itself in tired legs and maybe a weak will. I was broken good and proper, but happy enough that I managed to see the race out to the finish, even though I spent the last 5k all on my own battling a fierce headwind (I had to cycle past my car toward the finish when all i wanted to do was crawl into it!!)
I'll be back for a bit more of that, the three most important things I have to remember are: train, race smarter, & train some more.


Here's the strava linky: http://www.strava.com/activities/112299425/analysis

[DavidF]

fair play John, sounds tough

Was that the Slipstream club race? Do you need an A4 licence?

What's your max HR?

[johnd]

Yes, Slipstream training race #1, there is a second one next weekend

Yes you need an A4 licence for insurance

Not sure what my Max HR is, I don't use HR zones that much anymore and have never measured it. To be honest I reckon Max HR has limited training value and you end up putting your body under a huge amount of stress to get a true value. Your threshold HR is much more valuable and easier to obtain.
I picked up a Tacx Flow second hand for little money over the summer and use watts instead to set my training zones on the turbo.
I like to track my HR so I can see where i did and did not work hard, but don't use HR to set training zones anymore (on the bike)
HR is always a fair bit higher running than on the bike, and seems to recover quite quickly

My resting heart rate is somewhere around 35-37 bpm, although I've never measured it first thing in the morning, instead I get a notion every now and again and measure it after watching the telly or sitting at my desk in work for a while (It's 41 bpm there now sipping coffee). I've been told by a mountain rescue friend that if I was found asleep with a heart rate like that she'd immediately start cpr

If anyone is intending to train by HR, I'd recommend they do a threshold test instead of a max HR test.
Easy way to do it is to warm up for say 15 mins, then flat out hard as you can go for 30 minutes, looking to cover as many km's as possible. The relevant heart rate is your average over the final 20 mins of your 30 minute test. Works for running or cycling, then apply weightings similar to these:
Zone 1 - Active Recovery < 55%
Zone 2 - Endurance 56% - 75%
Zone 3 - Tempo 76% - 90%
Zone 4 - Lactate Threshold 91% - 105%
Zone 5 - VO2 Max 106% - 120%
Zone 6 - Anaerobic Capacity > 121%

[DavidC]

My resting heart rate is somewhere around 35-37 bpm

[johnd]

Zone 1 - Active Recovery < 55%
Zone 2 - Endurance 56% - 75%
Zone 3 - Tempo 76% - 90%
Zone 4 - Lactate Threshold 91% - 105%
Zone 5 - VO2 Max 106% - 120%
Zone 6 - Anaerobic Capacity > 121%

Just to add to the above, the RPE zones of 1 - 10 that some people talk about would apply as:
RPE
1 - 2 | Zone 1 - Active Recovery < 55%
3 - 4 | Zone 2 - Endurance 56% - 75%
5 - 6 | Zone 3 - Tempo 76% - 90%
7 - 8 | Zone 4 - Lactate Threshold 91% - 105%
8 - 9 | Zone 5 - VO2 Max 106% - 120%
10 | Zone 6 - Anaerobic Capacity > 121%

[johnd]

My resting heart rate is somewhere around 35-37 bpm

Yeah, gets that reaction sometimes alright, I've had nurses telling me there's something wrong a few times before, but had an ecg done and all is healthy as can be

[DavidC]

Truth is John, I'm bit envious! I think DavidT has a similarly glacial HR.
Good info above, I don't usually bother with HR but I think I'll dust off the monitor and have a fresh look at my numbers. If nothing else it'll give DF something new to analyse!

[DavidF]

If nothing else it'll give DF something new to analyse!

Nothing new there Gingerbeard Man. As you know i'm always 'in the zone'

John I have recently starting using FTP as a base for the little bit of training I do. Unfotunately I have to use HR as i don;t have any fancy power measurement gadgetry. Not ideal, I know.

Was asking about max hr as I'm curious to know what ave % of max you sustained for the race. That gives an indication of the effort required and gives me an idea of whether I could give it a go. For eg given that you are significantly faster than me - if I know you were at eg 87% max hr then there would be no point me showing up. If however you averaged 80% then maybe I would.

So whilst I agree that HR is limited in value for setting training zones compared to power it is useful to analyse afterwards

[johnd]

Tell you what DF, you have a look at this, and I'll do a LTH HR test on the turbo over the next few weeks and let you know
What do ya reckon?

[johnd]

So whilst I agree that HR is limited in value for setting training zones compared to power it is useful to analyse afterwards

Nothing wrong with HR for training, my point was that measuring your MAX HR has little value when you consider the strain you put yourself under, and how do you know it was your very max? Sorry for not being clear on that

LTH is more accurate and useful and potentially less damaging / dangerous to measure

I'm not using HR zones on the bike just now, but when the weather gets better and I can get outdoors of an early morning I will probably start using it again