Bike heart rate
223
Member
1102 days
JRH posted 2 years ago.
the general rule is your max hr for bike and swimming is 10 bpm lower than your max for the run
you should do a field test periodically to find your max HR because it changes as you get more fit.
proud and high or low and humble - many miles before I go
http://www.insidetri.com/portal/blogs/blog.asp?strSession=60050327224390...
4
Member
826 days
APF_Paul posted 2 years ago.
Tryscott, how are you determining your max heart rate? The formula based methods (220-age and other calculations) are not very accurate. It is not as crucial to know your max heart rate as it is to know your threshold heart rate. You will likely never hit your true max during a race and it is risky to attempt to determine your max unless you are under supervision because of the dangers associated with a high heart rate.
I suggest field testing for threshold heart rate which could be anywhere from 85%-92% of your max heart rate. As JRH pointed out the threshold heart rate will be lower for biking than for running so you should test both periodically.
You are correct that your max heart rate is the max number of times your heart can beat in a minute. It is one number, it doesn't vary based on the type of activity. It is also genetically determined and for deconditioned people it will go down with age. Conditioned people will tend to have a higher max than people of the same age who are not conditioned.
Your threshold heart rate can be increased through training. This is the most important number to know.
A simple test on either a stationary bike or on an outdoor ride can help determine your threshold for the bike. Always test threshold when you are well rested (following an off day) and well hydrated. The test should be done seated and at a 90-95rpm cadence. Start with a 15 min warm up until your body is warm and breathing is heavy but controlled. Increase your effort to just short of full effort for 5 min to active all of your energy systems. Recover for 10-15 mins then perform a 20 min time trial (as hard as you can sustain for the full time). Start your HRM at the beginning of the time trial and stop it at 20 mins. Find the avg HR and that will be an accurate estimation of your threshold heart rate.
Hope that helps.
Should my HR during a bike workout be similar to when I run? When I run race pace, my HR is about 90%. On easy days, I keep it under 75%.
When I started getting in shape to run, I couldn't keep my HR below 75% on the easy days unless I walked. On the hard days, keeping 85%+ wasn't a problem at all. The other day I went on my bike, and I don't think I ever went over 75% when it felt like I was pushing hard. I wasn't going all out, for fear of injuring a muscle that I don't use often, but I was going hard enough for it to hurt a bit.
Maybe I'm looking at it all wrong, and my MHR while on a bike is lower than when I'm running. I've always thought of MHR as the max amount of work your heart can do, not how fast it can go during a certain type of exercise...