Yep. A race is all about position first then fitness. If I’m over my head sometimes it’s fitness first trying to get position. But, yeah I’ve never heard anyone stop pedaling because they looked down and saw scary numbers. Just have to go with the moment.
Jonathan has talked about this a few times in the podcast. Don’t think he was using hr as his metric but has talked about pulling in the reigns early and eventually passing all the people who went out too hard too early.
Last season i had two very different outcomes from when i ignored hr compared to the one when i put a limit on it during the first portion of the race.
2 Likes
I still use heart rate as metric for any ride/ workout (and other activities) that i don’t have a power meter. Yes, it’s subject to more variables than power, but I still personally rate it better than nothing/ pacing/ RPE - all have more variables in my (unqualified) opion.
I use hrTSS from Training Peaks free to guestimate my TSS in TrainerRoad for non-power meter workouts.
1 Like
I agree. It’s better to have and use one than relying entirely on our RPE. It really made a huge difference on how I paced and saved energy in the long run.
Yes, HR is variable to changes in hydration, humidity, heat, central nervous system arousal or fatigue, caffeine, etc… But, it’s also the body’s tachometer – if HR is high, energy is getting expended, period. Also, your watts may be “low”, but if HR just won’t go any higher, then your watts aren’t going to go any higher, either. Watts are the work, HR is how hard your body is working to do the work – and as such it’s a really useful measure to consider, especially for longer aerobic efforts. For training – and sometimes for racing – HR for below AeT or FTP, power for above FTP.
4 Likes
I’ve been thinking about this for a while, is there any reason to wear my HR monitor while training indoors (with power)? I can see it being somewhat useful for races to help qualify fatigue in relation to power output and such. But is there a reason to have it on when training?
I use HR all the time with power. For me, I’ve found HR to be useful as more of a long term trend indicator as to whether my I’m having gains, so at the beginning of SSB my HR would be X bpm at X watts, but toward the end of SSB it would be lower at X watts. The challenge now that it is getting warmer in my basement is that my HR kind of shifts because of the temp. But I do like having HR for analysis (I do try and ignore it during efforts as to not psych me out though).
1 Like
I always use HRM indoors, despite TR controlling the difficulty. Reason being, I want to know I hit right HR training zones, especially during recovery sessions.
For outdoors, I use HR readings instead of speed/distance during recovery spins.
Sometimes wear it during races for post race analysis only.
1 Like
Is there a reason not to? More data = more complete picture. There’s a lot of information that can be gleaned with power + HR.
2 Likes
If anything, it’s nice to have the data. I’ll look back a few months ago and see what power correlated with HR compared to what I’m currently doing. It’s a rewarding measure of progress.
2 Likes
I’ve started doing the opposite. Use HRM for workouts and leave it off for bike rides. I only pay attention to power outdoors anyway so one less distraction while dodging distracted drivers.
I wear one all the time. I like the data. I like comparing how I’m doing now to how I was a few months ago. For example, I might do a tough interval workout at a power 25W higher than four months ago, but note that my HR is the same or lower for the work intervals. That’s demonstrative of progress.
I also find that HR can give me a clue as to how I’m doing and if I should push through early difficulty in a workout or back off and ride easy. If my legs are fried and I can’t get my HR up to where it normally is for the intensity of the interval, that’s a prime indicator that it needs to be a Pettit day.
2 Likes
Pretty much the opposite for me. That’s what I use it for while training. It’s not this simple yet it is: In a race everything goes out the window and you go as hard as you need to go.
^This. I know that many things can effect my HR (caffeine, sleep or lack of, temperature etc), but it can also help me to gauge where I am with regards to my health. No point digging a hole that’ll take me a week or more to climb out of.
Do you still wear a HR strap and record the data if you use a Powermeter?
I personally did for about a year but have now stopped?
Has anyone found looking back at historical HR data in conjunction with Power useful? Other that “I can now produce 200w at 10 lower HR than a year ago”
Can be an indicator of recovery, where RPE might fail you.
In my case, when i do ramp tests i know that if i haven’t hit X bpm, even if i feel like dying, i have some left in the tank, so it tends to help me determine how much extra effort i can put out if needed
1 Like
I tend to wear it, problem is it’s not connected to my phone when running TR, only to my Wahoo and uploaded to training peaks. I don’t really look at it but feel if something didn’t go to plan on my session I can check it out after or during.
I still wear one and in conjunction with a Quarq PM. Aerobic base training reasons (aerobic decoupling) and I am paying more attention to HR pacing during longer intervals.
1 Like
Absolutely it is useful! How one is responding to the power exerted is incredibly important. If I could tell you how many times I’ve heard from athletes “I don’t know what happened on the run, as my bike power was perfect” after a crappy run. Why throw away any metrics you have when it’s so easy to help monitor your efforts?
1 Like
I use a HR monitor and a power meter for all rides. Heart rate data is helpful for me to determine comparative state of my body whereas power meter is the measurable output of said body regardless of what I’ve done to it in the run in to the workout
1 Like