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Heart Rate Part II

 
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Anonymous
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 26, 2004 7:59 pm GMT +0000    Post subject: Heart Rate Part II Reply with quote

Sorry, it appears I'm late to the party but I've had a question I've wanted to ask for some time. After taking my heart rate data over the last 6 months or so I see a couple things:

MaxHR ~186
Resting HR ~48

During a 60-90 min race or a "pace" ride, HR ~178-186

My question is: Is my lactate threshold right at my MaxHR or do I have a high lactate tolerance or is there something else going on that I'm missing? I do feel a change in perceived effort around 165-170 which is where my lactate threshold "should" be.

BTW, I can feel my legs burn a little on steep hills near my max HR but I am very very rarely sore the next day or feel any real long term effects of lactic acid. I finish every race pretty whipped but with a drink and some food I'm fine within a 30 min or so.
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Spencycles
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 27, 2004 9:20 am GMT +0000    Post subject: Re: Heart Rate Part 2 Reply with quote

Molva,

With the information you provided, it would be difficult to tell what is going on with your LT heart rate. If the heart rate range you stated for your Races and Pace rides is your recorded average heart rates over the duration of a race (1:00 - 1:30 Hours), then 186 BPM is likely not your true max heart rate. It is probably higher.

If that range of heart rates is the heart rates you generally see when you look down at your HR monitor, then your LT is probably lower than that range. Like I said, based on the provided information, it is tough to tell. Your best bet is to have an LT test performed at a performance lab, or do the LT Heart Rate field test I described in the other heart rate thread.

Maybe Doc can provide a little more information than I can with the information you provided.

Now that we have covered what I can't say for sure, here are the things I can say for certain:

1. Your LT Heart Rate is not the same value as your Max Heart Rate. There is a range for LT heart rates, that usually falls around 85% of your Max HR, but some athletes hit LT at a much higher percentage of their Max HR, and others hit it at a much lower percentage of MAX. The highest percentage of Max I have seen an athlete hit LT at is 92%, but that is a very high percentage for LT. There are performance benefits to hitting LT at a higher percentage of your Max HR, but this is really a gift from your parents (Genetics), and not something you can acheive through training. You may increase your LT Heart Rate slightly, but the real goal of your training is to increase the work you can do at your LT heart rate.

2. From the research I have seen, most athletes do not feel a decrease in perceived effort at LT. In most cases, when you go above LT is when things really start to hurt. That is why it is important to stay below LT as much as possible.

3. Your point in your last paragraph raises a point that is a big misconception in the cycling world. Lactic Acid is not responsible for the delayed soreness you feel the day after a hard effort. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is what you feel the day after a hard effort. DOMS is not due to Lactic Acid. It is due to micro-tears in the muscle which result from the muscle working harder (producing more force) than it is accustomed to. You are sore until these tears repair, then the muscle heals completely and returns to normal. You often feel this the day(s) after you do your first weight workout of the off season after not lifting for 4 or 5 months. On the other hand, you feel lactic acid during hard efforts, such as climbing a hill, but then when the intensity decreases, the lactic acid is cleared from the muscle.

I hope this clarifies some of your questions.

Brett Spencer
USA Cycling Licensed Coach
www.Spencycles.com
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Location: Corpus Christi and Warda, Texas

PostPosted: Mon Dec 27, 2004 10:58 am GMT +0000    Post subject: Reply with quote

Molva:

Brett provided you sound information.

To find out YOUR maximum heart rate do this simple test (yeah, right!). Before you do this test have a good training base. DO NOT do this test if you have any history of heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, or family history of heart disease. If you are such a person do this test in a hospital setting with physician supervision!

Get a heart rate monitor as you will never be able to count your pulse accurately when you are in the oxygen debt of a max heart rate test. Find a looooong hill, preferably one that steepens towards the apex, or for flat landers, wait for a day with a good stiff wind then ride into the wind. After a good 10 minute warm up, attack the bottom of the hill or turn full bore into the wind. Start in a moderate gear and crank it up, keep shifting to the next harder gear every 30 - 60 seconds. (Now imagine that Doby the Pincher is on your heals or better yet do this test next to the property with that big old canine who loves to max your heart rate out, after all, that's what this test is all about.) Keep cranking it out until your lungs feel like there going to blow out like a bicycle tire inflated with a gas station air chuck, your legs threaten to change your name to Ricky Mortis, your life starts passing before your eyes or a root canal without Novocain seems almost pleasant, which ever comes first. Now just before you do an Arty Johnson on your bicycle, (you old farts out there know what I am talking about) check your heart rate, THAT’S your maximum heart rate.

Now you can also reproduce this kind of testing during a real world mountain bike race. Halfway through the race, at the toughest climb in the race, check your heart rate when you are doing an all out effort to get to the peak of the climb. For me, climbing “The Pass” at the end of my first lap at Warda (or just about any hill at Kelly Creek) was the point where I would max my heart rate.

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES PARTAKE IN THE ABOVE DESCRIBED TESTS IF YOU ARE COUCH POTATOE JUST CLIMBING OUT FROM THE CRACKS BETWEEN THE CUSHIONS, YOU HAVE ANY HEART PROBLEMS, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, ELEVATED CHOLESTEROL, FAMILY HISTORY OF HEART PROBLEMS OR ANY UNPAID LIFE INSURANCE PREMIUMS!!! Get a medical evaluation by a competent cardiologist or sports medicine physician first. Then your family can go after that doctor’s malpractice insurance.

If you are willing, and you have the time and money, you can get a lactate threshod test performed at a sports medicine center. Keep in mind that the LT results are only valid for the conditions under which you were tested. LT varries with the type of activity being performed: running LT is different from road bicycling LT, which is different from off road cycling LT.

Thanks,
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Paul K. Nolan, MD
AKA: The Bike Doc
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Anonymous
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 27, 2004 5:56 pm GMT +0000    Post subject: Reply with quote

I did a max HR test doing essentially what you said above and that's where my max HR value came from. Also, my avg HR during a race came from my heart rate monitor measuring an average of the entire 60-90 mins. The only thing I can think is that either my LT is fairly close to my max HR or maybe I can just "tune it out". The real reason for my question is I just want to make sure I'm not putting myself at risk by running right at my maxHR all the time.
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Anonymous
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 27, 2004 10:03 pm GMT +0000    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can't hold your Max HR for 60 minutes. You can't hold it for 6 minutes. At Max HR you can barely breath and are getting tunnel vision. My avg. HR for races is in the 185 range. My measured LT running is 179 and my max (or highest I could get) is 210.
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