"Ride lots" or heart rate monitor

I'm 55 and retired, and I want to improve my ability to ride long
distance, with a goal of riding 100 miles in a day. Should I just
"ride lots", or should I buy a heart rate monitor and train according
to the book?

Bill

wrote:
I'm 55 and retired, and I want to improve my ability to ride long
distance, with a goal of riding 100 miles in a day. Should I just
"ride lots", or should I buy a heart rate monitor and train according
to the book?


I'd say that depends on how fit you are now, and how much cycling
experience you have. If you are just starting out, go with the "ride
lots" to build some base endurance and get used to riding, etc. If you
already have a good handle on your fitness and riding in general, then
maybe an HRM would be a good idea. But only if you like fiddling with
figures, and generally would get some enjoyment out of "playing" with
an HRM. 100 miles is within reach. I'll bet you could do it now, You
might suffer and it might take forever, but mental strength is the most
important thing for completing long rides. Fitness is important for
finishing them quickly.

I'd go for the ride lots for the time being, unless I was going to get
some enjoyment out of creating a training plan, etc. The whole point is
to have fun, right?

I think a structured training plan including HRM only makes sense once
you plateau from just riding lots, and have a desire to further improve
your performance.

Have fun!

Joseph

wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm 55 and retired, and I want to improve my ability to ride long
distance, with a goal of riding 100 miles in a day. Should I just
"ride lots", or should I buy a heart rate monitor and train according
to the book?

Bill

Welcome Bill

If you can judge what your body is doing, you don't need a HRM, really.
However, when I got back into doing exercise (a few years ago now) I didn't
use one for about 6 months, and noticed that I wasn't getting any faster or
improving my stamina. I got the cheapest HRM I could find and 'according to
the book' I was exercising far too intensely. I backed off a bit, and
things started improving immediately. Now I know better what different
intensities feel like, and just watch my HR for the record. If you're not
aiming to do it quickly, don't bother with gadgets, just get out and slowly
build up the distance. Perhaps consider keeping a diary of what distance
you cover, terrain, weather, how you felt, and you'll soon be able to see
how your body is reacting (hopefully adapting) to the new activity.

I'm guessing that you're new or coming back to cycling. If so, you might
want to have a word with your doctor, just to make sure. 100 mile rides
shouldn't be a distant dream for someone of your age. I know guys 10 years
older who do 70+ twice a week, and think little of it. It's not really
trivial though. The main problems are knowing you can do it, telling your
backside and hands that everything's ok, and eating/drinking properly. If
it takes you 8 hours at 400 calories an hour (wild guesses) that's and extra
3200 calories.

One thing that really will help is comfort. You won't go far with a sore
bottom. You might want to get some more shorts and gloves and review your
position on the bike now and again.

Good luck.
Skippy
E&OE

wrote:
I'm 55 and retired, and I want to improve my ability to ride long
distance, with a goal of riding 100 miles in a day. Should I just
"ride lots", or should I buy a heart rate monitor and train according
to the book?

Ride lots. (Unless you care about your /speed/ on that 100-mile ride?
Then, yeah, maybe "training" would trump enjoyment.)

I've never quite understood the whole HRM thing. Figure if my heart stops
beating I'll be notified soon enough.

(That said, I just did a treadmill "stress test" thing and was surprised at
how low my HR stayed. Barely went over 150 at any point, although my BP got
up there a bit.)

Bill "old, fat, slow, weak...but could do 100 miles easy" S.

Sorni wrote:
wrote:
I'm 55 and retired, and I want to improve my ability to ride long
distance, with a goal of riding 100 miles in a day. Should I just
"ride lots", or should I buy a heart rate monitor and train according
to the book?

Ride lots. (Unless you care about your /speed/ on that 100-mile ride?
Then, yeah, maybe "training" would trump enjoyment.)

I've never quite understood the whole HRM thing. Figure if my heart stops
beating I'll be notified soon enough.

(That said, I just did a treadmill "stress test" thing and was surprised at
how low my HR stayed. Barely went over 150 at any point, although my BP got
up there a bit.)

But if you had used an ergo-bike (or whatever the bike equiv of a
treadmill is) you could have gotten your HR much higher. The whole
specificity thing.

Joseph

Duh, the "HRM thing" is to provide a reliable gauge on how your body is
reacting that day's ride. It's just information. Like the gauges on your
car. Just helpful information. You don't have to be a slave to it, but
why not have the information? It's no panacea but I'd rather have the
information than not.


Sorni wrote:
wrote:

I'm 55 and retired, and I want to improve my ability to ride long
distance, with a goal of riding 100 miles in a day. Should I just
"ride lots", or should I buy a heart rate monitor and train according
to the book?


Ride lots. (Unless you care about your /speed/ on that 100-mile ride?
Then, yeah, maybe "training" would trump enjoyment.)

I've never quite understood the whole HRM thing. Figure if my heart stops
beating I'll be notified soon enough.

(That said, I just did a treadmill "stress test" thing and was surprised at
how low my HR stayed. Barely went over 150 at any point, although my BP got
up there a bit.)

Bill "old, fat, slow, weak...but could do 100 miles easy" S.

wrote:
I'm 55 and retired, and I want to improve my ability to ride long
distance, with a goal of riding 100 miles in a day. Should I just
"ride lots", or should I buy a heart rate monitor and train according
to the book?

Bill

If your goal is to just do 100 miles then the "ride lots" approach will
get that done. However, if your goal is (or eventually becomes) to do
100 miles "fast" then an HRM and a structured training program will
help a lot.

Best of luck to you.

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In article .com,
wrote:
I'm 55 and retired, and I want to improve my ability to ride long
distance, with a goal of riding 100 miles in a day. Should I just
"ride lots", or should I buy a heart rate monitor and train according
to the book?


_ The most useful information you get out of a HRM is in avoiding
too much intensity in your riding. If you're just getting back in
shape it's pretty easy to get in a trap of riding "as fast as you
should" (ie. somewhere near what you used to ) rather than as
fast as makes sense. If you have the time one of the best ways
to get better at riding long distances is long slow distance
training, but without an HRM you easily end up doing long medium
distance which is the least effective means of training. It's
too fast to provide the best endurance training and too slow to
provide much intensity training. Of course you don't need an
HRM to figure this out, if you do a long ride and you're wasted
the next day, it was probably too hard. However, an HRM is a
pretty useful tool in this context, it's just a tool though.

_ I also find it a very useful tool on the day of the ride. If
you're doing organized centuries and are at all the least
competitive it's very easy to get sucked in early to riding
at a pace you can't maintain over the distance. For me anyway,
avoiding digging an early hole that I can't get out of is the
key to finishing strong in a century.

_ Booker C. Bense


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wrote:
I'm 55 and retired, and I want to improve my ability to ride long
distance, with a goal of riding 100 miles in a day. Should I just
"ride lots", or should I buy a heart rate monitor and train according
to the book?

The HRM could help you control intensity, for following "zone"
recommendations while you ride as much as is enjoyable (i.e., doesn't
burn out your enthusiasm). As another poster noted, it's easy to ride
too hard (esp. with groups), which can be counterproductive for
building and enjoying in the longer run.

A Century is a big goal, and IMHO a most worthy one. I still remember
my first. Turned a corner (ahem) that day, for sure. In fact, I'm
building for another, after a bunch of years away from "riding lots".
Very much within reach at this time; I did approx. 70 with a fast group
this last Sunday, only dropped when they charged up the long hills. Not
bad for "D-y v. 5.7", and I like it like that! (The plan is to add
gentle miles before and after the group fandango, as needed, to reach
the magic 100 and still be a useful family entity during the
post-accomplishment afterglow...)

One possible help toward building endurance is riding twice in a day in
some weekly (or whatever) routine that works for you. "XYZ" in the
morning, the long ride of the day, then another, shorter ride; say
about an hour and a half, maybe along toward dark during these long
summer days-- nice and easy, just hard enough to keep the weight off
the saddle. This also can be a big help for your sleep performance g.

The HRM might also be used to take a pulse in the morning to help judge
recovery.
Like a digi bathroom scale, the news isn't always good (humor attempt),
or even totally "reliable", but it is an accurate measurement of the
moment.

Calibrate your cyclometer carefully g! --D-y

Gary wrote:
Duh, the "HRM thing" is to provide a reliable gauge on how your body is
reacting that day's ride. It's just information. Like the gauges on your
car. Just helpful information. You don't have to be a slave to it, but
why not have the information?

Because you have to wear the goddam strap thing.