Cyclists & Triathletes Rough Guide to Measuring Intensity
(Article written by Leah Prudhomme, all resources used are hyperlinked below)
HIIT IT: High Intensity Interval Training Got You Down & Your Heart Rate (HR) Skyrocketing…?
Ever been in a workout where you had to “HIIT IT!” …Otherwise, known as High Intensity Interval Training!
(see article, "HIIT IT!" http://www.experiencelifemag.com/issues/december-2008/fit-body/hiit-it.html)
You wanted to maximize your results in minimum time?
However, you ran into your HR skyrocketing half way through a set of 12 intervals… backed it off and what happened? Did you fade? Did you push through? Did you know where you were at in terms of Power Watts, were you at or above/below your AT, Vo2 Max, or Lactate Threshold? (see article on Lactate Threshold at http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=633)
NO? …why not? Didn’t keep you coming back for more? Why not? It is a key to getting those mitochondria to fire and revs your metabolism for optimum burn and endurance stamina, if you do…that is, keep coming back to “bring it!’”
So, you have a HR monitor and train by it religiously, or are accustomed to taking your own pulse readings (like a nurse) or are thinking of investing in one, it’s essential! Why?
In effect to: ‘train smarter, not harder’ and for most athletes finding your stride in HR Zone 2 (endurance) presents little challenge… however, sustained intervals into Zone $ on the other hand have you breathless and quitting. This will help you when you are in truth trying to, “Find your Limit” (see article link at http://kelliejones.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/training-intensity/).
“…HR Training is one prism lens in the critical part of measuring your Intensity success on a bike… High or low just isn’t enough!”
The HR Basics: in using HR training, there are preset 5 zones based of your Anaerobic Threshold number (AT)…in Training With 5 Exercise Heart Rate Training Zones just think of a scale 1-5 and RPE - Rate of Perceived Exertion to go along with it and start memorizing how your body feels in each HR zone and how you “feel” when you are working. In other words, in Zone 2 for most endurance athletes is something they can hold for a very long time…it is moderate. RPE would put you at a 2 on that 1-5 scale. Zone 3 ‘vigorous’ is related to your aerobic capacity and the ‘burning fat’ mode but it is not usually until Zone 4 (at or above anaerobic threshold AT (think ‘very hard’) and close to your VO2 max and Zone 5 (max HR capacity – ‘all out’ feel like you’re going to the red line or get ‘tunnel-visioned, I’m gonna puke faze’) in intervals that you stop short and end prematurely due to fatigue and frustration because of a ‘glass ceiling’ or the body’s natural inclination to back it off. For endurance cyclists and racing it is essential to HIIT IT hard in training for short interval durations of power that will put your HR Training at Zone 4 and 5 for short but multiple intervals—this is one of the best ways to boost your strength, and a way to increase your stamina, power and with time AT & Lactate threshold (see article " understanding intervals" at http://home.hia.no/~stephens/interval.htm; and "Training with 5 Excersize Heart Rate Zones" http://www.howtobefit.com/five-heart-rate-zones.htm).
So here’s the deal, whether you're a Triathlete or a roadie cyclist, whether you race or ride long in the summertime, the question inevitably surfaces: ‘I'm killing myself to get my HR up to the zones you're telling me to…I can’t, what’s the deal?’ HIIT IT/ High intensity training intervals, Sprint Triathlons, time trials, and a few well-intentioned hammering of the hills are challenging enough, even when executed correctly. When done - generally due to incorrect power watts intensity measurement - the results can be truly aggravating, many times over.
Cyclists, Triathletes anyone who is experienced enough to take it to the next level in their training and into racing with a new to moderate experience level training with HR zones almost always struggle with this.
So, let’s talk in brief and blog your comments to this post about the three ways to determine: "how hard am I pushing on the bike?" and wrap it up with a few tips or suggestions you might have on how to not blow-up before you throw up…or throw your bike at the end of your next interval session or race.
Intensity
There are three efficient ways to gauge your cycling intensity:
1. Perceived exertion – your best ‘guess’ on how your feel 1-5 scale (see the “The validity of regulating exercise intensity by ratings of Perceived Exertion” at http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Abstract/1992/01000/The_validity_of_regulating_exercise_intensity_by.16.aspx)
2. Heart rate – requiring a Polar HR or other HR monitor function
3. Power watts - the most accurate but requires a specific power watts tap or meter, such as a Kurt Kinetic Power Watts bike computer (with or without HR function) for your indoor/outdoor ride. (see http://www.kurtkinetic.com/computer_tech.php)
Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
RPE - Rate of Perceived Exertion
No computers, no straps, no cost - just you and your own internal pressure gauge just use Borg’s Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE see, http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/mcgill/RPE.html). There is enough evidence to support that just going by a scale of 1-5 (5 being the hardest) or 1-10 (ten being the ultimate ‘hard’) in perceived exertion every athlete should strive to race with in a comfortable number like (zone 2) and be able to train with that or higher much of the time. The best asset to RPE is each athletes ability to ‘know your body’ and ‘know your limits’ it’s in knowing these perceived boundaries that graduating to more experience as a cyclist/endurance athlete/racer will allow you to do a ‘body check’ and start making “on-the-fly adjustments to your speed/pace and intensity based on how your body is responding on a given day’ Let’s face it, this is priceless in a race situation.
The weakness of using RPE – is plain and simple if you do not truly know your limits yet, you will blow past them and bonk or DNF (did not finish) on race day, worse get injured, or under-deliver on race day. This ever happened to you before? It has to even the pros. This is a common problem for novice riders who most often early on in their training don’t know how to ‘gauge it’ yet and aren’t tuned in enough to ‘feel it’ so they under or over estimate a given intensity level. RPE is good when it is used with another method such as the AT Factor (see article link "The AT Factor" http://www.experiencelifemag.com/issues/may-2005/fit-body/the-a.t.-factor.html).
Heart Rate Training
So have you bought your HR monitor yet? Polar, Garmin, TIMEX, and even Kurt Kinetic to name a few have integrated HR monitors to there watches and computers with a HR strap that you wear during exercise on the bike. Do you track your calories, zones and like data? Perhaps your local gym/fitness facility is pushing HR training and using a big chart in the cycle studio for HR numbered zones by age… this is good! Take control of your fitness and start tracking it yourself, train smarter, not just harder. There is much evidence to support that too much time in zone 4 will only ‘just burn sugar’ and you are left with lots of short bursts of ATP power –drain them but do not have substantially stored glycogen in the muscles which is the ‘bread and butter’ of endurance training and the required ‘maximum capacity for Vo2 Max when you HIIT IT hard…. That glycogen is tied to HR training correctly and with it much of your endurance base. See HR Training Zones and Cycling Performance Tips for ‘Carbo Loading’ and endurance and sports specific nutrition related to glycogen (see HR Training Zones Article at http://www.scribd.com/doc/7237796/HR-Training-and-Zones and Cycling Performance Tips at http://www.cptips.com/cmplxcb.htm and a great "Lactate Threshold for Cyclists" article at http://www.hornetjuice.com/lactate-threshold.html).
Now that we are talking numbers… lets start working with numbers – if you ever have heard an instructor say, ‘now find your pulse and start counting now…. Stop.’ Usually they are taking a 6 second count and then you multiply that number by 10 or add a zero…which is the number of times per minute (60sec) that your heart beats per minute.
The upside of HR training and use during racing is that it provides a realistic and ‘real time’ reading of intensity the doesn't rely on “how you feel” and By establishing your HR training zones and intensity zones based off your AT, through a self-administered time trial or (better) professional functional threshold assessment you wind up with a set of bpm (beats per minute) HR zones which are percentages of above/below zones of your anaerobic threshold (see AT Factor). With these zones in hand, you can set up your HR monitor/computer and train with cycling fitness: warm-up & recovery/cool down, endurance, tempo and/or that steady-state HR, your Threshold (at or above AT, and pushing into your Vo2 max and on occasion up to your MAX hear rate.
The downside to training and racing with heart rate is that the number of times your heart beats per minute is an indirect measurement of intensity, not unlike a speedometer on your car for example, 60 mph with a tailwind produces a much different workload on your car's engine than does going 60 mph up a hill into a headwind – same thing on a bike. While in ideal conditions your heart is a measure of intensity, there are many factors that can render it unreliable: it generally "reads low" for a given output when you're fresh and generally high for a given output when you're psyched (race start) or fatigued from frequent or multiple long endurance sessions. Who hasn’t experienced a race/training session where the stroke volume of your heart decreases due to dehydration and electrolyte depletion causing your heart rate to increase?
Power & Power Watts Output
The best way to accurately see the power of the rider is to measure that intensity by seeing cycling speed in relation to output of power watts. It is to put a value on it in terms of power watts…
“ Your biking speed depends upon your continuous power output to overcome the forces that slow down your bike: friction, air resistance, and (when going up hill), gravity.”
And watts and power are equated to each cyclist using a mathematical equation and measuring cycling intensity with a power meter or power watts bike computer (Kurt Kinetic power watts bike computer, Quarq, PowerTap, SRM, CompuTrainer, etc.) is the most direct way of quantifying your power & intensity efforts, both in training and racing.
“ Watts (like horsepower) are a measure of power. In the formulas below "Wrider" means the number of continuous watts of power put out by the efforts of the cyclist. 1000 watts = 1.34 horsepower. "Power" measures "force" times "distance" per unit of "time" and "...With this method the unit of intensity measurement watts. Whereas heat, wind, motivation, and illness can affect your heart rate, with power you're either applying an absolute number of watts the pedals or you're not; it's what's referred to as "stateless" measurement.” (See article, "Cycling Speed and Math Ruminations" at http://www.mayq.com/Best_european_trips/Cycling_speed_math.htm)
As with heart rate, you establish your training and racing power zones by conducting a self-administered field test or (preferably) a professional functional threshold assessment.
(see Testing the Competitive Athlete for V02 Max Testing with Dr. Dan Carey (at University of St. Thomas Human Performance Laboratory in St. Paul, MN (dgcarey@stthomas.edu; http://personal1.stthomas.edu/dgcarey/) or Advanced Fitness Training at ACCUA (www.accua.net) in Savage, MN, for two places to get these tests done locally.)
Best Part of Training with Power:
Let's face it, "early governor, late motivator" for long-distance Triathlete where going out too hard early on the bike can sink a race... (adapted from Beginner Triathlete).
Zone 4 and 5-interval training: a critical component for all triathletes up through half Ironmans, Time Trialing distances for 40K and Criterium races, more or less all competitive cyclists. Starting these intervals too hard (trying to get your heart rate up too quickly) the most common err for those not training with power; you would see power output (what really matters) exceeds the prescription and by the time your heart rate - the after-market jet engine burn, so to speak - enters zone 4 or 5, by which you're legs are blown. (too much carbon dioxide in the blood - and the diminishing returns rule applies).
Real cycling efficiency - always knowing where you're at, what you're 'putting out' and making the most of your precious training time... MAXIMIZING YOUR RESULTS IN MINIMUM TIME. Then there is also the argument for the rich data for you and your coach to analyze and track in looking for power/rpm cadence combos over various distances allowing you to fine-tune your cycling efficiency and that power on the pedal stroke.
The only real downside to training and racing with power is the cost, and even this is coming down every six months to a year. Buying a Kurt Kinetic Bike computer will allow you to use it indoors on your Kinetic trainer and outdoors (+- 15% error riding outside) for power watts readings.
WISH LIST:
Make the investment in a heart rate monitor (or better yet, a Kurt Kinetic power watts bike computer power meter) allowing you to download data to be tracked by you and/or your coach. We all have busy lives and full schedules and need to be realistic and effective- by logging your power watts/intensity and making adjustments to your training accordingly, you're making the most of your time.
Zone 1/ recovery: can easily carry on a conversation, minimal muscle taxation, warming up or cooling down.
Zone 2/ endurance / Ironman intensity: think you can carry on a conversation easily with an effort intermittent with breathing and keep going for a long time, say 5-10+ hours.
Zone 3/ race pace or at tempo: a conversation could be intermittent at best; breathing is labored but measured by steady heart rate.
Zone 4/ AT threshold/ Sprint & Olympic distance intensity: think full sentence conversation not possible, as in short answers only: ‘Yes, No, Maybe, Okay, Sure. Go! On your left!!!’ these responses should be your best efforts to get them out and stay highly focused. Your body is ‘looking for a way out’ and you have that knawing feeling in your legs… the burn… major muscle taxation and engagement, very labored breathing, gradual stinging in the legs sensation near the top end of this intensity level.
Zone 5 / Max HR: 5 out of 5 or think 9 out of 10 - most folks can spend only a couple minutes at this highly anaerobic intensity level and verbally expressing coherent thoughts is difficult. Significant muscle fatigue and stinging in the legs and major tunnel vision starts to occur and the throw up faze if carried on long enough.
HR TIP FOR CYCLISTS
When completing HIIT IT - high intensity intervals in Zone 4 & 5 with perceived exertion or heart rate as your guide, resist the easy temptation to quickly raise your heart rate from "between interval" bpm or “recovery” to the desired bpm – or zone 4… Make it hard when you’re supposed to and Easy when you’re supposed to or rest when you are supposed to… build up to it. Same with Workout/ Training sessions in a given week, that is,
“Make the key sessions count, don’t blend them all to a middle effort of blah…. Make the hard days hard and the Easy days EZ!” (taken from Going Long by Joe Friel and Gorden Byrn see link at: http://www.velopress.com/triathlon.php?id=269).
MY TABATA WORKOUT
My favorite strength High intensity work out that I teach is as follows 90% tension on a stationary bike or like 500 watts plus for 20sec. 90% sprint effort for 20 sec. followed by a 10 rest. Tension off. REPEAT! Do that for 4 minutes…. these 4 minutes will be the love hate relationship you crave! Results! Results! Results! SO, If you’re up to the challenge of maximizing your results in minimum time see a workout called “Tabata Protocol” developed by Japanese Researcher Dr. Izumi Tabata, for a tune up of your intensity over a duration of a 6 week and equates to a 50% increase in your results of power (intensity) on a stationary bike – consider what your power watts would look like for Tabata! Don’t do interval training and power watts training if you are injured, rule 1, it’s an explosion of the skeletal muscular system… and rule two don’t rapidly increase your HR too fast perhaps you're simply going too hard to begin and will fade before you're done. For example, aim for reaching your Zone 4 HR by minute two to three of a 10-minute interval or of the HIIT IT 20sec. x 12 rep. (think the 4 rep) or Power Watts Intervals the 250-550 watt range after sufficient warm up. (see "Tabata Protocol Tune up" article at: http://www.experiencelifemag.com/issues/march-2008/fit-body/the-tabata-tune-up.html )
Those training with a power meter will easily be able to determine the correct intensity output from the start and the interval can be completed smoothly and efficiently, often power is equated to smoothness and efficiency of the pedal stroke, so find that ‘sweet spot’ on the pedal stroke that keeps harnesses your legs power to the max. In reviewing your power watts data after your workout on your bike computer you'll see a pattern that takes about X-amount of time for your HR to catch up with your corresponding watts (power) of the same zone.
Word of Advice:
If you don't have a power meter or a heart rate monitor, err on the side of caution early in the bike leg of a triathlon, time trial, century ride, or race - it's much easier to pick it up as you get going than to back way off due to coming out of the gate too hot "guns blazing" and have to recover before resuming race pace because you’re bonking. (I speak from experience, I went into T2 from a bike leg of a half iron 56mi bike portion with an all out 99% effort trying to stay up with the leader board/peleton and fell apart afterwards by mile 4 of the 13.1 half marathon run portion of the race with a seizing left quad in the run to suffer a huge drop in my run split and some walking with pain, thankfully no injury, and a very tough recovery the whole next week.)
In sum, find the method that works for you and stick with it, don’t change anything before a race last minute and keep in mind that things take time to show intensity and on the other hand, fatigue can be a product of intensity and rears it’s ugly head late on the onset of HIIT IT workouts a day latter or a week latter depending on how many you’re tackling…. Gadgets are fickle as they are useful they need twiquing and need to be properly calibrated to see the proper curve of Intensity or power or HR data over time. It can be a variable that is hard to control and measuring your intensity over a 15 week period is a better way to calculate fitness results and performance if you use the same method each time or a combination of them both and keep that a constant. GO scientific on yourself and get the results!
Keep a training log and race journal of you how feel was that a good workout or a tough one or a RPE 4 overall or was it easy…this is essential for you and for a coach if you have one for feedback on your athletic performance. What was the mileage, the avg. watts the max watts, the HR zones you stayed in for what duration… what did you eat before a race? or intensity training session, did it work? Not? Did you recover well? What worked, what didn’t and repeat those results if they did. And if all this fails, just go ride your bike.
What are your thoughts?
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