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>At 02:35 PM 3/20/98 -0500, you wrote: >>>For the aerobically trained divers that want to know their max HR, you need >>to get on a road bike or an exercise bike with a heart rate monitor, and do >>a "10 minute interval", which you could also call a "Time Trial", since that >>is what you are simulating. You want to ride a the very fastest pace you can >>maintain over the first 9 minutes, without hitting system shutdown from high >>lactate levels, and then in the last minute, progressively increase your >>speed to the absolute maximum exertion you are capable of > > Not to nitpick over an idea that I basically agree with, but I have >my doubts about your max HR test for the very reason you mentioned -- >lactate threshold. You're only as strong as your weakest link and so, for >anyone but a well-trained cyclist, lactate buildup in the quads would >prevent working hard enough to get anywhere near max HR, even with your >suggestion to ride at a pace where you don't reach shutdown. I run in the >vicinity of 50 miles per week, but I wouldn't reach my max HR by your test >because my quads would tire long before my heart got near its red zone. Shine, If you are developing high lactate levels, that is an indicator of a large portion of your energy being created by anaerobic power----by being anaerobic, your HR should be getting well over 88 to 94 % of max HR. But the muscle weakness issue is not a problem. The person on the bike needs to pick a gear that works their heart more than their legs, and they need to spin it at a high cadence. If you , as a runner, experienced too much quadricep fatigue last time you tried high speed cycling, you were riding in too big a gear, forcing you to spin slowly, powering the bike more with muscle than with heart rate. Also, if you feel the cycling in your quads, you are not sitting at the right seat elevation and or front/ back position ----you should work the gluteal muscles to exhaustion long before you feel the quads going to jello, and if you don't , you know you will have to have some one set you up better on the bike. This is a common problem when people first get a bike---you really need a good pro bike shop to fit you and set the seat position properly for you. > The muscular component of any type of endurance training is very >specific to that training, and for that reason, I'd suggest anyone needing >to know their max HR either go with the formula you mentioned or stick with >a test that mimics their typical training; ie., runners should run, swimmers >swim, cyclists cycle, etc. Cycling is very close to fin swimming, which is one reason you won't find anyone who will outswim me with fins on, unless they are a faster cyclist than I am...Cycling allows me to rountinely leave guys on scooters behind, by just maintaining a comfortable maximum pace, when on the 60 to 90 foot deep recreational spearfishing dives in WPB. But more to the point of the max HR test, specificity of training will not make a major change to your max HR. If you are a triathlete, you may find your max sustainable HR anaerobic threshold) will vary a few beats between the 3 events, but you will still be able to come within 5 beats of your real max with any of these 3 events. Whereas the 220 minus your age formula, could predict that you as a 45 year old man, would attain a maximum heart rate of 175 beats per minute, also placing your normal aerobic training zone around 140 beats per minute----however, many athletes who are 45 years old will have a max HR of 190 or 200, or even higher. I'm 43, my max HR is 207, and the lowest HR that I can use to be at the bottom of my aerobic training zone is 170, and I tend to do more training around 175 to 180 bpm. This illustrates how bad the formula would be for me, since it would have me training 25 or 30 beats lower than the bottom of my aerobic zone, never doing much at all for my fitness level. > To nitpick even further, even doing this would't necessarily >guarantee an accurate max HR reading. To use myself as an example, I >probably get as close to my max HR as I can by running 5K time trials. But >even as a runner, I don't know if my legs are maxing out before my heart. As a runner, the only way your legs should give out prior to you reaching a max HR, would be if your leg muscles were glycogen depleted, from either too long an event for your conditioning level, chronic overtraining, or insufficient nutrition since your last run. If your legs are fresh, and if you have the "heart" of an athlete---the will to take it to the max, you will hit a max HR in your time trial. >If I spend the next 6 weeks on a running-specific strength program and then >run another 5K, it's possible I'll get a higher max HR even though my heart >is no stronger, simply because my legs were better able to keep up and push >my heart more. Max HR's tend to stay the same, slightly declining with advancing years----what I'm trying to say is that they do not varry over a month or 6 months. What will change is the glycogen loading in your legs, I was in a 80 mile road race once in Western NY, with a huge hill climb we had to do 4 times. I ran a HR of 180 to 185 throughout most of the course, on the hill I would get anaerobic, getting HR's as high as 201 on cresting the top, trying to leave competitors behind, and trying to stay in the pace line with the faster riders who would always jump here, knowing each time this happened they would shake off some dead wood. On my last lap, I was so glycogen depleted, I was having trouble keeping my HR even at 155 on the flats, and on the hill I completely shut down, HR staying around 155, and no more power was to be generated by me for this race. This is called "bonking" in cycling. But it has nothing to do with max HR, and everything to do with glycogen loading and "pacing out" your energy. and your mental ability to hit a 100% exertion---something just too painful for many people. Regards, Dan -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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