Bolsover & District Cycling Club

From what i've read and dabbled with H.R zones myself there's seems a load of variables from person to person. The old 220 minus your age is a ball park figure, going on that i should have a max of 181bpm but i've hit 187bpm hammering Castle lane.

Also on one ride you could feel really energetic and max out at say 190+bpm but then on another ride when you're fatigued you'd maybe struggle to hit 175bpm !!

Just for interest i set my Polar HRM's lower limit at 140bpm (anything under 140 is easy/recovery riding) and maximum at 170bpm ( anything above 170 and i'm starting to feel the strain).

Have a general play around with the zones when you're riding Simon and get a feel for what suits a mixtures of efforts.

I think the best solution is to get Paul Jezweski involved , and he will be able to do a test on the Turbo Trainer at one of the Thursday night sessions...im sure he will post here very soon

VO2 max tests were pretty much a routine in my rowing days. I can dig out my old test procedures and see if they will adapt from ergometers to turbo's if all else fails? Just let me know. 

My turbo has a power meter,  no idea how accurate,  I did this test just so I get a baseline and can continue to monitor every month,  http://www.health-calc.com/fitness-tests/two-point-test

Also got 187 on a couple of nasty hills,  

For your personal max it has to be a test, 220 minus whatever is far too inaccurate for example I'm 41 and posted a max of 196 at the allestree cx event, having previously posted 190 on many occasions. Basically if you puke on a hill session you have got close!! I would say 3 or 4 sets up castle lane or similar, after 2 good rest days(you must be fresh!) all out/everything you've got in the last 20% should see you hit it.

Simon, re: setting your training zones

Your right in saying 220 - age is now outdated, the new formula for finding HRmax is 206.9 - (0.67 * age) eg: 206.9 - (0.67 * 30) = a HRmax of 186.8 (187), again this is only an approximate figure and you can +/- 5 bpm depending on your fatigued state.

You then apply your HRmax into the gold standard Karvonen method:

THR ((HRmax - HRrest) * % intensity) + HRrest

eg: someone with a HRmax of 180, and a HRrest of 70

50% intensity = ((180 - 70) * 0.50) + 70 = 125

85% intensity = ((180 - 70) * 0.70) + 70 = 163

ps: to find your resting pulse take it for 1 minute 3 times in the morning, once laid down, sat up and stood up, take a mean of the 3 figures.

Hope this helps?

To my knowledge Paul has given the current best formula and its certainly one that BC and other coaches will use. A little variability is normal. For instance, my calculated max bpm is162, but it has developed to 174 over a winters endurance training, which doesn't max out HR, but does provide heart muscle and blood vessel adaptation.

One further point - the main reason for knowing this data, which is not that useful on its own, is to calculate training zones. This is better done with a power meter, but not everyone can go this road and HR is a valid option. When you know your training zones, by HR or power, you can better develop a training programme to suit your ambitions in cycling.