Two questions, not really related to each other

[Tom]

Perceived exertion versus heart rate, yet again. I have no idea why I wear a heart rate monitor because I haven't the faintest idea what it is telling me. I try, I really try to ride a nice even easy day. So why do I feel just fine, and look down and see the thing hovering about 160 bpm? I'm going easy, fer chrissakes. 'Kind of hard' is 165bpm. 'Getting difficult' is 170 bpm. 'This sucks' is 175bpm. 'I suck' is 180bpm. The other day I average 159bpm, max 177 for an hour and forty five minutes, every time I felt like I was pushing I told myself to back off. When I did, the heart rate dropped right back down. It's always been this way. The other thing is the difference between being able to deal with the pace and the pace that makes me blow up is very very small, and it always was so with running, too. What am I doing wrong?

The other question: if I'm riding x mph into a y mph headwind and can do it for a long time, how come I can't ride x + y mph for a long time when there is no wind?

[keno]

there's tons of heart rate information out there that I'm sure many on this forum can lead you to, if not you finding it. I'd bet that there is at least one decent website devoted to training with HR. But you know that, I'm sure.

Does the analyticcycling website confirm your x+y thesis?

keno

[sevencyclist]

Perceived exertion versus heart rate, yet again. I have no idea why I wear a heart rate monitor because I haven't the faintest idea what it is telling me. I try, I really try to ride a nice even easy day. So why do I feel just fine, and look down and see the thing hovering about 160 bpm? I'm going easy, fer chrissakes. 'Kind of hard' is 165bpm. 'Getting difficult' is 170 bpm. 'This sucks' is 175bpm. 'I suck' is 180bpm. The other day I average 159bpm, max 177 for an hour and forty five minutes, every time I felt like I was pushing I told myself to back off. When I did, the heart rate dropped right back down. It's always been this way. The other thing is the difference between being able to deal with the pace and the pace that makes me blow up is very very small, and it always was so with running, too. What am I doing wrong?

The other question: if I'm riding x mph into a y mph headwind and can do it for a long time, how come I can't ride x + y mph for a long time when there is no wind?
I don't think you are doing anything wrong. I found myself in the similar situation. I can ride/run easily at HR of 160. 170 means I am working, and 180 and above is hard. I use the HR monitor so I can pace myself if I need to do long rides without burning myself out. (ie. 24 hours of Leguna Seca)

As for the headwind, I think the windspeed does not add up linearly since you are able to capture full speed of the wind. For example, if you do not pedal and stay in a tailwind of 20mph, I do not think you will be rolling at 20mph. Similarly I do not expect riding 20mph into 20mph headwind is equal to riding 40mph without wind.

[Ozz]

Sounds like you and me have the same ticker....I pretty much have the same feelings as you at the levels described.

Sally (somebody) wrote a book about HR Monitor training. I think Polar references it on their website...or they used to...I have not been there for awhile. Here is what I remember:

160 bpm feels comfy cuz it is....you have not crossed into anerobic yet.

165 bpm starts to hurt cuz you are getting anerobic, and you'd rather not be.

170 bpm is where the lactate is starting to build up and your muscles can't get rid of it.

175 - 180 bpm is where you are redlined...yeah, it sucks and you can't stay there very long.

My understanding is that you can move the anerobic and lactate numbers (165 - 170) by training at those levels.

Most riders like the zone just below those numbers cuz it "feels" like a good workout, but is in fact not hard enough to improve performance, but too hard from which to recover effectively. It sounds like you need to work harder on the hard days, and rest harder on the rest days.

Sleep, coffee, illness, stress, etc all affect where these zones are, and they can move 5 to 20 bpm everyday.

Also, for me, the more I train, the harder it gets for me to "go harder". Early in the season, I can sometimes hit 190 bpm. After a couple months, I get entrenched in the zones you describe. Ten years ago, I could pop to 200 bpm without thinking...it sucked, but it was not hard to get there.

I stand ready to be corrected by those with more recent or better info.

[catulle]

There stupid me goes again... I really don´t know much at all and I´m sure most of the regulars here know much more than I do. Anyway, as you can glean from any basic Polar instructions sheet, there are so called heart rate "zones". Zones go from the aerobic to the anaerobic. When you are in an aerobic zone you are pumping oxygen to the blood, which is desirable because you are feeding and stimulating the muscles and other tissues. In an anaerobic zone you are exerting your muscles but either the heart rate is too low to be aerobic, or it is too fast to carry the proper amount of oxygen needed.

There is a formula based on age used to determine your "zones". If I recall correctly, it is 220 minus your age, and then you multiply that number by .6 to have your lower zone range for fat burning; and multiplying the same number by .7 for your upper range. That is, if you are 55, substract 55 from 220 = 175. 175 X .6 = 105 and 175 X .7 = 122. If are 55 and you want to loose weight, you must excercise at a heart beat rate between 105 and 122. This is what any Polar or Timex leaflet will tell you, and the calculations are based solely on age. From this basic zone, the next one (220 - age X .8) is intermediate between aerobic and anaerobic, and so on.

The problem is that all 55 year old people are not the same, and their physical conditioning is different. Thus, there are sophisticated machines which can measure more accurately what your "zones" may be. The point being, nonetheless, that if you stretch your limits too much, the body suffers. According to some, the body suffers considerably and irrevocably.

Please don't laugh too hard if this is way too basic for you, but I think I'm answering a legitimate question the best way I can.