Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Joe Friel's blog post on max heart rate

Checkout Joe Friel's latest blog post on max heart rate.
http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2011/06/max-heart-rate-and-fitness.html

His book "The Cyclist's Training Bible" is excellent and he has several other books:
http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Friel/e/B001JP0ANM/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

My max heart rate as a runner in college was measured at 186.  Since taking up cycling I have seen some higher heart rates (most likely because I measure my HR on almost every ride).  186 was confirmed many times when I peaked for races.

It is interesting (and possibly related to his post) that my last 2 increases in max HR (188 and 189) came at WestsideWorlds (a really hard training ride) when I was tired and not exactly "on".  I was NOT broken so I could still get the HR up.  I was tired, could work hard, and was able to go all out, to a mediocre result :)

I had hoped the small increases were signaling superior fitness.  But my results during those weeks/months would confirm what Joe is saying.  I was less fit from being tired during a long training block.  It will be interesting to see if my max heart rate will come down a little as I freshen up for cyclocross in the fall.

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