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Do you hit max heart rate during an all out effort like an ftp test, and how long does it stay there for?
I’ve seen a max of 187 ever. Usually I can’t get it above 184. During a time trial it’s usually between 175 and 178 average for the 25 min duration. The other day During an ftp test on turbo I hit 186 for 30 sec, 185 for 2 min, and 182 for ten min average 😳
Other than absolutely breaking myself I felt ok, certainly heart felt normal. But it was definitely a few beats higher than I’ve ever seen it sustain for that period of time.
Is that fitness or illness that’s caused that?
Also, I’ve got to question how safe an effort like that must be for a 46 year old bloke (albeit one who has had his heart checked out and apparently it’s in decent shape)
I did a 20 minute test recently and felt like I nailed it, just scraped 20 minutes and felt like I could barely have held the power any longer.
Max HR during test was 176, highest I've seen in recent years (a hill climb event) was 183.
I forget though, are indoor HRs typically lower or higher? I thought it was something like 5 beats lower indoors?
Also, I’ve got to question how safe an effort like that must be for a 46 year old bloke
It's fine. Regularly go over 190 most weeks trying to keep up with fitter people on hills. Age 51, max HR around 197.
Speaking to some cardiologists (we have 4 from Papworth heart hospital in our club), high HRs are associated with shallow beating ie your heart doesn't fully fill the chamber before pumping the blood out. Apparently there is a lot of variability in the stroke person to person.
Not max, no and nor should you. Max heart rate is only achievable for a few seconds and will result in you nearly passing out or falling off your bike. If you don't feel like that then it's not your max heart rate, almost by definition.
The other day During an ftp test on turbo I hit 186 for 30 sec, 185 for 2 min, and 182 for ten min average
Your FTP test should be consistent effort.
Don't worry about the numbers. Your actual heart rate will vary depending on genetic factors and how your heart's constructed. Your heart supplies blood to your muscles which will use it to creqte energy. If you train for this kind of riding your muscles will get better at using oxygen and your heart will beat faster to supply more. Your max effort isn't necessarily limited by how fast your heart can beat, it's limited by how much oxygen your muscles need and how much CO2 and lactate the blood needs to shift.
No,maxing out your heart rate wouldn't be the best pace. You may hit it towards the end of you really dig bit by that point fatigue has set in.
My max is around 183. I manage to ride a short effort like that at the top end of threshold so 170+.
You sound like your zones would be similar to mine so that's probably ok.
Your indoor HR is normally higher for a given effort if I remember. Because you get too hot as there is no air flow.
I find an indoor FTP easier though as you only have to think about pedalling and not the actual riding.
I missed have missed something. Surely your heart rate at FTP is one you can sustain for an hour, which would then be a good bit below your max heart rate
I missed have missed something. Surely your heart rate at FTP is one you can sustain for an hour, which would then be a good bit below your max heart rate
I suspect that varies on the individual, I used to be able to maintain very high HRs - very close to my max for 90 mins - just genetic variability.
@ampthill in an FTP it’s the effort you can do for 20 mins then it’s adjusted to calculate your FTP. I did one yesterday the average power was 258w and my FTP was 245w.
I missed have missed something. Surely your heart rate at FTP is one you can sustain for an hour, which would then be a good bit below your max heart rate
Your heart rate will increase steadily during an ftp session, as fatigue sets in. Most folks can hold their max heart rate for around 30 sec to a minute max, if you are well trained it will be longer. I like to think I’m relatively fit so would be at upper end of what joe public can manage
Just for clarity, I never hit my max, but I was one beat off it for the last 30 second of the test. And only 5 beats off it for 10 whole minutes. For the entire effort my average was 178 for the 20 min.
@Ampthill
Functional Threshold Heart Rate is taken as the average of the last 20 mins of a 30 min all out effort. So for me, after ten minutes at 30 min power, my HR would be mid tempo probably. But by the end, it would hit max. Average would be 176 (because there’s a delay in HR response).
It’s why HR isn’t so good at pacing your training across a hard interval as a power meter because if I tried to start riding 1h *at* 176bpm, I’d be doing about 700w and would have to back off more and more until I got down to about 250w. Then after a few minutes I could probably creep back up to about 300w and the average for the session might be say 290w even though the HR was a steady 176 all the way.
Whereas: if I paced off of power at 310w, I could hold that steady for 60mins and my HR would start in Z2, increase to 176 after about 15mins, stay there for a bit, then drift up at the end.
Going back to the OP- it’s the trouble with a 20 min test. If you don’t already roughly know your ftp, it’s easy to go too hard and hit max HR too soon. I haven’t done one for ages but I used to aim to hit max HR in the penultimate minute as I knew I could turn the pedals another 89/90 times regardless.
Thanks folks
That’s exactly how I understand it. Given I have a very good idea of my ftp i thought I paced my effort pretty well, it was definitely very even, maybe gained a few extra watts average at the end by emptying myself for last couple of minutes
I was just surprised I stayed at almost max for as long as I did, when I do a test or tt usually I only hit 186/6 occasionally, and usually only for last 30 seconds. So to hit it with 2 min to go and keep it there surprised me
Looking at my hr graph, it’s pretty steady, 178 average and just checked I’ve only had higher once before, 179 for 20 min during a proper tt
Not sure if that’s a sign of fitness, or a sign of illness (I had had my covid jab 3 days before which may have ahead an impact perhaps). The key thing I suppose is I didn’t suffer any I’ll effects, other than crumbling to the ground in a ball at the end, which I’ll take as a sign I got everything out.
Sounds spot on 👍🏻
FTHR is about half way up Zone 4 (Threshold Zone) which I believe equates to around 75-80% of max HR.
"it’s the trouble with a 20 min test. If you don’t already roughly know your ftp, it’s easy to go too hard and hit max HR too soon"
I agree with this. you need a good idea of what the 20 min power is going to be. I would start maybe 10-20w below what i'm aiming for, gradually increase through the 20 mins, then go nuts in the last 3 mins or so, completely emptying the tank. My max HR is about 196 and i'd expect the last couple of minutes to be over 190, maybe 30 secs at 194+.
Have just checked - my best 20 min effort had a max HR of 194 and an average of 185.
I find that measured efforts on the turbo make me go much deeper than i tend to outside. i think most of my best power efforts and highest HRs have been achieved in the garage.
First time I did a test like this it was with a coach and a power meter on a road climb, I got 270W. A few months later I got 300W. I had gained some base fitness but I'm sure a large part of that improvement was having learned to pace myself with power, and also it was the second time I'd done the climb!
“it’s the trouble with a 20 min test. If you don’t already roughly know your ftp, it’s easy to go too hard and hit max HR too soon”
+1
Best way I found was to test more regularly to get a feel for it (it's just another 20min interval after all).
If I started the test at my old FTP, then it took about 10 minutes for my HR to plateau. Then I could push harder towards the end and sprint for the 'finish' to push the figure up. Then a couple of weeks later try again at the new average. Keep doing that until you fail.
Haven't done it for a while though