I'm happy with my overall time on the bike from my tri, but the profile from the Garmin looks like I did it "wrong". I focused really hard on sticking to 90rpm, even if it meant being in a lower gear than I thought I should be. But my heart rate looks like it's too low. I ran my half marathon at 170-175 bpm, so I thought I should be around 160, right? But even in the uphill part of the race my pulse averaged about 155bpm. Does that mean I should have been in a higher gear and pushed myself? But by the end my legs just felt so tired, I don't think I could have sustained a 90rpm cadence in a lower gear. Does that mean I should do more strength training? Longer training rides?
If you can't tell, I have no idea what I'm doing on the bike
An indicator of greater fitness can be working at harder intensities while maintaining a lower heart rate. So, your heart rate being higher does not necessarily equal more work/wattage/power.
Does that make sense? I could go on and on, just let me know!
You are also focusing WAY too much attention on staying at 90 RPM. Why? What is the reason you have to be at 90 rpm? Just curious. My cadence is all over the place on a ride. Lower if I am in the big ring or climbing, higher if I'm on the flats or doing downhill.
As a coach used to tell me "sit down, shut up, and ride." Don't get too caught up in the numbers.
Not a bike coach but from a tri training perspective, every training plan I've looked at goes by RPE or HR. Not cadence for swim stroke (although some swim workouts do focus on swolf, but that's for finding and pushing the cruising speed), or bike or run. Can you imagine running up a bunch of hills and then being mad at yourself after a strong effort that your cadence wasn't 180? I can't.
I think in general more endurance drills and interval workouts will make your stronger on the bike. It takes a stupid amount of time for it to happen, but it will.
Yeah, I guess I am using "ride at 90rpm at just past your 'push point'" to guess my cruising speed. But going by RPE/HR I could cruise faster.
I don't kick myself for losing cadence going up hill -- it's hard to tell from the graph, but it definitely happened in the race!
Not a cyclist but keep in mind that physiologically an equivalent effort on the bike will prob have a significantly lower HR because you are in more of a seated/squatting position.
This is my friends advice: ride with people who are stronger than you; when in doubt, go up; skip the hill repeats - there are so many to try why do the same one twice; when you're almost at the top of a climb, accelerate.
Post by katinthehat on Jun 25, 2015 13:00:05 GMT -5
How you did on the bike depends on how you felt on the run. As a standalone, yeah, maybe you could have gone harder on the bike. But if you maxed out on the run with a mile to go, you went just hard enough on the bike. That's the tricky part about tris, you can't burn all out on the bike because there's still some race to be done.
How you did on the bike depends on how you felt on the run. As a standalone, yeah, maybe you could have gone harder on the bike. But if you maxed out on the run with a mile to go, you went just hard enough on the bike. That's the tricky part about tris, you can't burn all out on the bike because there's still some race to be done.
I don't think I maxed out on either -- at least, going by HR I didn't.
I noticed that the people passing me were all in higher gear and lower cadence. Since the bike is my weak spot, I was really trying to stick to a lower gear/higher cadence since that's more "efficient" (or at least that's what the internet tells me). I'm probably also limited more by muscle strength than cardiovascular endurance when I'm on the bike.
I've started doing my commute a gear or two heavier than I usually do, I'll try to do more interval work on training rides and in spin class, and I'll probably make my weight lifting days a little more bike-oriented. And shut up and ride
I checked the results, I was such a slowpoke on the bike
Post by katinthehat on Jun 26, 2015 14:48:13 GMT -5
Lance kind of was responsible for that 90rpm is gold theory that goes around. Really, the best cadence is the one where you are getting the max speed with the least amount of work. I'm a big believer that it's different from person to person and there is no one gold standard out there.
That being said, one of the easiest ways to get faster, especially if your body tends to fall naturally into a certain cadence, is upshift into one slightly harder gear and hold that cadence of 90 for an interval.