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Tips on racing using heart rate monitor
Hi
Have been riding a few years now and aiming to race a bit more. My efforts so far have all had a general theme of fading badly and/or cramping at the end of races (examples include half fling, 4 hour enduro type races, 3 man 24hr teams).
Clearly a large part of this is training (increased and more effective) and nutrition during the event (and flexibility, core etc..), but i have recently started using a heart rate monitor and am interested in:
1. Do people race using heart rate monitors? If not, how do you pace beyond 3 hours?
2. If you do, at what level/metric do you use?
Cheers
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I find them good to train with. And they're useful for capturing a record of your race. But as PS on here advised me, not that useful for the first 30 minutes at least. Your HR is through the roof just from the adrenaline. For 100km events I'd imagine they're handy to stop you blowing yourself up but I only ever have time for the occasional glance when I'm doing 50s - too busy looking at what's coming up on the track.
The first 50 that I did, the first time i looked my HR was way high to the point where I would normally puke. But I felt great, so I just kept going. That initial number ended up being my average for the first hour.
As for pacing beyond 3 hours, the best way to learn is to do training rides beyond 3 hours. Nutrition is the key.
Having done many many races, I use HR monitors to make sure that I am averaging around 90% of my maximum HR. Any higher I know that I will blow up and any lower I am not pushing hard enough. At that average I can ride for 6 hours no problems. Usually the first 30 minutes my HR is way above 90% due to excitement but it settles down.
I have my Garmin set up with current HR and average HR so I can monitor but tend to only glance down at it when I get a chance on some fireroad etc.
For 24 hour races HR monitoring isnt that useful because the ride times are much shorter and I find that the first lap its very high, then over the course of the 24 hours by the time I have done lap 4 - 5 my I can't seem to push myself to get the HR above 85% - just too tired.