On today's edition of the Ask Coach Parry Cycling podcast, Devlin Eyden, our cycling coach shares with us the benefits of using a heart rate monitor and looks into the question of do we really need all the gadgets to measure our performance.

Transcript

Brad Brown:         Welcome onto yet another edition of the Ask Coach Parry Cycling podcast, we’ve got Devlin Eyden with us, our cycling coach. Devlin, welcome back, question in today from Joanne and she is saying: my sports GPS watch has got a heart rate monitor, but I’ve never really looked at the numbers. Will tracking and monitoring my heart rate improve my performance as a cyclist and if so, what should I look out for, what are the numbers that I should be tracking and trying to improve?

What numbers should you track on your heart rate monitor?

Devlin Eyden:      This is something that I suppose a lot of guys, whether they’re new to starting cycling or any sort of endurance sport, we like the gadgets. Gadgets are all out there and everyone is trying to sell you the next best thing.

With regards to working with the heart rate monitor, my first suggestion would be, to have some sort of baseline testing done. Whether it is at an institution that can do some sort of fitness evaluation, based on that, we can get an idea to see where you currently are and also set up accurate training zones, training heart rate zones for you.

Again, it’s all good and well to have the gadgets, but if we’re blindly going in and looking at numbers and we don’t really know what we’re doing with those numbers, it’s actually pretty pointless. Get the testing done, have a baseline value. Set up training zones and then from there, it helps with setting up a training program as well.

There are limitations in using a heart rate monitor

Remember, a training program needs to be balanced, so there’s going to be some lower intensity rides that you’re doing as well as some higher intensity rides and your heart rate is how you’re going to also monitor how that session particularly is going and if you are working correctly.

Heart rate is a really good tool and it’s easily available to the average person. However, keep in mind that there are limitations to heart rate as well. When I talk about limitations, if you’ve had a cup of coffee, if you’ve had a bad night’s sleep, it’s also going to affect what your heart rate is doing on the day.

Stress levels, temperature outside, so as much as I say it is a really good tool to be using, keep in mind that if you’re doing a particular interval session and suddenly you have a coffee an hour before that you’ve forgotten about and your heart rate is a lot higher than what you’d expect, you need to realise, don’t panic and start tapping down on the intensity because there you’re working basically on what your heart rate response is from that coffee.

That’s just one of the limitations to keep in mind with it. Again, when it comes then to racing and we start looking at the heart rate, again, heart rate now, like I said, with the atmosphere and the nerves that are running, there’s a lot of things there. My suggestion with using a heart rate monitor is like I said, with the zones, but then also use in conjunction with that, more perceived exertion.

So a rating scale that you can say in terms of effort level. If you know that your heart rate is zone four for instance, or a zone three, it needs to be a rating scale of let’s say 6 out of 10, you need to know how your body is feeling at the same time and compare that with what your heart rate is doing.

Heart rate monitor will pick up trends in your body

Another really good tool and function of having the heart rate monitor is the monitoring side of things. It allows us to see how you’re doing and how you’re adapting to a particular training program and stress loads over a period of time with regards to things like taking resting heart rate in the morning as soon as you’ve woken up.

If you track those numbers over a period of time, it also gives us an indication that we can start picking up trends with regards to, are you getting ill, are we pushing you a little bit hard on a training program, so over reaching, getting into that over training phase and then at the same time, it does exactly the same thing when you are on the bike and you’re doing interval sessions, for instance, and you’re struggling to necessarily hit the numbers that you usually do quite easily.

Again, from that, we can pick up trends and things that are happening and monitor what your adaptation is and how your body is reacting to certain stress loads. All in all, heart rate monitor, really good tool to have, but also just make sure that you are using it correctly and you’ve got some sort of framework to reference those numbers to.

BB:         Awesome stuff Devlin, thank you very much for that and thanks for that question too. Don’t forget, if you have a cycling related question that you’d like answered, all you need to do is head over to coachparry.com, you can submit it there.

Also, if you’re looking for a personalised training program, if you’ve got a big race coming up, whether it be road or mountain bike, just get in touch, there’s some great programs available that Devlin can work out for you. He’s one of the best in the business and all you need to do is head over to coachparry.com/cyclingtraining, that’s where you can find out the details of those training programs as well.

Until next time, from the two of us, it’s cheers.