Cycling and HR Zones

NewCorkLad

So I recently received my new Garmin with HR monitor. The bike is easily my weakest event in Tri's and the training I am most likely to avoid, so Im just trying to figure out what would be the most benefical way to train when I do. If I am only managing to get on the bike once a week, should I just push myself as hard as possible or try to stay within zone 2 or 3?


Any advice would be appreciated or a link to previous discussions on the same subject.

joey100

Honestly if your only getting on the bike once a week the best way to improve would be to get on at least once more.

How long are you doing on the bike at the moment?

NewCorkLad

Usually only finding the time for an hour ago, sometimes I do manage to get out twice a week but it is the training I drop the easiest, I know its far from enough but I still want to maximise the benefit from the training I do.

I run 3/4 times a week and swim twice a week.

joey100

I'm not sure what you could do in an hour to improve your bike really, someone with more knowledge than me can try and answer that for you.

It just seems a little light to me, not really long enough to build a base from it and without the base will be hard to build on. It might be worth dropping one of the 4 runs and replacing with a bike. Your run will suffer if you don't do enough work on the bike so missing one run session might be a bit cancelled out by the additional bike training.

NewCorkLad

Thanks Joey.

This is really coming from the advice I have seen around running, that it is benefical to work in long slow runs keeping your heart rate in zone 2, just wondering does the same apply to cycling or should I spend my time on the bike pushing myself as much as possible?

Long distance running/cycling/swimming is all new to me, my main aim this year was to complete a sprint & olympic triathlon, I have completed a few sprint triathlons and my olympic is coming up this weekend. I mainly focused on my swim and run this year as I have some base already in these sports and felt as long as I finished the cycle I would be happy. Next year my aim is to complete one or two half IM's with the full IM planned for 2019. With my base built in the run and swim this year, I do plan on increasing my time on the bike going forward, just wondering what is the best way to maxmise my time vs reward on the bike.

peter kern

if you can only cycle once a week then there needs to be a lot of intensity in that ...

NewCorkLad

Thanks Peter.

Sorry I know this is probably a question with a very varied answer but at what stage would building in low intensity training on the bike become beneficial, or is it just a case of short rides go high intensity, long rides reduce intensity.

peter kern

the more you cycle the more valuable it becomes is prob the easiest answer.but a joey has already pointed out its not that easy to improve on one bike a week. ( but for a beginner its of course possible to improve on one bike a week and to keep it simple if you have a grasp ow runing works you are not going entirely wrong applying that for the bike )
also depends on distance for a sprint you can fake endurancefor an oly its already getting harder and for an half even harder.
at the end of the day in your case its prob easeir to built fitness with running and focus on intenstiy on the bike ( not great way to do but in your case the best you can do )
i guess the very least
1 week intensive bike session the other week intensive and long bike session.but again you prob want a bit of intnesity in your long bikes too

at the end if you have liite time I would ask myself why not focus on a single sport ie running and try to become good at that or aquathon .
or try to cycle more commuting to work etc

NewCorkLad

Thanks again Peter thats kinda what I needed to know, I will forget about the HR monitor on the bike until the new year.

Unfortunately with a 3 hour commute in the car I wouldnt be able incorporate the bike into this.

In all honesty the idea of single sports would bore me. I might do a marathon or 2 and have done a few leisure cycles, but as sports I couldnt see them holding my interest long term. Im loving the challenges and diversity in triathlons. I cant see myself ever competing to win any competitions but I would love to improve the times I have been getting and would love to finish an IM or 2.

I have built up a decent base with swimming having just completed a 5km ow swim and a number of 3km ow swims and have an 8km(tidal assisted) swim coming up in 2 weeks. I have been getting more and more comfortable with longer runs and faster with shorter runs. Cycling is just more time intensive which is why it was sacrificed this year, however I will be building up the time spent on this and curtailing some of my swim/run training next year looking towards my half IMs

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What's the commute distance? Is it 3hrs in total or each way?

NewCorkLad

3hrs in total.

peter kern

do what you like, i guess is the answer at the end of the day anything that keeps you active is healthy.
as for commuting i see many people leaver their car in the phoenix park and cycle into town sot save time and money .... add in 2 laps on the bike and you already have a session where you can do good interval work etc ( i guess you are in cork and somehow this could work too there )

and you could focus one year on cycling to get it at a decent level and then the next year just cycle once and give the run more focus.
or whatever

to maintain a level at your level is not that hard and 1 session can be helpful for that but to get better you need more like 3 sessions a week in a sport
ps i did not say dont be using the hr monitor it can be a useful tool .
what i did say was first think aobut the big picture and then more on the details.

NewCorkLad wrote: »

Thanks again Peter thats kinda what I needed to know, I will forget about the HR monitor on the bike until the new year.

Unfortunately with a 3 hour commute in the car I wouldnt be able incorporate the bike into this.

In all honesty the idea of single sports would bore me. I might do a marathon or 2 and have done a few leisure cycles, but as sports I couldnt see them holding my interest long term. Im loving the challenges and diversity in triathlons. I cant see myself ever competing to win any competitions but I would love to improve the times I have been getting and would love to finish an IM or 2.

I have built up a decent base with swimming having just completed a 5km ow swim and a number of 3km ow swims and have an 8km(tidal assisted) swim coming up in 2 weeks. I have been getting more and more comfortable with longer runs and faster with shorter runs. Cycling is just more time intensive which is why it was sacrificed this year, however I will be building up the time spent on this and curtailing some of my swim/run training next year looking towards my half IMs