Training: Panic Stations and the Boom Titty Boom

For the last 10 years or so I’ve been having a minor panic attack on the first hill of a ride. No matter how slowly I’ve ridden, by the time I reach the top my body tries to convince me that we’re never going to get our breath back. Within 30 seconds or so it goes away, but it’s a truly unpleasant feeling. With that in mind I’ve been experimenting with using a HRM to see what’s going on. Just a basic chest strap and the Polar Beat app.

Heart rate training is well established as a tool for Serious Cyclists^TM but I’ve steered clear. It’s a deep, deep rabbit hole, full of workouts, different zones and body optimisation. Too much like work really, I want to enjoy my riding. That said, I think I understand the basic zones and the principle of not trying too hard. One of my biggest weaknesses on long audaxes is pacing – I tend to drop into a fast cruise that’s just slightly too fast for comfort, which means I suffer later in the ride. It occurred to me that if I can get my head round heart rate info, and integrate it into my navigation, I can use it to pace myself more effectively.

Using Polar’s HR Zone calculator and my theoretical max HR (220 – age) I get the above zones. My cardio system is probably slightly better than average for a chap my age, so the zones will be out by a bit, but they’re close enough for what I need.

My plan is to train (hahahahaha, like a mighty athlete) hard on short rides (I have a regular 22km loop) in Zones 4-5 and use 2-3 for longer rides. The hard rides will help with speed and maximum performance, the easier rides will help build endurance and burn fat. Speed-wise, I reckon 2-3 will be occasionally be slightly slower than I’m used to, but about the same overall. General wisdom says not to ‘train’ by thrashing yourself too hard, the cliche is ‘ride slow, to get fast’.

New kit

I bought a magic hat just for time trials. It’s a Rockbros, so it was cheap. It’s also shiny purple, which amused me because I am a child. The built in visor looks cool, but presses on my nose, which is annoying. It’s removable, so I can ditch it and use regular shades. Their stuff is cheap and fairly cheerful, but not quite up to the standard of better known brands, so I’m not surprised. It’ll do the job I bought it for, which is making the Rulers of Time Trial World happy.