breaking into heaven

This weekend was a weekend of snow festivals, onsens and karaoke. And asaren on the rollers....

Today I trained with speed.

Training at a set speed or a set heart rate might sound similar, but it's actually quite different.

Training at heart rate you are teaching your body how to produce a constant effort. Useful for hill climbing or time trialling.

Training at speed you are teaching your body how to maintain a constant speed (or power) while minimising effort.

It's interesting to see how your body reacts.

From cold, 40 kmph feels like a hard effort. It's hard to imagine that I'll be holding 58 kmph later in the session.

Each increase in speed is marked by a surge in heart rate. The red lights are flashing. Once the body gets used to the effort, the heart rate drops and settles down.

At 58 kmph the heart rate maxes at 166 HR. Still aerobic.

Raising the heart rate once makes it much more responsive to subsequent speed intervals. This is why it is important to raise the heart rate once or twice in a prerace warm up.

The second interval at 58 kmph produces a similar heart rate, around the 165 mark. For the cardiovascular system this is sustainable and it's in the legs that I can feel it most.

Great training!

Sunday's training:

Rollers – ride to the music – The Stone Roses's Second Coming

1."Breaking Into Heaven"   40 kmph 11:21
2."Driving South"   45 kmph 5:09
3."Ten Storey Love Song"   48 kmph 4:29
4."Daybreak" 50 kmph 6:33
5."Your Star Will Shine"   52 kmph 2:59
6."Straight to the Man" 55 kmph 3:15
7."Begging You" 58 kmph 4:56
8."Tightrope"  50 kmph 4:27
9."Good Times" 55 kmph 5:40
10."Tears"   58 kmph 6:50
11."How Do You Sleep" 50 kmph  4:59
12."Love Spreads" warm down 5:46

Total 1 h 5 mins