Winter Maintenance Plan and HR Zones

Are you doing this on a trainer or on the road?

A good test is vital to setting your training zones.  If you don't feel the test was an accurate representation of your fitness, it's okay to do it again and start over. 

I'm not doing Jorge's winter plan, but he is my coach and I don't think his bike workouts are ever supposed to feel easy!!!  Some parts will feel easy, but the hard efforts should feel hard. 

I am not doing Jorge's winter maintenance plan either, but this is part of the problem with using HR instead of using power.  There are too many variables that can impact your HR.  Your HR for your test could have been off or Day 2 could be off.  If you are outdoors, there are other variables also (temp, humidity, wind, hills, etc).  It may help to also use RPE to help gauge your effort.

Its also possible that your zones are not correct based on your current fitness level - did you go all out for your LT Test?  Could you have gone faster? 

But you also mentioned that you haven't seriously cycled in a while so maybe your cycling fitness is not where you think it is. 

Unfortunately, all my workouts will be on my trainer.  But that is how I feel, that these sets at 85-90% should at least be semi-difficult.  This morning was like a joy ride!  When I estimated by mph, I felt like it was much more of a workout.

The reason I asked about the trainer is that speed is completely irrelevant on the trainer.  For an normal outdoor ride I'll average anywhere from 19-22mph but on the trainer that's usually around 16-17mph.  I'm doing the same amount of work, but the resistance on the trainer is different on the road, so the speed reading is different.  You should completely ignore speed when on the trainer. 

I DID go all out for my LT test.  By the time the 30 minutes were up, I was beat.  I may try to redo it, or just estimate my mph for the next few weeks until the next LT test. 

And even though I haven't been cycling lately, and even if the 16.7mph is a good representation, I still feel like I should be going faster than 14mph if it seems too easy.  Maybe?

1. forget about speed on the trainer unless you are proactive at setting your trainer in a way that is the same every time and are trying to use the power curve of trainers like the Kurt Kinetic. If not, speed is irrelevant and you should focus entirely on intensity. Still, indoors speed is usually slower of what most people usually ride outdoors.

2. Depending on the session some should feel easier than others. 100% of your heart rate threshold is an intensity an athlete should be able to sustain for ~60 min maximal effort hence while it should feel some how challenging when doing that, up to 30 min should feel fairly doable. If you are doing 80-90% of that is pace, then you could maintain for ~3+ hrs hence, doing some sets at that intensity it should feel relatively easy for 1 hr sessions.

3. If your sessions just feel 'too' easy, then something might be off with the test. You could use RPE to guide your sessions and adjust your HRM by adding 2-3 bpm to each zone and go from there.

4. HRM training has many limitations in particular when doing interval training at your MLSS or higher. There is a learning curve for you to go through before you know what targets (levels) fits the intensity best, RPE is key in riding indoors.

I hope that helps.

Thank you, Andrew and Jorge!  All that information helps a lot.  I could definitely maintain that pace for 3 hours.  But seeing as I'm hoping to do my first HIM next summer, I'd like to avoid taking 3.5-4 hours on the bike course!    Which is why I'm doing the plan in the first place, I guess! 

Day 3 of Week 1 is tomorrow, and I'm going to add about 3-5bpm to my hr in each zone and see how that feels.  I don't know that we have the money to buy a power meter though, but it seems that might be my best bet. 

I'm also planning on doing the optional Day 4 this week to see how that feels for a 2 hour ride at the different hr intervals.  If that still feels too easy, I'll retake my test. 

Thanks again!

Just out of curiosity what kind of trainer are you using?

It's an Ascent mag-trainer.  DH has the KK fluid trainer, and I got his hand-me-down!