FARMBIKE Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 I have been told that the most important "stat / number/info" to know is your personnel LTHR Lets discuss LTHR (Lactate Threshold Heart Rate)................... 1)How important is this to know for the average MTB'er or Roadie ?2) Where to go........... to get this info3)When do you do the test ? ......When at your fittest ? or any time ? Please contribute, and post your views and comments, for us average cyclist, to understand
Christie Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 I think people rate it as important so you can use it to plan and evaluate your according to training zones, like not going over threshold on long endurance rides, etc. If you use a power meter, threshold power is more important than threshold heart rate.Imo having it measured is not that important, if you do a max effort 2x20min interval with 10min rest in between, the average heartrate should give a good idea of threshold.You can also have it measured at a sports institute at a university, they use something like a Conconi test. Best results is if they measure your blood lactate, I think 4 mmol lactate is used as threshold. VeloRacer, Spinnekop, rouxtjie and 1 other 4
fanievb Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 I usually do the test at the start of my training, and again halfway through as fitness improves. the LTHR is then used to work out your HR zones for training. Buy Joe Friel's MTB training bible, it explains exactly how to do the test and apply the results to your training program. Pants Boy and G e r h a r d Odendaal 2
rouxtjie Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 (edited) Most important number....mmmm dunno so much FTP is probably more important. Functional Threshold Power, or in english...avg power you can generate in a balls to the wall session for 20 min. Based on that number you will generate power zones to train in and train certain things or recover. The other important number is weight...easy to establish(weigh yourself, weigh bike...add the two) Then take those two numbers and divide...you will then get Watts/kg number that will indicate how good or how *** you are Edited February 18, 2014 by rouxtjie BarHugger 1
rouxtjie Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 PS if you do your FTP test every 6 weeks it will indicate how much impact you training has had since the last test....much more accurate than HR since the fitter you get, the lower your HR goes. Power isn't relative to anything(conditions, fitness blah blah blah)...its a definite number, no grey areas....so if you can sustain a higher avg power after a 6 week training block it means you have improved. end van prent
V12man Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Better to know the power output at lactate threshold than heart rate - HR is pretty variable compared to power. Thus it is easy to see any improvement that training has - of course, as Rouxtjie says, a real world FTP number is the most useful as a reflection of performance improvement. In any case - unless you are training at Elite levels, it's not much use, because you are in the training zone where if you train more/harder you will improve significantly - once you are looking for the last 2%, then it's a useful measure to base specific interventions on. Pants Boy and rouxtjie 2
rouxtjie Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Better to know the power output at lactate threshold than heart rate - HR is pretty variable compared to power. Thus it is easy to see any improvement that training has - of course, as Rouxtjie says, a real world FTP number is the most useful as a reflection of performance improvement. In any case - unless you are training at Elite levels, it's not much use, because you are in the training zone where if you train more/harder you will improve significantly - once you are looking for the last 2%, then it's a useful measure to base specific interventions on.Deffos....also people underestimate the importance of weight....its such an important number, easy to establish and totally under your control. The less weight you have to schlep with while riding the less you have to work for the same speed. Maybe its because it probably difficult or not that lekker to diet....dunno Oh and I am not implying weight of the bike...I am talking about the tjoob around our bellies.
V12man Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Deffos....also people underestimate the importance of weight....its such an important number, easy to establish and totally under your control. The less weight you have to schlep with while riding the less you have to work for the same speed. Maybe its because it probably difficult or not that lekker to diet....dunno Oh and I am not implying weight of the bike...I am talking about the tjoob around our bellies. True.... fortunately I don't have a tjoob... but I don't really understand the desire to have what are actually useful numbers to an Elite athlete when they are 30kg overweight... drop the weight and performance will improve dramatically. And on an MTB there are 2 important points to understand - a) LEARN TO RIDE and b) DEVELOP BIGGER BALLS... Technique is hugely useful for improving riding speed - and 90% of people can go faster downhill... especially the boys with tjoobs.... who have a built in advantage Now I have to go work on my uphill technique... fanievb and rouxtjie 2
rouxtjie Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 True.... fortunately I don't have a tjoob... but I don't really understand the desire to have what are actually useful numbers to an Elite athlete when they are 30kg overweight... drop the weight and performance will improve dramatically. And on an MTB there are 2 important points to understand - a) LEARN TO RIDE and b) DEVELOP BIGGER BALLS... Technique is hugely useful for improving riding speed - and 90% of people can go faster downhill... especially the boys with tjoobs.... who have a built in advantage Now I have to go work on my uphill technique... Loving your work this AM....sums my sentiment up completely...especially around skills and being "smooth" on the trails.
V12man Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Loving your work this AM....sums my sentiment up completely...especially around skills and being "smooth" on the trails. Smooth = fast..... works when you drive a car on a racetrack too.... But it is hugely interesting to look at some of the PRO's strava numbers on mixed sections - they are fast everywhere - uphill, technical sections and downhill... rouxtjie 1
rouxtjie Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Smooth = fast..... works when you drive a car on a racetrack too.... But it is hugely interesting to look at some of the PRO's strava numbers on mixed sections - they are fast everywhere - uphill, technical sections and downhill...Yea also noticed that...its like they are not fighting the terrain, like us chumps....line choices in split decisions and relying less on suspension is like second nature to them. Must say since I have had my singlespeed with rigid fork, this is the one area I can feel an improvement in my riding. If your line choice is kuk, the fork will let you know and punish you.
jcza Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Jeeez you okes are getting into very technical detail here. How do you monitor this when riding/racing? All I want to know is when I'm in the red zone. Like rouxtjie says check your FTP from time to time and you'll see improvement (hopefully). When using power with strava you will see estimated FTP once you have enough data. Sworks20 1
rouxtjie Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Jeeez you okes are getting into very technical detail here. How do you monitor this when riding/racing? All I want to know is when I'm in the red zone. Like rouxtjie says check your FTP from time to time and you'll see improvement (hopefully). When using power with strava you will see estimated FTP once you have enough data.Easy, don't need fancy schmancy devices....if your mouth starts tasting like you licked a metal pole...right there...that is the red zone
jcza Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Easy, don't need fancy schmancy devices....if your mouth starts tasting like you licked a metal pole...right there...that is the red zone I know that feeling. I don't like suffering but I think I'm quite good at it.
rouxtjie Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 I know that feeling. I don't like suffering but I think I'm quite good at it.BS....you don't like it....you love it. Most of us can suffer, you can just suffer for longer cause you like it....in a weird s&m kind of way.
V12man Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Jeeez you okes are getting into very technical detail here. How do you monitor this when riding/racing? All I want to know is when I'm in the red zone. I don't - my partner complains about me biting his butt trying to hang on.... Like rouxtjie says check your FTP from time to time and you'll see improvement (hopefully). When using power with strava you will see estimated FTP once you have enough data. I don't trust Strava's power estimates at all - they don't agree with any level of accuracy with my power meters.... unfortunately, because it would be nice if they did.
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