DO YOU LET POWER OR HR DETERMINE YOUR HARD VS EASY DAYS?
I HADN'T WORN MY HR MONITOR FOR DAYS. It wasn't working consistently, so I left it parked in the drawer. Until today, I gave it a shot and it actually worked...
... it got me thinking about the levels of easy.
There's so easy...
- I can barely feel the pedals
- I can sing a song
- I can easily talk
- I am not sure
... and maybe a few more levels.
My goal today was to ride as close to the top of my Zone 2 as possible, without going over...
... the I'm not sure range.
I wasn't sure, because my heart rate was bouncing at the top of the range. Meanwhile...
... my power was definitely over into a higher range quite often.
This is how I trained for decades, when I just had a HR monitor.
What's more important then...
... HR in Zone 2 or Power in Zone 2?
I'm gonna say, for me at least, HR is more important. It is more reflective of how all systems are working given the effort and absorbs the little efforts when the terrain or other elements require a few more watts.
Here's a real world application.
When I'm racing something epic, like Leadville, I'm going off heart rate for my pacing, and using the power meter to keep things in check when I have to dig a little deeper to close a gap or clean a technical uphill section.
The reality is, for peak performance on the long efforts...
... it's good to have both.
If it's a short race, under an hour, well, you know...
... put the dadgum gadget in the back pocket and race on feel.
Same for a long day of adventuring, who cares about the data when we're out there.
Enjoy the ride.
We can analyze later.
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168. lbs
7.8 hrs sleep
1 Rip On RaceDay Circuit
10 minutes recovery
120 minutes reading + Journaling
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