LTHR Test
I tried to do a lactate threshold heartrate(LTHR) test yesterday. There's a couple of ways to do this. Chris Carmichael suggests a pair of 3 mile time trials, with a ten minute easy spinning recovery between each. You then take the higher of the average heartrates and use that to base your training percentages while training. Actually I don't think he even calls them LT tests. He uses the term field test.
That's not what I did. I used the Joe Friel 30 minute test. According to this, you do a 30 minute time trial. Your average heart rate over the last 20 minutes is an approximation of your LTHR. From there you set up training zones. The nice thing about the Joe Friel 30 minute test is that you can then use the power score to add into your critical power score.
I didn't do as well as I wanted. I chose Collegeview rd. to do the test. I figured it's a simple out and back road that, once you get a couple miles out, is pretty flat. A couple of things went wrong. I must have missed the start-stop button on the cyclocomputer and didn't realize it for about 5 minutes. So my 30 minute time trial was actuallt more like 35 minutes. There was also the wind. Awesome tailwind going out. Terrible headwind coming back. Going out my average speed was almost 25, hitting 33 at one point. That dropped to 19 after I turned around at hwy 42. Which just happened to be the 10 minute mark (from when I started the timer).
My heartrate for the final 20 minutes averaged 162. I really felt I could've pushed a little harder, but was thrown off by my not starting the time and the wind.
My powerscore was 361 for the entire 30 minutes. I call it a powerscore because I'm taking the calculations from SportTracks GPS2PowerTrack plugin and not an actual powermeter like an SRM, ErGoMo or PowerTap. (Maybe I'll borrow one someday) I have no idea how accurate this is, but it at least gives me a decent estimate and baseline. I doubt it corrasponds with the scores given by the Expresso machines at the gym too, so I'm not even gonna compare the two.
To complete a critical power graph I take readings from max efforts at 12 seconds, 1 minute, 6 minutes, 12 minutes and the 30 minute tt I just did. Then I just estimate from the curve what the critical power score would be at 60, 90 and 120 minutes will be by extending the graph out.
Some of the tests, like the shorter duration tests, I can do on the same day, and even do multiples and figure an average for each time frame.
Both Joe Friel and Chris Charmichael reccommend repeating the tests throughout the season to see if you are improving and to standardise the scores. So I think I repeat this test in a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll hit the button at the right time then.
Right now my TrImp score for the week is at 258. I'm thinking that with a long ride on Saturday and maybe a spin at the gym I'll be at about (or over) 450, mabe even 500. I think i gotta re-adjust my Trimp goals.
Related:
Sporttracks Review
Basic Heartrate Zone Worksheet
Some TrImp info
Other Boring Training Trimp Stuff
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Friday 03/14/2008 | 09:13 am
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