LT Threshold Update

Just did another ride out past Frenchman's Bar. Oh, and rode hard enough for the middle 10 miles to turn my legs into jelly.

10-mile Time Trial	7/2009	8/2009	6/2010	5/2012	4/2013	5/2013 (today)
Time	29m 21s	29m 18s	28m 40s	28m 20s	28m 10s	27m 25s
Average Moving Speed	20.44 mph	20.48 mph	20.93 mph	21.18 mph	21.30 mph	21.88 mph
Average Heart Rate (entire 10 miles)	156 bpm	158 bpm	160.9 bpm	159.7 bpm	162.8 bpm	165.8 bpm
Est. Lactate Threshold (average heart rate last 20 minutes)	n/a	n/a	165.9 bpm	162.1 bpm	164.6 bpm	166.9 bpm

10-Mile Time Trial: Another Lactate Threshold Test

I have neglected to post about any of our rides so far this year. I think it is mostly because they've all been training rides around our house. Same ol' stuff. We're racking up the miles, already over 1,000 for the year. And every single ride has started from home. Including today. I had to write up today, though, because it isn't your ordinary every day ride like all the rest. Today we did a (self-timed) 10-mile time trial so that we could get an approximation of our current Lactate Threshold heart rate.

10-mile Time Trial	7/2009	8/2009	6/2010	5/2012	4/2013 (today)
Time	29m 21s	29m 18s	28m 40s	28m 20s	28m 10s
Average Moving Speed	20.44 mph	20.48 mph	20.93 mph	21.18 mph	21.30 mph
Average Heart Rate (entire 10 miles)	156 bpm	158 bpm	160.9 bpm	159.7 bpm	162.8 bpm
Est. Lactate Threshold (average heart rate last 20 minutes)	n/a	n/a	165.9 bpm	162.1 bpm	164.6 bpm

10-Mile Time Trial: More with Less

After watching the guys in the Tour of California suffer through their Time Trials yesterday I decided it was time to do another Lactate Threshold test, which for me is a 10-mile Time Trial. Didn't take long to remember why I never got around to doing one last year: they're bloody hard!

10-mile Time Trial	7/2009	8/2009	6/2010	5/2012 (today)
Time	29m 21s	29m 18s	28m 40s	28m 20s
Average Moving Speed	20.44 mph	20.48 mph	20.93 mph	21.18 mph
Average Heart Rate (entire 10 miles)	156 bpm	158 bpm	160.9 bpm	159.7 bpm
Est. Lactate Threshold (average heart rate last 20 minutes)	n/a	n/a	165.9 bpm	162.1 bpm

Lactate Threshold (Frenchman OB)

QUICK STATS	This Ride	2010 Cumulative
Distance	23.66 miles	2422 miles
Elevation Gain	718 feet	24.24 miles
Average Moving Speed	16.7 mph	15 mph
Dog Bites	0	1

This was a Lactate Threshold test ride, similar to the ones I did last year. You can find them all nicely grouped here. The Quick Stats data above includes the warm-up and cool-down. The relevant Lactate Threshold portion is the blue highlighted section of the graph linked below (and the data on the left side of the graphic is for that portion of the ride).

The difference between now and last year is that instead of doing a maximum effort 10-mile test (which for me was a little shy of 30 minutes) and using my average heart rate for the whole 10 miles, I am now doing a 30-minute test but using the average heart rate from only the last 20 minutes. Very similar. Just different. I think the current method allows your heart rate to stabilize so that the value is more reflective of reality. Or something like that. Relying on what others recommend here. Of course I myself have no clue!

The nice thing about my current iBike software is that I can still compare to my previous 10-mile time-trial tests since I have all the data...

10-mile TT	7/2009	8/2009	6/2010
Time	29m 21s	29m 18s	28m 40s
Average Moving Speed	20.44 mph	20.48 mph	20.93 mph
Average Heart Rate	156 bpm	158 bpm	160.9 bpm
Average Heart Rate (last 20 minutes)	n/a	n/a	165.9 bpm

So I have definitely improved since last year, which is nice to see. Now I just need to catch up to my dear wife!

Oh, if you're wondering what the LT is all about, you can search for it on the web and there is lots of stuff about it. I basically use it as my maximum heart rate, or the 100% value, and then have various heart rate zones that I try to stay within for specific training purposes. The Ultra Marathon Cycling Association's Heart Rate Training Zones page is a nice summary of what each zone is and under what conditions you should be in each zone.

10-mile Time Trial

Quick Stats
Distance: 10 miles
Elevation Gain: 0 feet
Average Moving Speed: 20.48 mph

Another time trial down on the flat toward Frenchman's Bar.

Did it in 29:18 at average heart rate of 158.

Only 3 seconds faster than prior time trial, but with heart rate 2 beats higher? Weird.

10-mile Time Trial

Quick Stats
Distance: 10 miles
Elevation Gain: 0 feet
Average Moving Speed: 20.44 mph

Did my first 10-mile time trial down on Frenchman flat in order to approximate my Lactate Threshold (LT), aka Anaerobic Threshold (AT).

29:21 time at 156 average heart rate.