Am I a mutant?

How did you measure LT and MHR? What is your 40K MP? What was your average power during the 32.5 minutes? What's your W/KG ratio at 40K, 20K, ...?

RapDaddyo said:

How did you measure LT and MHR? What is your 40K MP? What was your average power during the 32.5 minutes? What's your W/KG ratio at 40K, 20K, ...?

i measured my LT by averaging my heart rate from two recent local 40K TTs. i measured my MHR (197bpm) by doing a "ride to hell" on a local flat road at 75 degrees F. my avg 40K power is 225W. my average power during the 32.5 minutes was 225 W. and my W/KG ratio for a 40K TT is 2.95.

vio765 said:

I recently did a group training ride and had the data collected on my polar 625X w/. power option. when i downlowded the data, i found that i spent about 32.5 straight minutes above 90% of my MHR. my LT is 87% of my MHR. i am used to riding in groups, but this is my 3rd time with this particular training ride, and the conditions were the same (that includes diet, rest,weather,etc). in my previous two rides, spending such a long continuous time above my LT was also noticed, but i thought it was just the excitement of being in a new and faster group. i also noticed that the other riders werent working as hard, but they all have years of experience and were probably pushing hard enough to keep the pace up while staying below LT. my old group rides were much easier than this because the intensity was casual.
now that i know to expect from my new group rides, i am not "psyched up" anymore. i know the route, the riders, and the "little places" that make the ride interesting. The Cyclist's Bible states that if a cyclist can hold out for >5:00 min above LT, then it is considered excellent.
BTW, I can mimic a very high intensity (like 90%+) for a long time (3X15min intervals)in my training rides. this is my first year at cycling. so, am i normal or gifted?

I think it's just the heat. HR is very much effected by environmental variables and heat is one of the biggies. I did two 15 minute intervals today with 10 min of easy spin between them. On the second interval my HR was between 175 - 182 (91.6% - 95.2% of Max) for the entire time, even though I was riding about 1.5 MPH slower on average. My average HR for the ride was 87% of max even though 30 minutes was spent pottering around trying to get my HR down. It wasn't cooperating though.

According to Friel's test, my LTHR is 175 BPM so I was definitely above LTHR for >5 minutes. If I were as fit as this suggests my speeds would be significantly faster. 😉

vio765 said:

i measured my LT by averaging my heart rate from two recent local 40K TTs. i measured my MHR (197bpm) by doing a "ride to hell" on a local flat road at 75 degrees F. my avg 40K power is 225W. my average power during the 32.5 minutes was 225 W. and my W/KG ratio for a 40K TT is 2.95.

Your numbers don't appear to me to be that much of an aberration. Also, your group rides probably involve a lot of surges, which would produce a higher average HR than a steady-state TT at the same average power. Add to that the variability of HR at a given power from one day to the next. And, as Dr. M said, it's hot. All in all, I'd say no, you're not a mutant. Now, crank out 300w for an hour at a 65% HR and I'll have to reconsider.

"The Cyclist's Bible states that if a cyclist can hold out for >5:00 min above LT, then it is considered excellent."

I believe this is in reference to a ramp test where you are bumping up the power by 25 watts every minute, so your final minute would be more than 125 watts above what he calls your lactate threshold.