[QUOTE]Originally posted by jodes
[B]Thanks for your feedback, I think I'm still learning about the budgeting energy thing and racing. I started out in the race I just did (89km) feeling really good, so was taking strong, hard laps, thinking I'd be getting rid of the less stronger girls. I think that, plus maybe not eating quite enough, meant by the time I got to about 65km I had used up most of my energy. In saying that, I still managed to finish 4th, but was a minute behind the two first girls.
[/quote]
during training and racing it's important to take on energy - this is generally best in the form of a carbohydrate-electrolyte drink as a ~ 6% solution. Generally, it's easier to drink than eat and as you *must* take on fluids, drinks are the way to go. The drink/powder should just be carbohydrates with electrolytes in, other stuff, isn't much use.
Try sipping small amounts every 15 or so mins, and make sure you have had plenty of carbohydrates (and fluids) prior to beginning your race. This will ensure that your muscle and liver glycogen (body's energy stores) are fully topped up. you should aim to consume 1 g of carbohydrate per kg body mass per hour prior to racing. For example, if you weighed 60 kg and ate 2 hrs prior to racing you should consume ~120 g of carbohydrates.
it's also be worth trying out this amount of food in training to make sure that you are comfortable with the quantity etc. also, do not try anything new prior to a race as something is bound to go wrong!
Quoted post said:
I'm still trying to find out about LT and where exactly mine is. I haven't had any tests done, and can't really afford it, and I'm not totally sure what my max is, but would guess it would be around 195-197. I've got it up to 193 before.
your LT is actually quite a low intensity -- the usual definition of LT is the workload that elicits a 1 mmol/L in lactate of exercise baseline levels (giving about 2.xx mmol/L). another definition, is the workload that elicits a fixed rate of 2.5 mmol/L.
Thus, LT has *nothing* whatsoever to do with HR. It's a workload, which is measured in power (watts) in cycling or velocity (km/hr, m/s) in running.
Trained athletes can maintain LT for ~ up to 3+ hours.
Quoted post said:
The first half of the race my heart rate averaged 172 (we averaged 36.5km/hr), the last half was lower, around 165. I think my LT must be around 170ish. Although in saying that, in the criteriums I do, which are around 35-40 minutes, my heart rate has averaged over 180 sometimes. Also, with hill climbing, I can often keep my heart rate around 175-180 for a hill 3-4 km's long.
if you are trying to find what HR you can sustain for say a TT, then the best option is to time trial for an hour and find the average. however, it's imperative to understand that HR can vary at a given workload due to many external conditions, for example, cadence, temperature, altitude, foodstuffs, anxiety, caffiene, fatigue, etc.
i find that when doing TT training my HR at the same power output can vary by up to 15+ b/min depending on recent training and how over reached i am. Thus, it's important if you don't have a power meter to be able to accurately rely on percieved exertion as well as HR.
Quoted post said:
Is anyone able to help me out with determining my LT? I know if I did a time trial for 20 minutes, my average HR might be my LT, but I am confused about the variations in my heart rate depending on what type of racing etc I'm doing. [/B]
Your LT is (very) unlikely to be the workload associated with a 20-min TT effort.
ric
