Interesting to revisit this. I've always been a bit of a stathead. Power has superceded heart rate now and I've lost a further 10lbs and gained 15+ VO2.
My max HR is down, I rarely if ever see 170+.
The Lifecyle is still going strong and now being used to watch Battlestar Galactica
Much can and indeed has been written on training for cycling and general fitness. Here is a hitlist of stuff I have found useful.
Best web site:
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/
> This is the best general purpose web site that I have come across for training. It does not have much specific to cycling but has a wealth of other useful info.
Scales: I have been trying to lose weight for as long as I can remember. Buying a set of digital scales that also gave a fat% was the tipping point to me actually succeeding this time. Every day I weigh myself in the morning and evening, the variances can be surprising, some days I have gained or lost 6lbs. But that said there is a clear correspondence, not surprisingly between how much I eat/train and my weight. Digital scales let you see this very clearly, I feel much more in control of my weight as a result.
Heart Rate Monitoring: One thing all good exercise guides stress is the importance of knowing your heart rate when training. I fully endorse this, the heart rate is like a combination of speedometer and fuel gauge on a car. Monitoring it is gives a clear indication of how hard/efficiently you are working and so when to push yourself harder or ease off. It also gives you a gauge on fitness improvements, if you can carry out the same exercise routine at a lower heart rate then you are getting fitter. I mentioned elsewhere that I use a HAC4 monitor and would recommend this. A couple of other comments:
> To train effectively you need to know your "maximum heart rate". The usual rule of thumb to calculate this is 220-age. This is not accurate and I would recommend you try to find out your real maximum (see "brianmac" for suggestions, basically all mean pushing yourself to the limit of exhaustion and a bit more and seeing what your highest pulse rate is). This makes a difference, in my case (47 years old) my theoretical maximum is 173bpm but I have trained at 176bpm and seen peaks of 182.
> The other good measure is "resting heart beat". This can be tricky to measure, strictly speaking you need to measure it first thing in the morning when you are still lying flat in your bed. The lower the better though a reading of zero may mean you are overdoing things. TDF riders have famously low resting heart rates in the 30s or even 20s. Mine is 45.
Exercise bike: I have had exercise bikes in the past but stopped using them either because I got bored or they broke. This time I decided to avoid both by spending enough money to get a decent one. I chose the "Lifefitness R9i" for a number of reasons
> I had used them in the gym so I knew the brand well
> The model comes with loads of programs so I know I would not get bored.
> It is a recumbent cycle which makes it a lot easier to watch TV or read a book while exercising.
I would definitely recommend this machine or similar.
Results
The acid test as to whether all the above helps or not will of course be how I manage in the TDF. But so far good as I have
> Reduced my weight from 14st6lbs to 11st 10lbs (i.e. lost 38lbs or 17kg)
> Reduced body fat from 25% to 14%
> Increased my VO2 from 34 to 50.
> Increased person best on the exercise bike of calories burned in 30 mins from 300 to 550.
