Being Coached

Its been a few weeks now since I got my coach, so an update here is overdue. But I'm really not sure where to start!

Obviously he is still getting to know me and where I am with my fitness - having explained to him I've been unwell. All the work at the moment is around building my aerobic endurance, each ride is under strict instructions on heart rate zones and the highest I have been allowed to go so far is level 4 (i.e. below anaerobic threshold). Which brings me onto zones...

My coach does do proper HR / VO2Max (etc) testing, but we are leaving it a few more weeks before I get that done (in order to allow the benefit of these first few structured weeks to take effect). In the meantime he has used one of my spin classes to roughly determine my zones. The class was a "race day" class, its the nearest you get (with these instructors) to a full balls out session. The goal here was 30 minutes of very hard (sustainable - just!) work, taking average HR%'s for each 10 minute section. My averages were 88%, 89%, 91%. Given my known max HR of 189 this lead to the following zones being defined:

Zone 1 : 123-137 (recovery)
Zone 2 : 138-150 (aerobic)
Zone 3 : 151-157 (tempo)
Zone 4 : 158-168 (sub threshold)
Zone 5a: 169-171 (super threshold)
Zone 5b: 172-177 (aerobic capacity)
Zone 5c: 178-189 (anaerobic capacity)

So now its no longer about HR%, its all about these numbers and zones. I am trying very hard to remember them! It does help though that most gadgets will display zones as well as HR. Although the ones I have have a max of only 5 zones, but I will worry about that later.

One misc note here about the best gadget I have, the Garmin 705. Not only has it let me define my zones but I have been able to completely re-design the two data screens to show the information I now need, ordered exactly as I like. I have even managed to reduce the amount of information I have displayed, so the data at the top is automatically made bigger to fill the space. Bloody fantastic device that, just superb.

Toys Toys Toys (aka Money Money Money the sequel)

So as I mentioned in my previous post I have some new bits of kit. First off is the Tacx Flow turbo trainer. I had a Tacx Satori before and I highly recommend it, in some ways I prefer it to the new one, its certainly a lot prettier! But the flow does have a lovely LCD display that is bright and clear to read. It is also (to a certain extent) customisable in its display. As I said in my previous post its a shame it won't upload to the PC but it does show power, and in terms of being able to measure performance and progression over time that's vital. And as I sold my Satori to a friend it didn't even cost that much!

The next thing is a Polar RS400 SD. Again this was a serious eBay bargain but that aside I am a big fan of this watch. Its actually a running HRM as it comes with a foot pod, now obviously I have no need for this, it was just what was on offer. You can get a cadence sensor for it but I have the Edge 705 for that, this is purely for spinning heart rate uploads. Its got a big clear display which again can be customised (I'm a big fan of this, I like data to be where I want not where someone else decided, one of the big plus points of the 705 in my opinion). Its easy to use and program. Uploading to the PC is also a breeze, you just put it next to the infra-red USB key (supplied) and let the software do the rest, its really that simple. Some other nice features include the "night mode" where if you bring the watch close to the HR sensor on your chest the display lights up. That would be very very useful when running outside. I do also think its very nice to look at. My only gripe with it is the buttons on the sides, they a not easy to "click" and are too fidly. Apart from that though its lovely.