Comments on: Kill Your Heart Rate Monitor

By: Fat Cyclist » Blog Archive » The Joys of Quantification, Part 2: Garmin Edge 510 Long-Term Usage Thoughts

Mon, 28 Jul 2014 19:30:27 +0000

[...] And while I use the GPS itself all the time, I don’t use any of the things it can wirelessly connect to. I don’t connect to any ANT+ devices like a power meter or speed/cadence sensor. I also don’t use a heart rate monitor. [...]

By: Heart Rate Monitors and Training | A Year of Living...humm...dangerous?

Heart Rate Monitors and Training | A Year of Living...humm...dangerous? — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 11:33:41 +0000

[...] week the Fat Cyclist did a post on Killing Your Heart Rate Monitor. It was a good post which basically pointed out the difference between training/racing philosophies [...]

By: Carrie Cheadle

Carrie Cheadle — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:44:04 +0000

Yes! I recommend this all the time. When that feedback ends up holding you back instead of informing your training decisions – it’s no longer serving you. When you look down and see that number and have an expectation of what you can (or can’t) do based on the number you see – that’s going to affect your thoughts, which influences how you feel physically, influences what you believe you’re capable of, and inevitably impact your performance. That was good advice you gave! :)

By: Kev

Kev — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 15:26:51 +0000

After I retired from high-level road competitions at age 36, my monitor broke down and I didn’t replace it. I got back into high-speed downhill skiing and found that the wind noise was dominating my senses, so I used earplugs, which allow me to feel the snow & ice through the skis/boots/bones.

I then started using the plugs when cycling (slightly wetted to seat them, and it dampens sound even more). For safety, I can still hear engine & tire noise from vehicles coming from behind, but I can hear (and concentrate) on nuances in my heartbeat and breathing. With enhanced hearing, I can better associate different effects of road surfaces through the bike, and this creates a ‘feel’ for the terrain.

Try it a few times; you won’t go back to wind shriek.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 02:54:05 +0000

Loved this post!

I usually wear a heart rate monitor to re-iterate to my body that I’m not actually pushing myself as hard as I could be… But over the weekend, I refrained from using the HRM and beat my time up a local hill climb by a whole minute. Worked wonders!

By: Will deRosset

Will deRosset — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 20:03:03 +0000

Sheesh.

I use a heart rate monitor from time to time.

I find it helpful in one way–I’m apparently the laziest athlete I know, and one that is easily distracted. Consequently, my pace pushing a wind or climbing can ordinarily be described as “conversational”, while I maunder on world hunger or whether the 17T cog out back is getting shark-toothed–it is making a bit of noise–Hey, was that an Eastern Kingbird? Are they native here??

My HRM (or, for that matter, a speedometer) gives me something to bring my focus back to my effort in training. I don’t use either in races (I’m plenty focused then), or on recreational rides (where the goal is a conversational pace, and, hopefully, conversation, even if it is with myself.)

Cheers,

Will
William M. deRosset
Fort Collins, CO

By: Chainlinks: Best of the Bike Web, June 6, 2014 - Trail & Tarmac

Chainlinks: Best of the Bike Web, June 6, 2014 - Trail & Tarmac — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 14:21:46 +0000

[...] Man, with Strava and power meters and heart rate monitors, everything can be tracked. But should everything be tracked that could be tracked? Fat Cyclist makes the case against heart rate monitors. [...]

By: geraldatwork

geraldatwork — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 20:28:06 +0000

I am a 66 year old road biker. I wear a HR monitor all of the time. At my age I am not supposed to go higher than about 150-160. However I ignore those numbers and on a 60 mile 3-4 hour ride I average about 150 with my peak sometimes going into the low 180’s. I can maintain 160-170 for about 20 minutes. So I use it in reverse of most people. If I am feeling tired on a hill and feel I can’t go any harder if my HR is 170 I know I can kick it in and push harder.

By: George

George — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 20:06:47 +0000

Fatty- Happy National Running Day.
Enjoy it without a heart rate monitor!

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:18:51 +0000

I use my HRM ONLY to track data and never look while riding. It is nice to watch my average and maximum HRs decrease as I get into better shape after sluggish winters in Ohio.