Hi, can someone tell me what the intended target heart rate range is for the Short HIIT 30"/30" bike workouts? (regular Tue session as part of the TT plan, build phase)
I did 4 sets of 7x30/30, and my HR barely reached my threshold heart rate - it got up to 100% LTHR (91% HRmax) once in the final set, and up to 95% LTHR (87% HRmax) in the off intervals, but for most of the intervals and sets it was below this.
(e.g. in the final half (3.5 mins) of the final set, my HR averaged 96% LTHR (87% HRmax))
My power for the “ons” is about as much as I can manage (145-150%FTP) - I’ve done longer sets, but i have to drop my power and still have the same result in terms of HR below thresholdHR.
Is this the intended HR zone for this session? am i getting the right stimulus for whatever these sessions are meant to be targeting?
If these are meant to be VO2max sessions, should i try other VO2max formats (e.g. shortening the rest 30/15; or Bossi intervals etc.) to get my HR up into the 90-95% HRmax zone for longer?
Giuseppe is right that power matters the most. However, it’s important to see your heart rate rise. with the efforts. Typically, your HR should be in Zone 5 by the end. If it’s not, then you might be a bit fatigued or underfueled. Make sure you get enough recovery coming into these efforts, and make sure you’re getting carbohydrates on board before you start.
If your HR doesn’t come up at all, it’s a good sign that your body isn’t ready for the intervals and that you should probably stop the work and just pedal for a while to recover.
Thanks, appreciate the explanation.
I was pretty rested and raring to go but still had to knock back the power in the 3rd set. My HR rose within each set, but from 2nd to 4th sets only got so high (top Z4 HR, barely reaching Z5) as i couldn’t really generate much more power (without failing).
If that looks ok and still driving the right adaptations then great.
Thanks
Based on my understanding, this looks ok. It is going to take a while to get your HR up - more than 30 seconds. So I don’t look at average HR across a set. I look at my HR for the last few intervals of the last set or two. With 4 sets and 6 intervals I might look at just the last interval or two of sets 3 and 4.
The last interval of set 4 at 91% is good. If this was me, I would try to do this same ride for my next VO2max session and see if I can adjust power targets to hit 92% (165bpm) on the final interval of set 3 and the final 2 intervals of set 4.
I’m not a coach or a HIIT scientist, so take my experience and suggestion with a grain of salt.
thanks for the reply. when you say 91% and 92% is that of HR max?
I think my HRmax is around 187 so i’d be looking at 172bpm for 92% (but i’m topping out at 168bpm, or 90%) - although i know one can’t be too precise about these things.
I’ll play around with the power (although i can’t hit much more power) and shortening the rest etc., to see if i can get to 91/92% in latter parts of the latter sets. Cheers!
