Heart rate on long pieces for performance

[1984]

Hey all, just wondering what my heart rate should be on longer pieces, considering I am erging twice a day and do not want to overtrain. Long pieces is typically 9-14Km so 40-60 mins. At about 18SPM.

I am training for performance, not fat loss.

I am 17, 65Kg and my heart rate is normally about 148 avg for the piece.


Also, is there an optimum SPI i should be at?

EDIT: My second session is normally a high intensity session with intervals

[gregsmith01748]

A good starting place is 70% of your max heart rate.

Also, I think intervals every day might put you at risk of over training.

[1984]

A good starting place is 70% of your max heart rate.

Also, I think intervals every day might put you at risk of over training.

Thanks for your quick reply.

How long should it take for me to reach the target of 70%? Normally it takes me about 10 minutes before my heart rate is at that level. It stays at about 145-150 for the remainder of the piece besides the last 5-10 minutes in which it normally goes up to about 153-155. This gives an average for the workout of about 148 normally.

My max heart rate seems to be somewhere between 203-205. I have seen it go to 203 but feel I could maybe get it a few pips higher.

As for the overtraining, I don't literally train every day, the plan is for two workouts a day for 5-6 days in a row before taking 1-2 days rest, then repeating. With this rest day/2 days am I still at risk of overtraining? Or could I keep this intensity?

[Gettingold]

1984
Your body knows what it can and can't do. If you start to go backwards and frustration sets in due to a lack of results, then perhaps your training schedule needs adjusting. On the other hand if you are managing the workload and indeed flourishing....keep it up. For a 50 year old guy I seem to be able to get through a lot of work...... but I'm not a big fan of low stroke rates. They are great for technique but don't help me in race situations. When training for an increase in pace I try to sit between 26 - 35 spm depending on the distance. I don't go much for the HR monitors but can appreciate their value from a technical standpoint. This seems to be a sport that measures heart by size rather than beats per minute. Many a great achievment would have been stopped in its tracks if attention was paid to the data....there's nothing wrong with instinct.
Gettingold

[gregsmith01748]

A good starting place is 70% of your max heart rate.

Also, I think intervals every day might put you at risk of over training.

Thanks for your quick reply.

How long should it take for me to reach the target of 70%? Normally it takes me about 10 minutes before my heart rate is at that level. It stays at about 145-150 for the remainder of the piece besides the last 5-10 minutes in which it normally goes up to about 153-155. This gives an average for the workout of about 148 normally.

My max heart rate seems to be somewhere between 203-205. I have seen it go to 203 but feel I could maybe get it a few pips higher.

As for the overtraining, I don't literally train every day, the plan is for two workouts a day for 5-6 days in a row before taking 1-2 days rest, then repeating. With this rest day/2 days am I still at risk of overtraining? Or could I keep this intensity?

Some folks start a bit harder to get up into the desired training zone, but I tend to stick to a steady pace throughout. If the hr avg is around the 70% mark then your doing fine.

I'm sure that someone as young as you are could do fine with 10 or more workouts per week, but you should definitely polarize your training. Keep your easy sessions easy and track your progress on your hard workouts. If you don't see improvement, then I would do more steady state and fewer interval sessions. Most or what I've seen says that national squads do less than 20% of training time above threshold heart rates.

Are you following a set plan? If not I recommend that you read the wolverine plan. You may not want to follow it, but it has some good advice buried in the writeup.

[jamesg]

I shouldn't worry about SPI (also known as work) if you're at 70% HRR at rate 18. If anything, it's too high; but even 0.1-0.2W' can make a difference.

Coaches sometimes reduce the gearing a little as their crews learn to pull a more efficient stroke. No one wants to blow up half way, and pulling too hard is a good way to do that. Low drag or low gearing won't stop you going fast in the last 500, on the contrary.

A good warm-up with backstop drill, idling and so on can take 10-15 minutes, even more for sprints.