Heart Rate

[ess121212]

I got a new toy for Xmass. What is your max heart rate ? Mine has been up to 189. How do you use them best for racing ?

[Paul_Arlinghaus]

I would advise that you get the following book.

The Cyclist's Training Bible, Joe FrielI used it when I raced.  Max heart rate isn't as important as knowing your lactic Threshold Heart Rate.  You can determine that from testing detailed in the book.
For me, training with an HR monitor was important for base training.  To really improve over the long term you need to do focused zone 2 rides in you base periods. Zone 2 is very hard to feel correctly.

[PKemppainen]

I used a Garmin Edge with a heart rate monitor last season, mainly for my road riding. I have a route I use for personal time trials, and started by setting a "base performance level". The first couple of trips out on my time trial loop, I rode as hard as my body would allow. I began the season with a heart rate average that ran in the 140-145 range,  and peaked in the 175-180 range during hill climbs and sprints. My average speed for the loop, which is in the rolling hills of southern Indiana, was in the 15.5 mph range.
 
Over the summer and fall, along with other riding, I would ride the same loop occasionally, riding hard to keeping my heart rate up, and would try to hit the hills and sprints as hard or harder than I did the time before. With the Garmin, I had the advantage of knowing things like how fast I'd climbed a hill on a previous ride and would try to climb it faster. I had a few rides early in season where my heart rate for the route was a little higher, but by the end of the season, I was running the same loop at 17.5-17.9 mph with the same heart rate averages I'd started the year with.
 
 
 
 

[gt ss]

I don't know my max but I've recorded a 39 after sleeping but before getting up. Total relaxation

[Fett]

My max HR a few years ago was 214. The highest that I have seen in the last year is 212.  A high or low max does not mean much except to set your zones. My lactic threshhold (LT) is around 184-185. A more telling indication of fitness is how fast your HR comes back down after a hard effort. In a typical DINO type race, you would want to keep your HR right around LT for the duration of the race.  For longer endurance type races, you want it a bit lower. When I was doing 24 hr solo races, I tried to keep my HR around 10 beats below LT (175).
Paul's advice is very good for training purposes.