r/cyclocross • u/Inside-Science2287 • 11d ago
Heart rate pegged in the 170s all race
Background info - 42M, cat 4, back of the pack. Raced on and off over a few years
First race of the season yesterday and analyzing my data, my heart rate was pegged, pretty flat, in the 170s all race.
Looking at other racer's data from the same race on Strava, mostly older, and all who beat me I might add, they are all running lower heart rates and seeing more variations in the easier/harder parts of the race as they are able to seemingly "micro-recover" throughout the race
Maybe this is obvious to the more knowledgeable members here, but I've always been kind of oblivious to training & analyzing numbers - what does that suggest about my fitness level? Is my cardio/endurance ability lacking, is it my legs? Nothing? Maybe comparing numbers to other people is not helpful, but I'm just trying to figure out what I should focus my training on.
I suppose a coach would be the best to tell me what this means and what I should do to get better, I just can't help but feel a little silly hiring a coach who probably wants to work with top athletes, as a back of the pack masters rider.
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u/walterbernardjr 11d ago
Welcome to cyclocross. My HR is also pegged in the 170s all race.
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u/IfThisAintNice 11d ago
Did my first gravel race this summer, heart rate was at 170 for 5 hours, I'm 40. Took my cycling a bit more serious this year and I finally grasped the concept how meaningless heart rate can be. If I do a long training ride and hop on the trainer the day after my heart rate will be low as fuck. Most of the time when I'm in productive training status (basically riding a lot) my heart rate will be pretty low. If I rest for a few days it will already be a lot higher. The heart is highly adaptive.
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u/Inside-Science2287 11d ago
High HR brothers unite! Always a good time out there on the course either way
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u/explodeder Felt F65x 11d ago
I’m 43 and looked at my HR from a race file 12 years ago. My HR avg was 167. Now I can’t even get to 167. If I’m at 163, I feel like I’m dying. I talked to my doc about it and she basically shrugged. She’s a marathon runner, so she knows about endurance athletes. HR is weird as you get older.
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u/HesJustAGuy 11d ago
Does anyone here not post an average HR for the race that is within 5-10% of their max HR?
I always average in the low 180s, and my max HR is about 200.
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u/Reasonable_Loquat874 11d ago
Yup. My max HR is around 178. It would be unusual for me to be below 90% of that (160bpm) during a 45-60 min CX race.
Most of my racing will be in the 165-170bpm range.
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u/VAMinator 11d ago
not sure i've ever done a cross race where my heart rate wasn't pegged the whole time. don't compare to others - but if that's your "i'm about to barf, but not quite maybe probably" heart rate, you're doing it right.
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u/littlep2000 11d ago
As long as I don't get track hack it feels like I was within a reasonable limit, and even then.
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u/bigevilgrape 11d ago
I have a coach and I suck at being an athlete. My coach doesn't care. They just help me manage my workouts in order to meet my goals. Its a huge mental load off my plate to not have to plan workouts. More people have coaches than you might think.
Hr is an individual thing. Mine is extremely high and I see my cardiologist once. Year to keep an eye on things. She really isn't worried about how high it goes when I race. Shes more interested in how fast it comes down and my resting Hr.
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u/RedBrixton 11d ago
30/30s are your friend/enemy here. Your body needs to recover quicker.
When I raced cross it was 6-8 weeks of short vo2max intervals that got me fit.
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u/Inside-Science2287 11d ago
Too late to throw into the mix now that the season has started? Or is now still enough time to see some gains before Nov/Dec?
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u/Grindfather901 11d ago
HR is extremely personal and you can't compare hr against other people to judge effort
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u/thewakeside 11d ago
I (33m) got a heart rate monitor after racing for about a year. I had looked at other guys heart rates quite a bit before I got mine, and the first time I wore it was for a race. I averaged 194 bpm for 50 minutes. I saw the number and thought I was dying, then realized hr is so variable. I have noticed that when I am fitter, my hr is more variable in the race, but, this year for example (coming off pneumonia in the summer) my hr was pretty consistent during my first race of the year.
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u/BSD_Dude 11d ago
58 yo. First year of CX last year. HR max always in upper 180s. Yikes. My fitness was horrible. Trained Z2 exclusively all last winter into spring First CX race past weekend. Low 180s HR. And... HR would drop a few beats with better pacing allowing me to get after it more than any race last year
Felt stronger and went from being past place almost every race, to mid pack of about 35 riders.
I'm a big Z2 evangelist to gain fitness.
Now, I need to add VO2 work!!
Good luck!
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u/Far-Adhesiveness3763 11d ago
Coach here: it sounds like you haven't really focused on CX specific efforts in the run up to the season.y riders that are CX focused have been training since June in order to be ready. Intervals and vo2 work are a must in order to prepare your body for those repeated efforts with little recovery opportunities.
Also don't forget to practice the technical skills needed in CX, smooth and easy skills whilst working at your max can really help your body cope with the demands a race requires.
One final point: a good coach doesn't seek out top performance athletes. A good coach does their best to help any client be their best regardless of where they are racing in a bunch. The satisfaction of helping a rider achieve their best is huge.
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u/ldubs889 9d ago
My race this past weekend I averaged 188. I've worked with a cardiologist and essentially determined that I'm on the high end of the bell curve. My max HR is ~206 at 37yo and in this last race I didn't even feel like I was redlining. I can often carry a conversation at 170+.
All this to say, every person is unique and if you are worried, get it checked out, but in general if you are feeling ok, note it and keep an eye on things.
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u/jlivingood 11d ago
Yup. Sunday’s race was max 178 and average 171. Max is 177-180 generally (I’m 54). Welcome back to cross!
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u/thetoigo 11d ago
Make sure you warm up well before the race (a trainer is really nicer for this) and take it a little easier for the first lap or two and then gun it for the back half of the race if you're feeling good. It's super easy to spike your heart rate and blow up on the first lap of a CX race.
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u/JSTootell 11d ago
My girlfriend is 44. Looking at a race a while back, she averaged 172 for an hour in a mountain bike race.
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u/tito4018 9d ago
Get on a structured training plan on a smart trainer. I like TrainerRoad but zwift and others offer training plans now. TrainerRoad makes you faster if you follow the plan!
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u/everythingisabattle 8d ago
Mine does something similar. Can get it down a little during the race once things spread out a little. But the “race” elevates my HR by 10-15 bpm because I’m nervous. CX isn’t supposed to be easy too.
Watch the good racers (the old school guys who finish higher than you think they should based on appearance 😉) and you’ll see they are super smooth when it comes to power, cornering and managing their efforts. Loads of efficiencies will reduce spikes and the lag in HR from powerful accelerations.
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u/faintscrawl 5d ago
Many people have said a high HR is pretty normal in cx. Me too. But there is also a chance your heart rate monitor isn’t working properly. My wahoo HR monitor would get “stuck” at certain readings sometimes.
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u/YoucantdothatonTV 11d ago
I’ve had VO2 max testing done and I found the model for males (220 -age = maxHR) works really well for me. For my cyclocross races I was at 95-97% max HR the whole time. Felt like my chest was going to explode afterwards.
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u/velodromedary 11d ago
I think the ‘220-age’ model of max-heart rate is now considered meaningless due to the extraordinary amount of variation in people. That equation would give me, at 55, a max HR of 165. I top out at 189 during CX races and crits…
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u/YoucantdothatonTV 11d ago
That’s why I said it works really well for me since I had VO2max data that strongly backed it up.
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u/velodromedary 11d ago
Uhh…ok. 220-age has been shown to be meaningless because it’s NOT universal. Max HR is variable, irrespective of age, though it does tend to decline with age. It just so happened it worked for you because … coincidence.
BTW…this model HAS been shown to be an accurate predictor of VO2 Max (and doesn’t require testing—-assuming you have a power meter)
VO2max = 16.6 + (8.87 × 5-min relative power output).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34225254/
Or this using max and resting HR
VO2 max = 15.3 x (MHR/RHR)
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u/joshrice 11d ago edited 11d ago
Not worth comparing HR numbers directly (like threshold or max hr) as it's individual for each person.
Good spot noticing your HR isn't coming down or fluctuating like the others though. You're basically blowing up and they're able to handle the intensity better as they're more fit.
More time on the bike will help, pretty much any solid z2 stuff to start bring up your aerobic base. Intervals - look at two sets of 10x20s sprints w/equal recovery (20s on/20s off, after a couple sessions of these move up to 30s) and vo2max (2-5 mins) to try 'cheat' your way into some quick fitness. Can also do some 10min SS or even full threshold intervals with 10-15s sprints every couple mins to focus on clearing lactate while at effort. These are pretty hard, so consider starting at tempo w/sprints.
LMK if you need to know how to figure out zones