It's all about balance

Or not. I'm sure my OH would argue there's nothing at all balanced about my cycling habit, and no doubt responding that splitting my time 50:50 between road and MTB suggest otherwise would be met with a blank look. So let's tip the life-cycling balance some more by introducing... rollers! It's the rain, you see. I can't take another day staring out the window wondering if, when, the rain will ever stop. This is Britain, it's supposed to be summer, so it probably won't stop now until sometime next March. So I caved in and bought some rollers. I was supposed to be waiting for my birthday, but that's a whole couple of months away and I will have totally flipped if I have to wait that long, so I spoiled my own surprise, grabbing a bargain from Planet X, and now -- with a bit of luck -- my shiny new rollers are winging there way to my warm, dry home. Whoopee!

I decided to get rollers rather than a turbo for three reasons: one, I have a short attention span, so having to concentrate makes is more likely I will concentrate -- boredom combined with the whiny giver-upper who lives in my head -- is my biggest enemy. Rollers require that I pay attention or bad things will happen. Two, well it gives me a core workout too, and three, they will also improve my technique. Now I'm not trying to win any prizes, but I like the idea of being more efficient. That's just who I am. Doing anything the long way round drives me crazy, so efficiency appeals to me.

I've read a whole stack of things on the turbo vs. rollers debate, and I have to say it reminds me a little of the Mac vs. PC debate. Those that have them love them, those that don't, don't. Simples. So, I'm getting mine and I'm going to love them. I don't really care what other people like or why; I'm a roller kinda girl, and I'm happy with that. What I do want to know is what I should when they arrive.

The best article I've found so far is by Michael E. Henson: The Lost Art of Balance: Roller Myths Deconstructed


Then there are some videos and other articles I like.

How To Ride On Rollers, over on Bike Radar, has self-explanatory content. It also has a couple of example sessions, which I plan to try out when I progress beyond clinging to the door frame. Have HRM, will roll.

For inspiration, there's How I Learned To Love The Rollers, also on Bike Radar, which includes a not quite as catastrophic as I was expecting video: Sad first time on rollers. I haven't googled YouTube for disaster videos involving rollers, but I'm sure some Jackass wanabees will have posted a few. I'll go take a look...

Too fast, too slow, who knows?

In the past I've managed to ignore just about every article aimed at runners or cyclists that mentions HRM training. I have one, I used to wear it when I ran, but I never really knew why. I guess I had picked up that I should but what to do with it!? Inspired by my recent hill repeat session (which I've decided to repeat next week) I thought maybe I'd look into HR zone training to see what all the fuss is about. I figure if it makes me a stronger cyclist, I'll enjoy my rides more, and enjoyment is what it's all about!

First step then is to calculate my maximum heart rate. There are various ways of doing this, some discredited, others more accurate than others. Interestingly your MHR will be sport-specific. That means if you run your MHR for training will be different to the MHR you use for cycling. Heck, I'd never have thought of that. So which calculation to use and why? Well, as this is the first dip of my toe into the water, I don't want to get too carried away with details, so I'm keeping it simple and taking the calculation from this online tool machinehead software. Neat. Based on this my MHR is 183 bpm and the zones I need to work in are:

• <108 bpm for short, recovery rides
•  109-118 bpm for Zone 1 (60-65%)
• 118-137 bpm for Zone 2 (65-75%)
• 138-150 bpm for Zone 3 (75-82%)
• 150-182 bpm for Zone 4 (82-89%)
• 162-172 bpm for Zone 5 (89-94%)
• 172-183 bpm for Zone 6 (94-100%)

	Okay, so now what does that mean in practice? Good question! There's a really useful article on Bike Radar about getting started with HRM training and ways to train. What's interesting is the comment to me about getting a three-hour Zone 2 ride in as a way to build endurance. As I haven't been recording my HR on rides I have no idea what my usual pattern is, so the project for the next few weeks is to start keeping a record then introduce some structured HR sessions to see what, if any, difference they make to my level of fitness. Watch this space...