The Great Debate – Heart Rate vs. Power Meter
Many of you, out there in Peanut
Gallery Land may think this Blog is a nonstarter… by saying…
“COME ON SARVARY!” DON’T WASTE OUR TIME! EVERYONE KNOWS HANDS DOWN THE POWER METER IS
A WAY BETTER TRAINING OPTION! NEXT
TOPIC!!!!
Well you may be right… but then again,
you may only be half right.
So before you get too comfortable
sitting in your “I know everything on the subject of the Power Meter” chair…
let’s be sure you do know everything… because I sure didn’t.
Admittedly…
I am a rabid fan of the Heart Rate Monitor. I have trained and raced with one for years
and despite owning a bike shop, I have found no reason to change what has been
working for me up to this point.
With that said; there are lots of folks, who have never
trained with either a HR monitor, nor a Power Meter and are trying to make the
decision on which direction to go… and
here are the pictures that may be popping up in their heads…
Power Meter…. Just
like strapping an Acme Power Rocket to my butt!!! Kick ass power! Yeah, baby…
I want one of those!!!!
OR
A Heart Rate Monitor…. Simple, elegant, no unnecessary weight. Just me and the sound of my heartbeat to keep
me company. Let’s go drive our Lactate
threshold through the roof and go get some prize money!!!
So…
Here’s what happens if you get overly enthusiastic and run out and buy
either of these little babies and forget a few important points before the
purchase.
Important note: For the most part… I try to keep my language
pretty clean in these blogs (for those of you who know me… that is no easy
task) … but this is Wile E. Coyote’s sign… not mine, and it was just too funny to pass up. So I am taking a bad language mulligan.
#1.
With either device… You are ultimately the motor. Neither the Power Meter, nor the Heart Rate
Monitor will “make you faster”. They are
important tools to help you improve and show you “how” to go faster. But you
and you
alone are the motor.
#2. Both Devices will require base lines for them
to be useful to you. Without a baseline,
you will be shooting in the dark and will have no reference points in which to
train by.
#3.
The data can be complicated (particularly with a Power Meter) to
interpret. Some of the more advanced
(and higher priced) HR Monitors allow for lots and lots of data to be uploaded
to the web or your computer, to be analyzed after your rides/races. If that’s not what you are looking for… then
you may be spending money for a device that turns into an overpriced bike
computer.
As a shop….
We build lots and lots of custom
wheels with Power Taps, and other versions of Power Meters for our customers:
So, I know that Power Meters (along with Heart
Rate Monitors) are both very popular training tools… so, I decided to do some
research and do my very best in putting my personal opinions aside and take a
very unbiased approach in providing you all with an overview of what I
discovered…
Okay, here’s the deal.
On the subject of Power Meters… there
is/are a bunch of articles and of course like a certain part of our anatomy… it
seems that everyone has an opinion on the subject (who would have guessed!).
I thought some of the articles were
better than others… so as I have in other blogs, I will share a few links,
paraphrased, shamelessly cut and pasted and given vague credit to the authors
who did the real work. Have I
sufficiently covered my butt yet??? No… oh,
whatever…
Let’s first define what each device
measures and then we’ll get into what my research uncovered.
Power Meters: Measure Power output expressed in watts. Power meters come in different shapes and sizes and different
ways of measuring power; including bottom bracket torque, rear wheel hub torque
and chain tension.
Pros
Provides you with
a second by second diary
Power meters can
reveal training weaknesses
Cons
Can be prohibitively expensive
Power Data can be
complicated and difficult to interpret
Is not 100%
reliable and can malfunction
Heart Rate Monitor Measures:
Measures your heart rate based on workout intensity, and is expressed in
number of beats per minute.
Pros
Heart rate has a
direct correlation to lactate threshold
Wearing a heart
rate monitor is a non-invasive way to monitor this factor
For longer
distances, heart rate is often used to determine optimal intensity
Cons
Heart rate
monitor does not provide instant feedback, specifically during shorter
intervals
It is often
worthless to use heart rate as an indication of “work” as it takes too long for
the heart rate to catch up
Conditions such
as stress and other external factors can impact the HR monitor
There were 2 separate “independent”
studies conducted on the subject of HR Monitors and Power Meters trying to
determine if one of the devices delivered better results over the other, for athletes:
cyclists also rode 40 km time trials
before and after the training period to assess their power and performance
improvements.
The Details of the second study were
not shared but the results were the same…
Both studies, concluded that neither
group performed better than the other.
Actually, the group of 21 Athletes (the athletes with HR Monitors,
improved 2.5% over the group with Power Meters… but that’s too small of a % of
improvement to count in my book).
Bottom line... There was no significant training advantage found in the use of one training device over the other.
The majority of the guys
on the tour race with HR monitors and train with some combination of HR Monitor and
Power Meter.
Bottom line, you can’t go wrong with
either but as I mentioned earlier, you must establish a base
line to get anything out of the equipment you purchase. It will make you a better rider.
I mentioned earlier in this Blog that
I train with a HR Monitor… specifically, I train with a Garmin Edge 800 HR
monitor. That’s not what makes me go
fast… what makes me go fast is that I train year in and year out on a program
based on heart rate zone training.
Remember when I said earlier that you need a base line??? Well, I had a base line test done on me, by my
coach. That base line test is called a Conconi Test…
A Conconi-Test is a practical method, of
defining your Lactate Threshold LT (as Heart Rate or Power Level at the
anaerobic/aerobic threshold). This can
then be used to define your Training Zones.
So, despite the known weaknesses of
the HR Monitor (HR Lag, the fact that HR reading can be slightly elevated due
to heat, stress, etc.) my training is totally centered around a HR Monitor
system and my HR Zones.
Blue Steel Cyclery will be providing Base Line Testing in the very near future
Our goal as a
shop is to start with HR Monitor Base Line Testing (Conconi Testing) in the
next few weeks and then over time add Base Line Power Meter Testing.
So stay tuned, we’ll let you know as soon
as we have that up and running.
Have fun out there, Ride safe.
Talk to you soon,
The Peanut Gallery
Of all the articles I researched and referenced in this blog, the link below is one of the better ones…
http://thesportfactory.com/site/trainingnews/Should_I_Buy_a_Power_Meter.shtml
Peanut
