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So I got a HR monitor

wexford

Maximum Pace
Jul 3, 2012
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It's been a while since I've been out on a ride. Just couldn't get motivated this winter. Spring came and was pretty busy. Birthday came and my sisters bought me a Edge 500 complete with HR mon and cadence sensors. I got it working with a bit of spit and headed off for my first spin in about 6 months. I took route 1 down to Yokohama and back. 44km in all. Legs were killing me on one of the last few pimples on the way back.no major grades on this route.

I haven't figured out the settings on the 500 yet so I was eager to see some data on returning home. Average speed was just over 22kmph. I took the last couple of clicks real easy to warm down. More interesting was my heart rate. An average of 157 over the distance with a high of 183. Hmm. It was 80 when I left the house and never really went below 140 even crawling back on my cool down where some lady on a mama chari passed me carrying a big bag in one hand. Yikes.

I guess I'm not fit. Well I know I'm not but was still shocked with the HR figures. I'm currently trying to figure out how to exercise easier so that I can build up more first but it kills me to ride my road bike slower. Thinking to go out a few times in civilian clothes so I can mentally take it easier.

Next step is probably to figure out how to get the heart rate displayed when riding. The edge seems like a good tool, great insight into what's going on with my body. This would have been cool when I was racing in a previous life.
 
Next step is probably to figure out how to get the heart rate displayed when riding. The edge seems like a good tool, great insight into what's going on with my body. This would have been cool when I was racing in a previous life.



I've never done it before, but I hear reading the manual helps one understand the ins and outs of doing things on electronic devices.

:p
 
Ooof! Booted right in the balls, with a run up.

wexford Garmin HR monitors are always on the blink so probably that.
 
Ooof! Booted right in the balls, with a run up.

wexford Garmin HR monitors are always on the blink so probably that.
It doesn't sound like the problems most peoe have with their garmin HR straps. Mine was spiking upto 240bmp at times. It seems to have calmed down now that I wash and rinse the strap after every workout and I use electrode gel. You might just have a slightly higher heart rate. Some peoples' HRs will be in the 180's when they are pushing hard. Personally mine never really goes above 166 when I'm really pushing.
I hate riding or running without a HR monitor now. The edge 500 will show you your current HR (and probably quite a few other HR stats too should you feel the need).
A few guys on here love training with power meters but I can't personally justify spending that much on one (if I had the money lying around then maybe that would be a different story) so I think a HR monitor is the next best thing.
 
Those figures look pretty standard.
 
RTFM dude! Less interested in tech help as that part has a manual if needed. It's training with the extra info that's the interesting part. I guess I'm in shock that I'm so out of shape. Was expecting more along the lines of an average of 120 or so given my ride. I'm easily excited I guess. Best go play with those settings now.

Nice sig OJ. Fond memories.
 
Dudes, he just wants to know how to add HR to the Garmin view. Still needs some months before complaining about dodgy HR data.... it'll get there... :)

On the 800 it is via the touch screen. I played with somebody's garmin 500 once to show cadence, etc. i forget how to do it, some buttons bring up a menu, etc. So somewhere in there is where it is to change it.
 
Wait you said yourself you're out of shape so just ride your bike and do what you did on the weekend, look at the data after the ride. Riding more frequently to improve your cardiovascular fitness will see the numbers maybe come down but in my case it just meant i could ride faster at the same BPM. Relax your numbers are fine. Forget the manual, God gave you a brain, figure it out by trial and error and if you break it, well you never paid for it, so whats the difference?

Maybe we could all get together and do a Tour de Phat and Slo out to Kamakura and look at Buddha for solace and reassurance.
 
Thanks for all the replies btw. I have never looked at or had access to HR data before so I've no clue what to expect really. I've used an exercise bike at the gym before so from memory that was about 120 to 130 or so. I was probably a tad fitter then.

I've found the display settings now so tech wise I'm all set! Wonder how slow I'll have to crawl to keep a lower heart rate to build up some ground work. Heading out tomorrow before work.
 
Next step is probably to figure out how to get the heart rate displayed when riding.

It's not difficult and yes, reading the manual helps.

Turn on the Edge 500
Push and hold Enter until the menu comes up
Settings > Bike settings > Data fields
Select any of the 5 user screens, for example the first one.
Select the number of fields, e.g. 5
Select one of the 5 fields, for example the first one
Select "Heart Rate"

On my Edge 500, I have the first page display these values:

20130527_220749.jpg


Heart Rate (one big field)
Speed; Time of Day
Distance; Time.

On the second page (my climbing page) I have:

20130527_220833.jpg


Heart Rate (one big field)
Speed; Grade
Temperature; Elevation.
 
Regarding training, obviously everyone is different. I tend to keep training runs and rides around or below 140bmp. With a lot of endurance training, you need to slow down to go faster (meaning you need to do a lot of your training at a slow pace in order to build endurance which enables you to go faster when you need to).
 
Ok. setting wise. I'm good now me thinks.I even removed the key beep and the silly auto lap setting which had me do 6 laps. Weird default settings...

Looking forward to acquiring more data and more importantly getting back out there and regaining some fitness. Maybe one day I'll be fit enough to share a wheel:)
 
Maybe one day I'll be fit enough to share a wheel:)
There are probably a hundred or more TCC members feeling the same way... "I'll go out with the lads when I'm a bit fitter, so that I don't slow anyone down."

If you like to ride in a group, go on a group ride. If no-one's offering the right ride, organise it yourself. And tell us about it. (Handy guide)
 
I even removed the key beep and the silly auto lap setting which had me do 6 laps. Weird default settings...

I left auto lap on mine, but changed the default distance from 8.05 km to 5 km. I find it encouraging to be periodically reminded of the distance I've done so far, but miles are so 18th century!

There are other places where the non-metric environment of the developers shines through, such as the scales on map or elevation displays, which are shown as metres but in odd multiples such as 120 or 300, which are clearly derived from feet.
 
There are probably a hundred or more TCC members feeling the same way... "I'll go out with the lads when I'm a bit fitter, so that I don't slow anyone down."

If you like to ride in a group, go on a group ride. If no-one's offering the right ride, organise it yourself. And tell us about it. (Handy guide)

You are probably spot on about that. I can't organize a ride yet. I've no clue where I'm going half the time which is why I choose route 1 in and out for Sunday. I did make it around the Palace this morning although it was very difficult to get out of bed. That's another easy route for me. I actually felt better on the bike today. Today's average was 144bpm. The hills of course raised it up and it took quite a while to get to get back down again. Finally fantastic to be able to see the data. Not so crowded around the palace this morning. Got passed 3 times. One guy on a tt bike, and 2 other road bikes.

Gotta find a nicer 50-60km ish ride from Meguro for the weekend although it's already looking quite busy. Perhaps I'll do the palace again on Thursday morning if the weather is good.
 
It doesn't sound like the problems most peoe have with their garmin HR straps.

While it is probably the case that our man wexford just has a high-ish heart rate, there is a problem with the Garmin HR strap where it sends HR info which is then processed into the wrong calculating range, giving a consistently false figure; if you ever used Traktor by Native Instruments, you will remember that this problem also happened in a nearly identical way with the BPM detection routine, which would get the BPMs correct, but process them into the wrong range, so a 174-178bpm-ish track would be shoved into the 120-140bpm range, making mixing impossible, until the range was manually switched over to the correct window. This is just a nature of computing which is still not perfect, and that Garmin could do with speaking to Native Instruments about, in order to perfect.
 
so a 174-178bpm-ish track would be shoved into the 120-140bpm range, making mixing impossible, until the range was manually switched over to the correct window.

Off topic but what tunes were you listening to that have 174 - 178 bpm?
 
Gotta find a nicer 50-60km ish ride from Meguro for the weekend although it's already looking quite busy.

You could get to Tamagawa by whatever's your preferred route, and then go upstream. (I'd recommend crossing it and then going upstream, crossing back somewhere around Fuchuu. The Kanagawa section of this is mostly along the "cycle road", but partly along an actual road, one that's decent enough.) Going all the way to the end of the "cycle road" and back would take you well over 60km, but if you ever do want to do it then (unsurprisingly) it's flat. Or after going some way upstream you can head westwards, and encounter some real hills. It does all require a bit of planning and memorizing (I'm poor at both). The less-thinking, more sociable alternative is to join a "Half Fast" ride; in the past, news of these has been posted here on the preceding Thursday or thereabouts.

If you're not familiar with "cycle roads", just remember that they are designed not for ease of cycling but instead as good places to practise your reaction times, etc. I very nearly pranged a kamikaze baseball kid two days ago; I said nothing (he "came out of nowhere" and I didn't even have time to shout or ring my bell) but his dad (or some adult) apologized to me.
 
Off topic but what tunes were you listening to that have 174 - 178 bpm?

Raiden, Prolix, Prode, Kryptic Minds, Noisia, Upbeats, Audio, Nocturnal, Photek, Teebee, Dom and Roland, B-Complex, Sunchase, JohnB, Blu Mar Ten, etc.
 
While it is probably the case that our man wexford just has a high-ish heart rate, there is a problem with the Garmin HR strap where it sends HR info which is then processed into the wrong calculating range, giving a consistently false figure; if you ever used Traktor by Native Instruments, you will remember that this problem also happened in a nearly identical way with the BPM detection routine, which would get the BPMs correct, but process them into the wrong range, so a 174-178bpm-ish track would be shoved into the 120-140bpm range, making mixing impossible, until the range was manually switched over to the correct window. This is just a nature of computing which is still not perfect, and that Garmin could do with speaking to Native Instruments about, in order to perfect.
Its nothin to do with the computer side of things Owen. It's actually the strap picking up the HR incorrectly. Quite a number of people are switching over to polar straps with their Garmin transmitter (yes they do fit). This seemed to solve the problem for everyone that tried it. A few people (me included) had a further problem when changing over to the polar strap in that during a long workout, the signal will be lost all together. Apparently there is a work around whereby you can cut the polar strap in a certain place to fix the problem.
I also believe that the older hard type garmin straps are much more reliable than the new soft strap.
I'm gonna try the polar strap cutting soon and see if it works.
 
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