Bike-commute day 20—to workHeart strength training program

Today I began training my heart. I pushed into three 30-second periods of riding at or above 150 bpm. The locations for the sprints were from Irwin Avenue to the Mad River's concrete bank, from Fairpark Avenue to the former Multi-Service plant, and from Burkhardt Road to a point outside the DPL MacGregor Park. I found it very hard to get up to 150 bpm on the third sprint, and also very hard to sustain a sprint for more than 30 seconds. Improving on these two aspects will become my goal for May and June.

I'll continue training with three to four sprints on two commutes each week.

Goal one. Using the standard 220 minus your age, I should expect a maximum heart rate of only 161 bpm. My HRmax today reached up to 95% of this expected rate.
My goal for the next couple months will be to reach 161 bpm consistently for two out of three or four sprints.

Goal two.
By the end of May, I want to increase my stamina to 1:00 at a HR of 145 to 161 bpm (90 to 100% of HRmax).
By the end of June, I want to increase my stamina to 2:00 at a HR of 90 to 100% of HRmax.

These goals probably will have a joint result in a higher actual HRmax. I'll find a sports medicine facility that can measure my HRmax at the end of June.


Last night, I moved the Garmin Edge 705 mount as far forward as the stem and handlebars would allow, which means a difference of only 0.75 inch. The device performed without problem today, even with a consistent cloud cover.

Ride conditions
Temperature: 44 to 50°F at 06:58
Precipitation: none, medium to heavy clouds
Winds: calm to 5 mph from the south
Clothing: 2-layer top, skinsuit; ankle socks. Full-finger gloves.
Bike: Trek 850
Time: 00:45:53 for 11.95 miles
Heart rate:132 bpm average, 154 bpm maximum
Bikeway users: 2 pedestrians, 2 cyclists
Here is a playback of the ride. 5th Garmin day.

Note about the illustration
The line drawings were published online and captured by me during the playback. The video provides stills from The Art of Frank Patterson by Horace F. Button, which was published 1952 by Temple Press, Ltd.