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RE: [RC] HRM's and Increasing Intensity - heidiWe use a speedometer in a car to tell us how fast we're going and an odometer to tell us how far we're going. But unless we have a tachometer (or have trained our ears to recognize the different sounds the engine makes), we can't tell how fast the engine is spinning. So in a car with an engine that redlines at 5,000 rpm, if you forget to shift into 4th gear on the freeway and you have your radio cranked up and no tachometer, you're driving along until your engine explodes from running at 9,000 rpm in 3rd gear. Granted, that's a car, AND the analogy is valid. First, Kat, you're a professional horse person (at least I think you are, I could be wrong) with a long history with horses. You're not going to forget to "shift into 4th" and you're not going to have the radio cranked. You also know what 5000 rpm in a horse sounds/feels like. Mike, your analogy has its points, although the reading on the HRM is not such a straightforward thing as the reading on a tachometer. I agree that a HRM can be a very valuable tool in fine-tuning interval training, but I think the point that Kat and Frank are trying to make is that perhaps it would be appropriate to LEARN to "hear" the sound of the horse's "engine" and to ride seriously enough NOT to have "the radio cranked" so to speak. JMHO, but I sure wish a lot more folks would pursue that skill as a prerequisite to riding at a level where fine-tuning with a HRM becomes an issue. I grew up the old-fashioned way where one learned to read one's horse as well--and quite frankly, bought an HRM and found it not to be very useful, since I could pretty much tell what it was going to read before looking at the monitor. (I've since lost the thing.) I have no problems with folks using HRMs, and I'm fascinated by the protocols for interval training where one keeps records based on the time to do a set distance at a set HR. I actually suspect that that has more value with regard to getting an early indication of something not going right with the horse than using the HRM for interval training does. But I often think the emphasis on gadgetry is sort of like learning to run before you've learned to walk. Some tell me that the gadgets may help to learn to read the horse--but too often, I've seen inexperienced riders ride "to the gadgets" at the expense of the horse. Listen to the horse, first. And when you get reasonably good at that, fine-tune the skill with the HRM. Just my observation... Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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