Have only just gotten around to looking at the graphs. Which are v interesting!
This also I think ties in with a discussion I've been having on a cycling forum I'm on, about whether the optimum strategy (for both speed & energy) is to hammer it uphill & take a normal pace downhill/on the flat, or vice versa (or some other combination). Rough calculations have indicated that the correct thing to do is to push harder uphill & take it easy the rest of the time. Which is interesting as I tend to take it very easy uphill; I'm going to try doing the other thing on tomorrow's 400k ride, at least initially. It's to do with the fact that uphills impact much more on your overall speed (because on any given hill you will spend, say, 10min going up it at 8mph, & then only 2min going down it at 20mph, & therefore the 8mph has more impact on the speed calculation).
There's Complications in the form of how you use energy, though - at below 70% or so of max heart rate you can mostly use fat stores, whereas above that (i.e. if hammering it up a hill!) you start burning up the carbs, & that leads to falling over if you don't stick more food in yourself regularly. (flapjacks & Coke!) Plus there's the things that anaerobic exercise do to your legs. What I really need to do is increase my aerobic threshold.
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This also I think ties in with a discussion I've been having on a cycling forum I'm on, about whether the optimum strategy (for both speed & energy) is to hammer it uphill & take a normal pace downhill/on the flat, or vice versa (or some other combination). Rough calculations have indicated that the correct thing to do is to push harder uphill & take it easy the rest of the time. Which is interesting as I tend to take it very easy uphill; I'm going to try doing the other thing on tomorrow's 400k ride, at least initially. It's to do with the fact that uphills impact much more on your overall speed (because on any given hill you will spend, say, 10min going up it at 8mph, & then only 2min going down it at 20mph, & therefore the 8mph has more impact on the speed calculation).
There's Complications in the form of how you use energy, though - at below 70% or so of max heart rate you can mostly use fat stores, whereas above that (i.e. if hammering it up a hill!) you start burning up the carbs, & that leads to falling over if you don't stick more food in yourself regularly. (flapjacks & Coke!) Plus there's the things that anaerobic exercise do to your legs. What I really need to do is increase my aerobic threshold.
(sorry, went off on a bit of a tangent there!)