Heart Rate Monitor Problems

I have been using the Cat Eye CC-HR200DW as my heart rate monitor and cycling computer for about a year now.  The device has never really worked properly but over the last month or so, it has become totally unreliable for heart rate data.  The problem is that the chest strap seems to intermittently lose contact and report a heart rate of 0.  This now seems to occur multiple times throughout every ride that I take.  Occasionally the sensor also reads a heart rate of 250 or greater, which clearly also isn’t accurate.  Very rarely, I also notice that the cyclometer is reading my mph at 0, which is definitely the most frustrating… thank goodness it happens the least.  Anyway, my experience with Cat Eye suggests that a Polar HRM might be a better choice.  I hear the Polar CS200 has a cloth chest strap that increases its ability to accurately read heart rates, but I’m also tempted by the S725X because it measure altitude

Cool Training Website: MyCyclingLog.com

MyCyclingLog is a cool website that is designed as cycling training diary.  If you feed it the miles, speed and times, it will make pretty visualization tools  including graphs, calendars and reports.  It also lets you upload information about your bike, has a discussion forum and allows for  tags.

Took the Weekend Off

Well, after 9 consecutive days working my legs fairly hard, I decided to take the weekend off.  I considered going for a jog on both Saturday and Sunday but I opted for more rest instead.

Heart Rate Zones & Caloric Burn Rates

One of the reasons why I am tyring to get back into shape is to drop some weight. I’ve been reading a book titled Precision Heart Rate Training, which suggests that when training at 50-60% of maximal heart rate the body is mostly burning fat to fuel the muscles. Yet, if I train in this relatively easy zone my heart rate monitor reports burning fewer calories. If I burn more calories while exercising doesn’t my body use fat to replace them during recovery? So if one of my ultimate goals is to lose weight and fat is it better to train easier and burn fat while working out or train harder and burn more calories?