Coupling heart rate and power data in professional road cycling: Shorter heart rate response indicate better 10-min time trial power output

The aim of our study is to investigate whether coupling power output (PO) and heart rate (HR) data of semi-professional road cyclists collected in the field is helpful for optimising the training process. Therefore, HR and PO data during all cycling activities were collected from 23 semi-professional road cyclists for 2 years. Weekly cyclist-specific HR response times (recovery, delay and maximal response time) were extracted from models connecting HR and PO. Linear regression was performed between performance, defined as mean PO during a 1- and 10-min indoor time trial (TT) under controlled circumstances, and weekly HR response times. No significant correlations were found between 1-min TT PO and HR response times. In contrast, significant correlations were obtained between 10-min TT PO and recovery time (<i>r</i> = -0.74, <i>p</i> < 0.01), maximal response time (<i>r</i> = -0.70, <i>p</i> < 0.01) and delay time (<i>r</i> = -0.48, <i>p</i> = 0.03). Moreover, linear relationships were found between 10-min TT PO and delay time (<i>r</i> = -0.68, <i>p</i> < 0.01) or maximal response times (<i>r</i> = -0.61, <i>p</i> = 0.02) within 14 days of the performed lab test. This suggests that HR response times are important physiological characteristics related to 10-min TT PO for cyclists.