Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

:)

U wot m8?

Oh.

:x

hehe

Nice combination of power & balance exercises here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW-nWnl5hYk

My heart did recently during back to back days on the turbo doing the same workout. Kinda weird. But Down to fatigue I think.

I like to think a low HR means I could actually push more Power for my actual FTHR. And am thus betterer.

I also like to think that when my HR gets real high. Its because my heart is in good form. And I am thus betterer.

Or you've got a cold... or a fever...

Well I wasnt ill.
I held the same Power for 20mins both days. With like a 20bpm difference. Which is pretty huge. But meh, it happens.

That's why all the cool kids started using PMs. HR is too variable.

People shouldn't care about HR if they're making more power.
People shouldn't care about power if they've ridden a course faster.

Finish Line > Timekeeper > Powermeter > Heart Rate Monitor > RPE > cabbages

Its all data. It all has its value. So long as you're aware of the limitations of this data.

I was crazy fatigued Saturday. So at the start of my days ride climbed a bit shit, and couldnt raise my HR. I did a good Climb in the middle. Then my last Climb was Limited by my HR ramping a bit more than I could handle. I Guess my fatigued body wasnt taking on water so well, and I was dehydrated.

Interesting, and informative, stuff to look at after. But on the day, HR was an all but useless metric. Even Power isnt a silver bullet of a metric.

Cabbages are a great gauge of form though.

I've spoken to a bunch of people about it, and every single one of them, from ex-pro racers to doctors have said 'it's probably fatigue or a slight infection, put your feet up and take it easy for a couple days', but I remain a bit worried. My HR zones have stayed completely consistent for the last 2 years, albeit quite high. Now from one day to the next everything drops 20bpm, not only my max but across the whole range of speeds, average etc.

Funnily enough, this has brought my HR basically in line with the quick folks I ride with. I would love to flatter myself in to thinking I've got significantly fitter overnight, but I doubt it :(

I'm supposed to be doing hill repeats on Wednesday. If I'm not gurning into the 190's then, I'll know something's seriously amiss...

If you're worried about this there's no point crapping on about it here. See a doctor!

I'm here to ask the opinion of Dr. Lfgss, who is also my mechanic, therapist and financial advisor.

I'll see a doctor if it doesn't improve in a week or so. I'm perfectly happy to rely on everyone else's diagnosis of 'tired' until that's proven wrong, but I'm just an inveterate worrier.

Fair enough. I'm just annoyed with myself that I didn't post the HTFU video at you already. :)

If you're genuinely worried I'll dig out my 'incident' tonight. Basically I've been trying to keep an eye on HR as my FTP is unreliable, and I cant be arsed to up intensity to test it.

From memory:

One day my middle 20 min interval had a HR of around 148bpm for 228w. Which to be honest is way below the sweetspot target. But my turbo set up is horrible. So I'm not too hard on myself about that.

The very NeXT day my middle 20min averaged out at 165bpm, which is pretty much my FTHR. In fact I ended the 20mins With my HR ramping horribly. Average Power was again 227w.

This under pretty well controlled conditions. Plus my fatigue should have been minimal. Thats exactly why I was doing sweetspot work. Its a massive difference. But I really dont think its abnormal.

(ED: checked it, and corrected it)

ageing?

Would be more gradual though, this was literally overnight. We'll see what happens next time I put some efforts in I guess...

I've had it happen, and not be because of fatigue or before illness. Just one of those things I guess.

Try using another device to take your HR?

Do you record your resting HR every day too? If that has changed then something is definitely going on.

In my experience - the times that I have struggled to get my HR up are:
a) I've just been ill
b) I'm just about to get ill
c) I am ill
d) I am overtrained.
f)all of the above.

You won't feel the edge of the cliff until you hit the bottom and it's too late. Take some time off and sleep a lot.

Also - if you're going to get this wound up about it, get a coach?
One, qualified opinion (who gets to see a whole range of holistic factors) is worth 1,000 internet opinions.

I have struggled to get my HR up

Filth.

Unless one of those thousand is mine, in which case, your coach is wrong.

Resting HR is normal. Tried with another HR device and they seem to match up. I don't feel ill. I might have just overdone it a bit on the riding recently, I don't have a job so I've not really got much else to do. I'll try again tomorrow, and if it's still bad then I'll take the rest of the week off and ease back in on the next club run.

You were all right, I was tired. Excuse my worried whinging.