Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

It costs £20 to get an HRM setup. Cheap way into having some sort of training metric. If nothing else, it reminds me to keep recovery rides properly light.

Trained without HR (or watts) all year, currently faster than I've ever been...

Trained for what?

Well, the urban hill climb is sponsored by Rapha..

Did a 20 min test on the turbo last night. I'm fairly sure I made a scientific discovery, that the space-time continuum for the last 4 minutes of a 20 min test slows in proportion to how long the rider thinks is remaining. God it was grim, I'm surprised it ever ended, I think I'm hallucinating right now.

It's shit.

I feel positive at 14mins. Like most of it is over. But at 17mins I suddenly realize 3 mins is going to be an eternity.

Hah I once did one on trainerroad on an old laptop. Turns out that the laptop wasn't powerful enough causing the timer to run slow. Took 30mins instead of twenty, but the counter was showing 20....

Ha! I did start to question if the PC was broken...

Sleep deprived and feeling drained
Non training day diet (a bagel and a salad)
Unexpected time to train
"I've done nothing for a week, let's get the most out of this hour with Z5 intervals"

Amazing stupidity

Trained without HR (or watts) all year

Deliberately?

I've consumed most of the beer I'm not cellaring so my training has moved on to a bottle of chilled honey brandy that's been in the fridge for a few years now.

#offseasonmeansoffseasonlosers

Hr monitor broke at the start of the year and not used the power tap. I know how to push myself.

Tried again this weekend with a new heart rate strap. Guess I'll be calling the Doc later on today.

Constant effort, heart rate steadily rising and then it felt like a lurch in my chest and the reading instantly went from 175 to 220. I stopped and sat up and tried feeling my pulse manually. I have no real idea of the speed, but I'd guess more like 170, but missing every third beat.

Probably a virus or summat, rest up and see doc.

IANAD, but it sounds like tachycardia to me. Best to go and see your GP.

lurch in my chest and the reading instantly went from 175 to 220. I stopped and sat up and tried feeling my pulse manually. I have no real idea of the speed, but I'd guess more like 170, but missing every third beat.

Missing a beat could be ventricular ectopics which would go hand in hand with feeling a 'lurch'.

A ventricular ectopic is a missed beat followed by an extra strong one which feels like a thump.

It's harmless but disconcerting. Every third beat is towards the upper end of the scale but still harmless.

Trigger factors are normally stress, tiredness, caffeine and alcohol with alcohol normally being the biggest.

Obv don't accept the word of some internet stranger and get checked out. Not least because the sudden increase in HR would not be explained by ectopics.

stress, tiredness, caffeine and alcohol with alcohol normally being the biggest

That explains my HR then...

Extrasystoles at max effort are grim - I guess it depends on your HR monitor (which, let's face it, aren't exactly hospital grade EKGs), but whenever I've had them, my HR shows a massive sudden dip.

But yeah - Internet doctoring.

I have (well, we're pretty certain I do) paraoxysmal tachycardia - maybe have a look at the symptoms of that and see if it's related. When I do really hard efforts (sprints, long VO2 max/anaerobic intervals), sometimes when I'm recovering my heart rate will suddenly shoot through the roof - hitting numbers (on my HR strap) that I can't even reach when I'm at my limit. Hitting 185bpm requires me to be super fresh and practically bringing my lunch up, but when I get a tachycardia episode my heart rate will go from 140bpm to 220bpm instantly, and stay there for a good 30s until the rhythm restores.

From fairly extensive testing (Holter monitor, ECG, blood tests, ultrasound, interview with a cardiologist), we think it's paraoxsymal tachycardia, but benign and not too much to worry myself about.

Definitely see your GP. They don't take this lightly, and nor should you. Hearts are complicated.

Cheers all, got me some Googling to do. Booked in to see the GP and will only sub-maiximal riding until then.

Why do I feel utterly shit on the bike after a break of more than 5-7 days? Been off the bike for 12 days and have zero top end and wheezing up hills.

You've just been on holiday so maybe its just the air is different? And it was significantly colder this morning than what you were experiencing in Croatia. It's probably mostly down to re-acclimatisation. I'm always weazy when attempting exercise after flying. Maybe the AC and air pressure of the planes messes with your lungs too?

Lung AIDS. Speak to Froome/Wiggo's doctor.

Because the body has begun to detrain itself.

I had the same after ten days off in August. Normally I'd notice a slight loss of form for a couple of days, but this time it took almost a month to get back into decent shape. I was fine on steady stuff, but any intensive stuff was incredibly hard work. I thought it was because I was getting old, but you don't have that excuse.

Hopefully you'll get form back quicker than I did.