zone madness.

Mark Alexander

Am I the only person unable to stay under 70% hr max?

a slight addition. For the last few weeks I have been struggling to get up small bumps without the HR hitting 170+ and over 50miles averaging 150bpm but seriously can't hit 15mph average. I haven't had colds, eaten differntly or changed any pattrns. could it just be the time of year?

Alex_Simmons/RST

Well I'd call anything under 70% maxHR a recovery ride, so it's not surprising.

ColinJ

Mark Alexander wrote:

Am I the only person unable to stay under 70% hr max?

a slight addition. For the last few weeks I have been struggling to get up small bumps without the HR hitting 170+ and over 50miles averaging 150bpm but seriously can't hit 15mph average. I haven't had colds, eaten differntly or changed any pattrns. could it just be the time of year?

If you live in the northern hemisphere it could well be!

I suffer quite badly from S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder). Last year in October I was a big strong lad coping fine with 200+ km audax rides over high Pennine hills. By November I'd been reduced to a whimpering heap who couldn't even walk back 250 metres from the local market without stopping for a rest! Like you I hadn't had a cold or any other obvious illness.

Take a look at my post in this thread. There are links to 2 other posts of mine on the subject.

Blonde

It is possible you've become 'over trained'. However, if rest does not help, that's when you need to investigate further.

I've had a health problem which started last year and it has taken me 11 months to get mostly better - I am still not completely better. It was CFS in my case so may take a few years yet. Graded activity (the same amount each day, whether physical, mental or emotional - it's all stress, and you need to do the same amount of hours, no matter how you feel, good or bad), not too much sleep (the earlier you go to bed, the less good the quality of your sleep is - so you wake feeling even more tired if you go to bed too early) has worked for me, along with going to see a nutritionist, getting tested (saliva test) for Candida, doing the anti-Candida diet for a few months and taking a really good quality (not cheap) multi vitamin and mineral supplement. It is a long haul though. I also now use a SAD light box at work (on my desk as I type this) which does help a lot when daylight hours are scarce, with making me feel less tired during the day. I also use a 'body clock' to wake me in the morning with a dawn simulation (as it is dark when I get up at 6:30) and this really helps a lot.

From what Ive read and been told by GP and nutritionist, any type of stress, physical, metal or emotional, is tiring for the body because it produces the same hormones whatever the type of stress. These stress hormones have to be processed by the body and the side effects are build up of various chemicals which can make you feel unwell. in my case I actually got jaundice because my liver was so overwhelmed by the ethanol and formaldeyde produced, despite the fact that I had a healthy diet and did not drink. The muti-vit/mineral and other supplements were to hep my liver cope with the additional workload. This will effect performance on the bike and in general, afterwards. Some stress such as personal loss, moving house and job etc can take months to get over physically. Any extra physical stress (cycling) on top of that going on will really take it out of you.

oldwelshman

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

Well I'd call anything under 70% maxHR a recovery ride, so it's not surprising.

I think I have a weird heart
My hr rest is 44, and so far on a bike, hr max 170, which I recorded in a couple of races.
When I am out on club runs, they tend to be steady and av speed 18 to 20 mph depending on terrain and how the others feel.
My hr is normall between 100 and 120 for this though if I push a bit on climbs I get to 155.
So if I was to go on PE, I would say 120 is steady and 155 is really pushing.
The strange thing is for me 155 feels the same as when I get to 165.
In most races , my average hr is between 140 and 150 and sometimes up to 170 on sprint or silly climbs, and believe me in some races when my hr was 145 it felt as if I was 95%.
Basically this means for majority of riding for me, is done at 70% and even at race pace, it appears to be about 85% mhr.
If I was to try to do 90% which equates to 155 it would feel as if I was at 100%pe i.e. flat out like climbing efffort.
Does this mean that my MHR is really 160 ?
Personally I do not believe that the hr method for training and zones is actually linear with respect to percentages, that is the only way I can explain how my efforts and percentage heart rates seem weird, in fact it looks like I am the opposite of Mark in that I cannot get into the higher percentages whereas Mark cannot get below them
According to your quote 70% is a recovery ride.
Well at my so called 70% rate, if it is linear, I can do decent rides with av speed of between 18 and 20 mph over 50 to 80 miles.
I did av 18.9mph for Tour of Cotswolds with av hr of 130 with a time of 5:33 for the 105 miles( hilly course grrrr)
So in theory, if I wnet to 95% I could be in the TDF?
I think not some how 8)
Do I need a medical?

Mike Willcox

Training with a HRM causes anxiety. Haven't you worked that out yet?

Mark Alexander

it's cirtainly interesting to get other experiences. I can hear the voice of Ric in my head echoing the words Power and meter! I am suspecting it's the weather.

My at rest is about 55 and with the hills here I think it'll vary greatley anyway. I'm taking a break from the bike to see if that helps and am hitting the gym and pool gently as in pool > sauna> pool> sauna> pool> sauna it's amazing how relaxing breaking it up is.
BTW backstroke in the pool seems to strengthen my neck wouls that improve my endurance for 50mile TT's? I would have thought it wold aid us in head controll and upper body strength.....

oh yes, it was funny that the staff were doing a sponsored 12hr for charity in the gym (keeping it going in stints. I kept some of them company for 2 1/2 hrs and they couldn't understand how I could do it. shows the difference in fitness I think..

Mike Willcox

Mark Alexander wrote:

it's cirtainly interesting to get other experiences. I can hear the voice of Ric in my head echoing the words Power and meter! I am suspecting it's the weather.

My at rest is about 55 and with the hills here I think it'll vary greatley anyway. I'm taking a break from the bike to see if that helps and am hitting the gym and pool gently as in pool > sauna> pool> sauna> pool> sauna it's amazing how relaxing breaking it up is.
BTW backstroke in the pool seems to strengthen my neck wouls that improve my endurance for 50mile TT's? I would have thought it wold aid us in head controll and upper body strength.....

oh yes, it was funny that the staff were doing a sponsored 12hr for charity in the gym (keeping it going in stints. I kept some of them company for 2 1/2 hrs and they couldn't understand how I could do it. shows the difference in fitness I think..

The best measurement of your current fitness and well being is RHR. I check mine every day without fail.