How to lower your heartrate whilst riding?

anto164

So i'm currently averaging 80-82pc of my MHR on each ride i do.

I'm fairly unfit still, as i had 4 month not doing any exercise when i was injured, and have only been back on the bike a month.

Now, i bought a Garmin which tracks everything i ever need, and one of these is my HR. So i notice that my Average HR is typically 80-82pc of my MHR.

I'm just wondering, how do i ride at the same tempo and effort, but get my HR down? Is it a case of doing lots of zone 1/2 rides? Or is there some other method i can use?

jibberjim

Ride slower - if you ride at the same "effort" then your HR will be the same, since HR correlates pretty well with effort (not absolutely of course, some things can change HR independant of effort but generally most people are stable) Of course as you get fitter you'll be going faster (or further) for that same effort.

There's no magic bullet to getting fitter, and in the unfit the most rapid gains are normally found through high intensity training (since there are a few components to fitness that adapt really quickly, the Z1/2 stuff changes things which take a long time to change)

What really matters is doing as much as you can, and the rides you enjoy most will likely motivate that.

shockedsoshocked

Out of interest, how often a week do you ride?

doyler78

And don't forget the recovery either as you will need more of it than you did previously until your fitness returns. Too much too soon and you could end up injured and/or ill and back at square one but that of course doesn't mean go easy either. Just have to listen to the body and be sensible (says the person that is cr@p at listening to his body though apparently most people are good at it )

ut_och_cykla

There is a belief that the point at which your lactate levels begin to build up remains pretty much the same in relation to % of HRMax for any given person once they are training consistently. So you might not see your HR drop very much whatever you do. What you will see is an ability to ride faster at that rate and be able to maintain that rate over much longer periods.
Good training in my book (and even if you're training for a specific event) is a mix of slower longer stuff and some good focused hard efforts. Getting the mix right for you and your goals is what its all about and in my view fairly personal.
As you've been off injured you could ride steadily at your current %HR for a month or two then start adding some longer intervals, hill work etc. Gradual & progressive increase in distance /time and effort. Heed warnings about going too hard and getting injured/sick

MikeWW

How have you determined your max heart rate?

anto164

MikeWW wrote:

How have you determined your max heart rate?

Gave it my all up a big climb which when i got to the top, i ended up being sick.

I looked at my HR figures, and i maxed at 205.

I think i just need to ride more. four weeks ago, i struggled to do 10 miles. Last weekend i ended up doing a 60mi ride. Slowly getting my legs back.

As for cheating myself to go faster (i.e. more expensive bike) i think my 23lb winter bike will do me until April.

siamon

anto164 wrote:

MikeWW wrote:

How have you determined your max heart rate?

Gave it my all up a big climb which when i got to the top, i ended up being sick.

Impressive. That's proper training, nice work !!!

Garz

Only by putting in the effort to get fitter will the results (long term) show in the future. Your HR will be lower for the given rides your doing now, give it time.

mamba80

Of all the many things - suggested - you could do to get fitter/faster, spending it on an expensive bike is probably the worst option.

racingcondor

cadseen wrote:

Theres only a few ways to ride the same speed with lower heartrate.

1) Get fitter and faster top end
2) More aerodynamic position
3) Ride with company and takes turns pacing each other
4) Better faster bike, wheels and tyres make biggest diferrence

Lets put these in the (debatably) right order shall we -

1) Ride with company and takes turns pacing each other (free speed, no extra effort),
2) Get fitter and faster top end (ultimately all that's going to do it),
3) More aerodynamic position (free speed but limited to improving on what you already have)
4) Better faster bike, wheels and tyres make biggest diferrence (marginal gains, add skin-suit and you're there for road cycling ignoring very expensive options like ceramic bearings)

OP - Unfortunately the most sensible answer is ride more / get fitter. It's essentially all that will bring down your heart rate at a given speed. That said it's more likely that you'll keep riding at 80% (i.e. sustainable) but get faster, coming back from injury though you should see big improvements over the next 6 months if you can increase your ride quantity as your fitness returns.

aidso

Heart rate can also rise due to stress or anxiety - so if you see a large hill, you are working yourself up for the feat ahead and probably going to kick your heart harder than it needs to go.
I find staying relaxed on the bike - back straight, arms loose, head down a few times - allows me recover but maintain my RPM/cadence. With a Garmin + HRM I've noticed that climbing some hills, my HR is actually lower than beasting it on the flat while turning over the same effort.

Also try some interval training. I don't think cycling at 82pc for an hour is going to have large gains.