Heart rate on the day after a long ride

tp2000

Hi

I've been doing more training trying to join 2 long (100+ miles) rides back to back. Day 1, clearly, is more or less fine, day 2 however leads to some funny findings, especially around using heart rate to measure intensity of effort etc.

My question is this, on day 2, I typically find it hard to get my heart rate up. For example, even trying to push up a steep hill (20% and up) I maxed out at around 155, whereas normally I'd expect a similar effort etc to hit around 170 or so. Under longer efforts (if I do a 20 min push) then it will increase - but e

Is this normal? Does the body go into protection mode on day 2 to prevent over-exertion and therefore it is harder to get the HR up?

The 2 rides below from this weekend sum this up - on the way out I spent 2 hours below 144 and then 3 from 144-160. On the way back, whilst taking 25 mins longer, 80% of the time was spent below 144 (this includes a delightful segment up watlington hill where it hits 23%).

In all day 2, whilst taking 25 mins longer, felt considerably more efficient - despite being into a delightful headwind for most of the ride which seemed to negate a little of the downhill benefits!

Day 1:

http://app.strava.com/rides/14156159

Day 2:

http://app.strava.com/rides/14156153


Anyway, I might be over-reading this, but mostly just curious. It was manageable, however want to know more so that as I do more over multiple days, I can more effectively manage intensity etc.

Thanks

Paul

amaferanga

That's fatigue that is. And one of the reasons why you need to be careful when using HR to gauge effort.

DavidJB

Its not funny its fatigue

tp2000

Thanks for the replies....

What is the best way to build up this capability - Long ride on day 1, then gradually increasing the length on day 2?

cougie

Check your HR when you wake up - Day 2 you'll see how its elevated.

Basically you need to do more training.

Eyorerox

Are you trying to ride the second day at the same speed as the first? If so you could just ride slower on the first day!

dw300

Eyorerox wrote:

Are you trying to ride the second day at the same speed as the first? If so you could just ride slower on the first day!

This ^

No matter how fit you I would have thought you'll always be a little slower the second day, if you're going as fast as you can each day.

If you're wanting the fastest overall time you might want to test going slower on the first day, so you have less fatigue on the second day. However that would probably only be the case if you are dying on some climbs on the 2nd day, which doesn't sound like a problem.

thegibdog

Yep, fatigue. I think it's mostly a case of the more you ride back to back the more your body will adapt to it. My average heart rates on my LEJoG were 137, 132, 131, 123, 129, 136 and 135 which, although there were obviously lots of variables, suggests I started adapting later in the week.