Riding with a high heart rate

CleeRider

I always aim to beat my PB on any particular route that I ride (keeps me motivated and I like a challenge). Looking at the HR zones on Strava I am normally in zone 4 (threshold). I recently did 31 miles where I was in zone 4 for 82% of the time and 18% in zone 3 (probably in traffic).
I went out yesterday after 2 weeks off due to snow and ice and found I was in zone 4 for 98% of the time (15 miles) - it was a tough wind plus I find this is quite normal after weeks off the bike.

Question... is this normal or is there anything wrong/dangerous in doing this?
I'm 38 and have been riding like this for 6 months.

I've heard about zone 2 base training but it would probably bore me to death riding so slowly - I love the challenge of trying to improve my average speed on every ride.

displacedaussie

Riding hard is fine, especially if you're enjoying it.

GBR1

1st question would now did you set up your HR zones?

I am sure you did it correctly but worth checking!

GBR1

smoggysteve

I try to do interval training a few times a week. If not cycling, running. I usually go for around 2 minutes steady pace followed by 30 seconds hard and fast for around 30 minutes. Then go out to 3 minutes resting to 1 minute hard. You can fit in a lot more work into a shorter space this was than just sitting with a high heart rate for an extended time. It also helps bring down recovery time and your muscles lactic acid tolerance.

IF you feel you are feeling benefit from what you do now, keep at it. Nothing wrong with keeping in an anaerobic rate like you are but try to mix it up a bit with aerobic and fat burning from time to time. Keep your body guessing.

gloomyandy

Couple of things spring to mind...
1) Are you sure you have the correct value for your max heart rate when cycling. Using any sort of formula is probably going to be wrong, and the max rate varies from activity to activity.
2) Are you sure your are interpreting the various zones correctly. I'm not familiar with the system that Strava uses but there are several different systems in use that have various different number of zones and that have different ways of dividing up the range.

thegreatdivide

gloomyandy wrote:

Couple of things spring to mind...
1) Are you sure you have the correct value for your max heart rate when cycling. Using any sort of formula is probably going to be wrong, and the max rate varies from activity to activity.
2) Are you sure your are interpreting the various zones correctly. I'm not familiar with the system that Strava uses but there are several different systems in use that have various different number of zones and that have different ways of dividing up the range.

This, and also, what's you bpm when you're in your current zone 4?

plowmar

It would appear that the OP noticed the differences after a two week break.

I went out today after a three week lay off, just doing spin times on the turbo, and my average bpm was at least 10% higher than previous but was at a lower level at the end of the ride so perhaps it will be a temporary thing.

Froomes Edgar

CleeRider wrote:

I've heard about zone 2 base training but it would probably bore me to death riding so slowly - I love the challenge of trying to improve my average speed on every ride.

"Zone 2 base training" has been largely discredited, particularly for anyone for whom time is a limiting factor.