Stuck in a rut

BMKN

So I have been commuting to work for just over 2 yeas now, I lost alot of weight doing it in a short amount of time, I know cycle 6 days per week 5 of those days are my commutes with a long ride of around 100k, I usually do about 250km per week, My problem is my speed its suck at the same, I typically average 27-28kph on my 100km or short hilly routes. I feel my legs are slowing me down alot, as my heart rate never gets above 160bpm even on hard hills or fast sprints, I cant lose anymore weight, My HR tends to average 130-140bpm on rides I am 28years old so should be able to get a max HR of atleast 190

ai_1

There's no reason to expect your HR to be at least 190 just because of your age. The rule of thumb 220-age formula is a rough approximation only. For example I'm 38 and my max HR is about 195 whereas the formula would predict 182.
Your max HR is what it is and doesn't really indicate anything significant about health or fitness bedsides which there's nothing in your post that suggests your heart is a problem.
Do you know what your actual max HR is?

slowbike

You need to establish what your max heart rate is - independently of your riding ...

But to get faster you 're going to have to mix up your training. Always riding "hard" or "easy" or the same route will lead you to stagnation - so change it.
Interval training should help too - although it can be tricky to do this on the road if you're anywhere that isn't flat or there are loads of junctions to negotiate.

Rest days (after a hard ride) can also help - a really slow ride into work with minimal effort should be the most you do.

amaferanga

If you're done the same riding week after week then you'll soon plateau. If you want to get faster you need to start training instead if just riding. Average HR over a whole ride isn't particularly meaningful either (more so if you have no idea what your max HR is).

BMKN

We'll I had a stress test done and it said I peaked 157bpm and I was just shy of the elite fitness. My goal is to get into the 30kph average for all my rides. I just find my legs burn and I feel board Nd tired on some routes.

amaferanga

You won't increase your speed by 2-3km/h by just carrying on doing the same as your doing though. As for max HR, I've never been anywhere near my max HR riding indoors. But the number is irrelevant anyway - that's not what's stopping you from going faster.

I've no idea what 'elite' fitness is, but if you average 27km/h then you're far from an elite cyclist (though if you train properly you may have it in you, who knows). Read some stuff on training to race and you might understand what you need to do to get faster.

foggymike

I suspect the op means the banding they give you when talking through the results of medicals which include an exercise component. They tend to have elite as the top band of fitness measurement, though it isn't really elite in the sense a cyclist would use the term, and they are usually not that accurate unless it's a proper sports test.

ai_1

BMKN wrote:

We'll I had a stress test done and it said I peaked 157bpm and I was just shy of the elite fitness. My goal is to get into the 30kph average for all my rides. I just find my legs burn and I feel board Nd tired on some routes.

Is this the 15 minute cardiac stress test on a treadmill?
I did that test 18 months ago and the protocol for the test specifies that they use the 220-age formula for defining the cut-off point. So if your actual max HR is lower you'll last longer on the test which they would consider to mean you are fitter and vice versa. I was told I was very fit because I reached 220-age just as I got to 15 minutes. In reality I could have done a lot more since that is well short of my actual max. However these guys typically deal with people in their 50s-70s often sedentary with potential heart problems so they're relatively easily impressed! It's not a fitness test, it's a cardiac function test and their interest and accuracy in judging fitness is questionable.

I wouldn't be setting a goal to reach an average of 30km/h on every ride. That's arbitrary and pointless. You should be varying your ride intensity depending on your training purpose and speed will also vary dramatically depending on wind, terrain and distance.
I can average 35km/h over a 15km ride on moderately flat terrain in calm weather. However that ride serves relatively little purpose for training. Most of my rides will have a much slower average speed and that's absolutely fine. For example, I regularly do long 60-100km rides in the mountains on a Sunday that will often average 25km/h or less depending on the route and weather. Similarly I'll often ride on flattish terrain with friends where we spend a lot of time cruising at the pace of the slowest but from time to time we'll sprint for a landmark down the road. Generally your training should consist of a mix of hight intensity rides and very easy ones. The best way to improve as a cyclist is unlikely to be repetition of similar rides at similar speeds. This more than anything will put you in a rut.