airstevo

Hi all, I've just started cycling, and I kinda have a feeling that I'm trying to do too much too soon. I've always been very competitive and pushed myself pretty hard, but haven't done any hard core cardio style activities in a long time(at least 15 years). Since I've started riding(only about 7 rides so far), I warm up for 15 min or so and then just go hard from there. I constantly try to close to maximise my effort the whole time I ride. I'm not training for anything, just want to get stronger as quick as I can. There are usually short times of recovery but then it's at least 90%+ effort the rest of the time. I ride out as far as I can til I feel like I don't have much left and then turn around. I do this so I can push myself past my own comfort zone.

At first I was proud of myself but to be honest I now am thinking that I'm doing it wrong. I checked a chart on my heart rate and I'm at 155-180bpm the whole time and I'm 38 which puts me way up in the 90-100% range. I have zero experience with any kind of activity of this kind, so I'm hoping for some advice. Is this kind of effort for a new rider counterproductive? Am I actually slowing my progression by blowing out my body each ride? I realize I have to do more research, but if I only do 70-80% it doesn't feel like I'm trying but will this actually help me progress faster since my body doesn't feel totally depleted each ride? I'm still learning how to pace myself, as I always seem to bonk pretty hard.

I would just like to know if I should have some self control and it's better to stay at 70-80% vs 90-100%. I just don't want to be counter productive when it comes to trying to get stronger/faster as quickly as possible. I've been riding solo and am sorta hesitant to get into group riding cause I'm so new I don't want to slow people down or don't want to feel like I'm not going hard enough. Still gaining confidence. I'm also realizing that it's going to take a while to get stronger.

What was everyone else's experience when you started?

tagaproject6

7 rides? You have a long way to go...15 years past is a long time.

thump55

There's nothing wrong with riding as hard as you want. The harder you ride, the faster you'll get stronger.

10 Wheels

"What was everyone else's experience when you started?"

Get in about 2,000 and then your legs will be ready to hammer.

valygrl

Are you getting that "90%" from some formula that's like 220-age? Because that formula is notoriously inaccurate. Your real max HR might be a LOT higher -- and if it is, that doesn't mean anything about your fitness, it's just your number. The only way to know your max HR number is by testing - ride as hard as you can until you nearly black out or puke, take that number, add a couple bpm, and that's your max HR.

Riding every ride as hard as you can isn't necessarily the best way to improve, but you're probably not hurting anything unless you are unhealthy otherwise.

There are a lot of books about training out there, you could go get one and use the 'beginner' training plan to start with. The short version is probably something like ride hard 2x/week, ride moderate 1-2x/week, ride really ridiculously easy 1x/week and take a day off. Don't put the really hard rides on consecutive days.

Probably though, starting out, just do some moderate riding building up time on the bike, and experiment with eating and drinking until you can go a couple hours w/o bonking.

lungdoc

You need to find your specific maximum heart rate - if you have a monitor see what it is at absolutely max effort eg going up a tough hill. 155-180 is a big range - I can sustain 155 for a long time, if I'm going 165 or more I can't keep that effort up and will be anaerobic. You should quickly learn the difference between maximum sustainable heart rate eg maximum aerobic effort and your heart rate when doing anaerobic effort eg a sprint or tough hill, that feeling when you know you need to catch your breath. Age predicted heart rate is a range and not specific to one individual.

dimachka

After 7 rides, its way too early for you to worry about things like overtraining and such. For now you should think about nothing except riding however you want. Once you get in 1-2k miles, then you can start thinking about what you are doing while riding in terms of training... For now you are doing exactly what you should!

airstevo

I'm learning what your saying about finding your own heart rate zones. I find that for now 150-160 is effort but 170+ is when I'm pushing and 180 was when I was going full out. I'm so new in the game that I realize that as I get stronger the output will be much better for that effort but didn't want to be counterproductive and if there was a better zone to stay in to maximize getting stronger faster then that's where I want to be.
Thanks for the advice. I'm going to try and vary my rides a bit more.

merlinextraligh

At this point, put in miles, play around have fun. Go hard when you feel like going hard. Go easy when you feel like going easy.

You can play games if you want, sprint to the next sign, see if you can catch that rider up ahead.

But just put in miles. You'll improve rapidly. Once you've got a decent amount of miles in, you'll likely find that just riding hard every ride will cause your improvement to plateau. Then it will be time to get more structured in training if you want to continue to improve.

mmmdonuts

You haven't yet gained enough fitness to hurt yourself by trying too hard. You will run out of gas way before you get to the point of real exhaustion and overwork. Like the others have said, just ride as much as you want as hard as you want.

But make sure you have a bike that fits and your position on it is good.

SCochiller

No. Self-control is highly overrated.

hhnngg1

Fortunately for you, cycling is a pretty low-injury activity due to the lack of pounding as you'd get in running.

You can pretty much go as hard as you want given that you're not doing a ton of high-volume training as a new cyclist.

You will however notice that to ride progressively longer distances, you will have to dial it back.There is no way you can ride at high intensity for all of a 3 hour ride, even as a strong cyclist. When you find yourself getting to those distances where you're not sure you'll have the gas to finish, it's a good sign that you should be slowing things down.

My weekly 60-80 mile rides start off feeling very doable, and definitely not hard, but 3-4 hours later, that same effort is challenging.

achoo

Max HR is just about a useless number. You really want to find your lactic threshold HR.

mvnsnd

How long are your rides? ( time and or miles ) While it's not a bad thing to go all out all the time, you should really rest and recover fully between efforts like that. A more structured program could be more beneficial.

pdedes

i rode with a group that showed me the ropes. long steady base miles to improve fitness, efficiency and cardiovascular capacity. do a month of this, no maximal efforts. then a structured periodized interval plan. do some research so you can figure out how much time you have available to you and the types of efforts you need to make. and lastly, you need to build in adequate rest and recovery.

lechat

Unlike running, where sometimes your cardio development will outpace your landing gear, you're not likely injure yourself. Just watch out for signs of over training. Like chronic fatigue or insomnia.

Velo Gator

Saw the title and thought this was the dick thread someone mentioned. Nope.

pdedes

excellent posting meme!

lsberrios1 

Is it ok to black out? Ive been about to twice...went up a pretty bad hill then going down ran off the street and through some bushes because I couldnt keep my head up or balance.

pdedes

yes. my old cycling coach, Walter Golibiewski often told us, "If you are seeing Jesus, you have three more minutes."

lsberrios1 

LOL funny yet motivational!

zonatandem

I did 7 rides this week . . .
300,000+ miles so far since the mid 1970s.
Wait 'til I get older, am only 80 now!
Keep up the good work . . . and check in next year with an update.

Elduderino2412

Oh My

Beaker

OP - don't worry about the HR numbers just yet. Ride for enjoyment, get used to putting in more miles and build a good base. Like you, I came back to riding in my mid 30's and found that it's quite easy to see improvements in performance and cardio in the first few months, but changes in vascularization of your muscles (improved blood supply) and joint strength take months/years. This is all good, don't overthink it too soon - once you've got a base of miles and experiences, then you can work out what areas of cycling performance you want to focus on.


PS - oh and the 220-age thing is pure BS. Last time I did anything close to MHR was when I was 39 and I got 203bpm. Go figure.

airstevo

Thank you very much for all the responses. I have been riding 25-30 miles each ride(1 1/2 hours to 2 hours depending on mid ride break) and try to incorporate some hard(for me) climbs each time. I realize that doesn't sound like a lot, but the first ride was an excruciating 11 miles haha. I've done 7 rides so far and try to push it each time. Also doesn't help that I live in Fresno and it's freakin 100 degrees by 11am. I have a 16 month old with a 8 month pregnant wife so getting out early is a husband nono right now.

That being said, this is an easy sport to become obsessed with. I'm glad I finally got into it and can't wait to get stronger. I have moments where it feels better. Please tell me you all went through this period of suffering lol