StargazeCyclist

I train on a flat road. I would keep doing around 30km/h, 90rpm, 50-19. The first 15 minutes is very easy, then my breathing rate gradually goes up, and after another 15-20 minutes I am so out of breath that I cannot continue. My upper abs (I guess it is the muscle around the diaphragm) is painful and it takes very long time to recover, if at all.

I don't know what zone I am in and how should I train to get around that?

Bob the Mech

From the sounds of it you're pushing your Zone 4 'threshold' limit. Zone 4 is your "Race Pace" zone - this is where you have burning legs and lungs and you can't keep the effort up for much more than an hour. And yes, you have to be pretty fit to keep this effort up for an hour, but by definition, your threshold is an effort you can manage for one hour.

A typical one-hour session might include 10 minutes in the 50-60% zone 1 of max heart rate warming up and cooling down, 30 minutes at a sustainable pace at 60-70% Zone 2, 12 minutes pushing a little more at 70-80% Zone 3, 6 minutes going hard at 80-90% Zone 4 and 2 minutes all-out at 90-100% Zone 5-6.

https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/fit...-for-cyclists/

It's different for different folks...

Do you train with a heart rate monitor or power meter? If not it will be based on your Perceived Exertion / Effort, how difficult a workout feels overall.

Iride01 

Sounds like you are trying to go faster for longer than your body wants to. Not sure I understand your focus on breathing. If you are trying to limit your breathing rate, then you are just hurting your performance.

Besides HR and muscles, the processes in the lungs is what gets rid of CO2 that build lactic acid that causes your muscles to hurt and brings O2 to your muscles so that is used to make more glycogen to fuel your muscles that makes more CO2.

Some people have great lungs that move a lot of O2 in and CO2 out. Some of us have not so great lungs and won't ever be world tour riders, or even a fast cyclist. But with constant work and many miles of riding you do get better.

You just need to be happy with short bursts of all out riding, then slow down to a pace that lets you recover, then when you think you can, go all out again....... rinse and repeat. There are more formal ways of interval training, but that's essentially it.

If you are trying to keep up with a group that won't slow down for you, then you need another group or resign yourself to solo riding till you get better, then re-join and show some them you can ride at their pace.

Carbonfiberboy 

#1 , you're going way too hard. Gear down until you find a pace at which you can continue at the same breathing rate for at least an hour. That, or slower, is you basic pace.
#2 , pain in the diaphragm just means that your breathing equipment is out of shape. Riding lots will fix that. Over a few months, gradually increase your weekly miles, shooting for 100. Or some lesser goal, whatever you want, but gradually increase is the trick.

StargazeCyclist

Today I did 29km/h and there was no problem, rather easy. My legs can certainly go much faster, like 32-33 for a moderate effort.

Currently I don't have a heart rate monitor or power meter, but I am thinking about buying a heart rate monitor. Can I use a smart bracelet like one made by Xiaomi?

Gary in NJ

A heart rate monitor is a useful tool, especially if you are trying to increase VOX.

How many times a week do you ride? You may need to take another rest day or two. What are you doing for cross training? If you only cycle it can be a tough to increase VOX. Find another aerobic exercise that is different from your current routine. For example, you say that your riding area is mostly flat. I would cross-train on a step machine or elliptical machine. These machines have hill profiles, and climbing hills will require you to learn how to breath in a way that maximizes your inhale and exhales (deeper and slower events).

Also, the stomach pains can be a sign of a general lack of muscle tone. Cycling does little for core strength. Cross-training several times a week with a basic routine of push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups and sit-ups will help strengthen your muscles and give you endurance on the bike.

Clyde1820

Agreed, on the above suggestions on cardio fitness.

One thing you might try, on rides where you're deliberately trying to push your cardio limit a bit: once warmed up and going at your "base" workout pace for that workout, do a series of "pushy" higher-intensity stints to the point you begin to be at max air-processing capacity, then back off to recover. Keep doing this every several minutes, making sure you back down to your "base"d pace sufficiently long to be capable of pushing at higher-intensity for another stint. Gradually, the length of time in these higher-intensity zones will increase, your required time recovering at "base" pace will reduce, and your overall route speed will increase as you begin to tolerate more of it over the course of your session.

Think from the standpoint of airflow and max air processing. You want that to expand.

You can do much the same to the cardio via running. Or rowing.

In each of those higher-intensity "pushy" segments, you're pushing your cardio right up to your limit, then backing off for a few minutes so you can recover. With a session done like this a couple/three times a week, you should begin to see improvements in a month or so. Better and fuller recovery, higher peak intensity, longer periods of intensity able to be sustained. It takes time, though. Depends on where you're at cardiovascularly, how your body adapts, how rapidly you recover and build from pushing it, etc.

Used to approach competitive middle-distance running using this training technique frequently. (Did a variety of strength training, heavy core and legs focus, and lots of various cardio-involved activity. Pushing strength/hills a couple times a week; and pushing cardio/surges two to three times per week. If done right, it really helped.) Always focused on my breathing, maximizing it. For me, it was the limiting factor, having much shorter legs than most top distance runners I competed against. I was stronger, had as good cardio, but they had longer legs and could sustain it for longer periods. No way to beat 'em, but I gave it a shot. A "big gas tank" became my secret weapon. That improved cardio translated well into cycling, swimming, rowing, where hard spurts could be sustained for longer periods and recovery times shrank once such a surge was over.

Carbonfiberboy 

Some riders use bracelets, but a chest strap is much more accurate and less likely to alarm you with bad readings. You don't want something on your wrist, you want a display right in front of you. You know how fast you're going, so you must have some sort of a computer. The simplest thing is to have a GPS computer which shows HR, speed, cadence, etc., mounted on your stem or bars.

Flip Flop Rider

not to be a smart-alec, but slow down, and gradually up your mileage

Bob the Mech

I assume you're riding a shortish distance, sub 50Km...basically time trial distances.

I don't use a power meter either, can't justify the cost for the riding I do. But a HR monitor yes, mostly for winter turbo training. I think a smart watch / bracelet will do the trick, if the device has an alert sound to tell you when you are pushing your zone limits all the better.

In a normal 100Km solo ride I'd be in Zone 3 Moderate (Tempo) 70–80% for most of the time with a rise to Zone 4 during some of the climbs. I'd expect to gain about 700-900 meters of elevation during a ride with an average speed of around 28km/h. In an intermediate group ride (faster than slow, slower than fast) I'd be at the same Zone levels pretty much but with an average speed of around 32km/h. For me that's what I consider a hard ride. I ain't no racer by any means, more a non-committal club rider.

In 10 mile TT (16.0934Km) I'd excpect to cover that distance in around 28mins, 21.43 mph (34.488Km/h)...but after that I'm spent, completely knackered...Zone 4-5