MikeOK

Some background, I'm 54 fat and out of shape. My resting hr when I was riding a lot in my late 20's and 30's was in the 30's, now it's in the 80's.

Now when I ride I can't get out of Z4 (80-90%). When I look at my ride stats my hr stays in Z4 80-90% of the time with the occasional peak into Z5. I can't ride any slower, if I did I would fall over.

Am I just in that bad of shape?

Flip Flop Rider

seems so yes, but just keep riding daily. no days off

MikeOK

Really? At my age, no days off? I've been riding 3 days on, one day off. Maybe I should pick it up a little.

TimothyH

Isn't this a duplicate thread?

This was asked recently in the road forum or something.

MikeOK

No duplicate to my knowledge, maybe you can point me to a thread?

BlazingPedals

How are you determining your MHR? Formulas often give you inaccurate numbers.

JanMM

Forget about the much-younger and fitter you with a LOW HR. Concentrate on improving your fitness from where you are now. Ride a lot. Rest when needed. Don't obsess at this point about zones.

MikeOK

I'm using the 220-age. That puts me right at 165. Z4 is about 132-149. The 220-age formula has always been close for me, but I know it's not right for everyone. My maximum riding effort so far has been about 163, so I figured 165 was about right.

MinnMan

1. Echoing Blazing Pedals, how do you know your MHR? Maybe you are in Z5 and topping out near your actual MHR.

2. I don't agree with Flip Flop Rider. Don't ride every day. your body needs recovery time to build strength. Ride 4-5 times a week, and concentrate on slowly increasing your distances. Aim to increase your weekly mileage by 10% each week. Don't overdo it and try to increase faster than that. +10%/week will make a huge difference over the course of a season.

TimothyH

I'm too lazy to search right now but am sure that there was an almost identical thread recently.


80-90% of what? Doesn't really matter because 80-90% of anything isn't zone 4.

Heart rate zones should be calculated based on lactic threshold heart rate. Lactic threshold heart rate is determined by testing. 94% to 99% lactic threshold is zone 4.

A resting heart rate of 80 is pretty high. Either it is being measured incorrectly or you need to see a doctor.


-Tim-

MikeOK

Those figures were calculated as a percent of mhr. I don't know anything about lactate thereshold, we used to train with hr.

MikeOK

Oh, and I found the other thread, it is simlar but not the same. That guy was in much better shape than me.

https://www.bikeforums.net/training-n...eart-rate.html

MikeOK

MinnMan

You still haven't told us how you know your MHR. If it's just the default setting based on your age, then it's not really your MHR.

MinnMan

No it's not, for someone who isn't in shape. Before I started riding my RHR was in that neighborhood. It came down a lot with improved fitness, though.

europa

Forget the heart rate stuff unless you've got some accurate sense of max hr and lactic threshold... then you can probably forget it anyway unless you like playing with those sorts of numbers.

Just pick a ride and ride it. You'll get faster with time and will consider lengthening it but to start with, just pick a ride and stick with it. It's normal to finish a ride feeling a bit knocked around, but that should fade through the day. Feeling tired is a different feeling. You'll feel tired after a ride but if it persists through the day, give the next day a miss so you recover.

As you get fitter, learn to ride hard and fast but also learn how to do a recovery ride - gentle pace, low gears, legs just ticking over at a decent cadence at a low effort.

Oh, and riding a geared bike rather than a fixed gear is a good option too in the early days because much as I love riding fixed, there's nowhere to hide and if you've pushed too hard, you just wind up mashing which isn't good for anything.

All this relates to someone in yours and my condition - fat, out of shape, trying to get back into it. I've got a bit of a head start, which is where the above comes from.

SylvainG

He did say. He said he used the 220-age formula. For me this is really bogus. My MHR is 18 bpm higher than the value found by that formula.

MikeOK

I used the 220-age formula. And so far my maximum hr that was recorded was 163 and I was nearly tapped out so I figured 165 was about right.

MinnMan

Yes, I missed that. And I agree with you - it's a bogus formula - meaningless.

So we have no idea whether the OP is topping out at Z4 or something else.

OP -just keep riding, don't worry about whether or not you are in Z4 or Z5.

MikeOK

Thanks for that, it's been pretty depressing finding out I was such a lard-ass. BTW I did see my doc before I started and he was partly why I started back up. That and I'm retired now and missed riding.

DrIsotope

Ignoring heart rate for a moment, as you don't have a calculated LTHR, tell me this: on a typical ride, where do you find yourself--

Score_____Description/Feeling

1. Sitting on a sofa doing nothing.
2. Getting up to make a cup of tea.
3. Easy paced recreational riding, slight feeling of exertion.
4. All-day paced riding, not easy but definitely sustainable. Able to maintain a full uninterrupted conversation.
5. Riding consciously quicker but still able to talk easily.
6. Upping the effort, only able to talk in short sentences.
7. Building on Level 6, you could probably just about respond “I’m fine!” if someone asked you how you felt.
8. Riding hard, you can only sustain this for a couple of minutes and only communicate with single word answers.
9. Almost as hard as you can possibly push your pedals
10. 100% sprint for the line.

MikeOK

I would say I'm about at #6.

Retro Grouch 

Reality bites. If you want to get into better shape, you have to start at wherever you happen to be at this very minute.

europa

Noooooooooooooo
I thought it was going to be easy

Trsnrtr

Same here. I'm 20 beats higher also and always have been.