What zone ?
I have been riding around three times a week 18 mile training rides . I started about a year ago and I am 59,I average 16/17 mph on fairly hilly terrain .
A couple of weeks ago I read up on zones and bought a heart rate monitor to see were about in the zones I was riding,it's mostly zone 4.The info I read on zones seems to point to keeping it down to zone 2 and 3 for endurance and to build a sound base.
Today I rode the 20 miles home from work keeping to zone 3 for the most part,I found 2 just too easy and tedious.
Here's the questions, Will there really be a benefit from riding in zone 2,or will zone 3 be ok ? Has my last year pushing on,been counter productive ? I am new to road riding,more used to MTB,which usually involves very hard climbs to the summit of forests, here in Scotland,before the fun bits got started and I was breathing very hard all the way ,but usually for up to an hour.
I have seen improvements in the ease with which I climb hills over the last year, but breathing is my biggest problem,some of the hills have me feeling like I'm suffocating and I have to breath hard and control the panic untill I'm over the worst of the hill.Legs are fine,just my lungs not up to it, will that improve by not pushing into zone 4 ?