Fifty Plus (50+) - Cake and Heart rate.

I class myself as reasonable fit- Get out on the road and do hills in preference to flat rides and Sunday rides are normally about 40 miles. If I can get out in the week-I do a couple of 20 mile rides after work And If I was offered a century ride this weekend it could be done with ease.

Problem I have is with regard to heart rate. In comparison to mountain biking- I struggle to get the HR up to somewqhere near the max of 160 that I have. Mountain biking and it gets up near the max on most hills. Road riding and if I get to 150- it must be a steep hill or a long one. Just means I have to work harder when on the road bike I suppose but I am getting to the stage where I want to slow down on the rides- instead of blasting everywhere.

I also have a problem on resting heart rate. I struggle to get resting down to 70- but lying comatose on the settee watching the F.1 racing after a ride and I might get it down to 60ish after a while.

So you can imagine how I felt this morning when I was let out for a couple of hours. A two hour ride will mean 10 miles down to my cafe on the seafront for a coffee and PIE. Made good time down to the cafe and that pleased me. But there I am looking at the Garmin to view the stats and as I have said a good ride time today. Then I looked at the everage HR on the ride down and it was 128. Now that is good for me whem you realise the speed I do not go at and the rest on the downslopes. Then looked at Current HR. 54. I can never remember it being that low and then it dropped to below 50 for an instant. Couldn't believe it so a quick check on the pulse and it confirmed I was below 60.

OK.-I had been sitting down for about 10minutes and the coffee was just about finished and the eccles cake had tasted very nice. Good sunny morning and just watching the world go past with nothing to do except get back on the bike for a few more miles. But for me to get the HR down to 54 was remarkable. I have never noticed it get that low before so Have to put it down to the Cake- and the sitting down- and the really content feeling I had this morning.

Got to be the cake, no question.

Funny, really, that I've worked so hard to get my average HR down and you work to get yours up.
Seems to be working for me... on a slow easy ride on the flats or slight grades (2-3%), it's all I can do. now, to get it up to 140. Give my a long 6 or 7% climb and I might get to 150-155. Anything more than 8% and I can hit the rev limiter pretty easily but not as easily as, say, a year ago. My resting HR is what really surprises me. A year or two ago and it was 80+. Now, give me 10 minutes on the couch and I'm humming along at 57bpm. Sign of progress, I guess.

I believe that for me, maximum heart rate is largely a question of motivation.

This year, several factors have contributed to reduce the length of my typical ride. I have been trying to make up for less miles by higher intensity, doing more hills and pushing myself harder, with a little rest (intervals, of sorts). I have elevated my "max" heart rate to a level I hadn't seen in 15 years (155 ->160 BPM). My Garmin said I hit 164 BPM, but I don't believe it.

In past years and earlier this year, I have had a tendency to hammer (or at least my facsimile thereof) for mile after mile. I think the continued effort made it difficult to expend the energy to get my heart rate up. I'm coming to view average heart rate like average speed. It is interesting to know what you can do, but I feel it may be counter-productive to general training.

My resting heart rate, measured in bed before I get up in the morning, is about 40. I wore my Edge to bed one night and it recorded an overnight low of 36 BPM. Not sure that really means anything, though.

Lately I have been feeling stronger on hills, in spite of being 10 lb heavier, than last year. I'm not sure how this is going to translate into a continuous effort. There is nothing scientific about any of this, it's just my opinion based on years of riding.

Cake - got to resist. Resistance is futile?

Did you say the cafe on the seafront??? There's your answer. Any time I'm on the seafront I'm in another world, and totally relaxed.

I have a slow resting HR even when I was in the worst shape of my life. When I was young and running every day it was in the mid-40s. So it surprises me when the HR monitor reads upper 90s while I'm just getting my bike ready to go ride or when I start an easy spin in front of the house.

After a brush with borderline bloodpressure last year, I always do a quick visualization of the beach whenever the white coats come after me with the cuff. It seems to help.

My garmin reports very erratic heart rates if the battery in the HR monitor transponder is approaching its expected life cycle. Have to suggest getting a new one before putting too much thought into this matter.

I use a Polar HRM. My resting HR in bed and morning has gone below 45. Sitting at rest, 55.
A sustained effort on a resistance trainer 125 at 17 MPH and 95 RPM.
Undulated terrain biking at that same speed brings 100 to 125.
Getting near my maximum of 150 requires a heroic effort and a long hill or a sustained effort of 22 MPH on the flats. If I do that, everything hurts so I avoid doing this.
These are just my numbers for comparison. I have no knowledge what all this means.
I have yet to try out my HR while eating Pie.

Got a new transponder so battery is new. In fact the Garmin is newish so no problems.

And on the resting HR- It has always been around the 70 mark- but just walking about and it will be 80. And getting ready for the bike ride it will be up to 90. Must be the excitement.

Will- Like you- to get near my max on the road does take a lot of effort. By the third hill I will be getting there- but offroad- which is where most of me experience comes- I will see the max and even exceed it. But offroading and you will only be putting in effort for a short spell up severe hills and then you rest on the flatt bits on the top or downhill. Different type of workout but I do try to stay at around 130 to 135 now. At that HR I am working hard enough and can keep going all day. Below 125 and I "Should work harder"

So experiment time- Go for a ride to your favourite cafe- Have a coffee and PIE and see what the HR is. Might not cause any interesting facts to come out of it- but the PIE will be good.