Training & Nutrition - Low heartrate... question

Something is wierd today, and I am a little confused on this issue, my HR is way low...

I started my Wednesday interval session as normal on the trainer for LT work. I warmed up for 20 minutes and noticed that my HR was low, like riding a 39 - 14 and my HR around 120... about 10 beats below normal. I though my HR monitor was on the fritz like it usually can be but I verified and it to be right on. I verified it again after resting and it was only 1 beat off from measured.


I did my warmup and started into my first LT interval, my HR slowly went up but in the usual gear I do it in I was not really working all that hard, pushing a 53-17 at 90 RPM. My HR was around 147 at the time and there was no labored breathing, no burning but I was putting alot of force (percieved exertion) into the pedals. I thought something was wrong with the trainer so I upped the tention on the wheel and started again, a little more force required but the HR was sticked right were it was, maybe at 149 BPM now. My LT is 166 BPM now and I still was not close, and still no labored breathing indicative of LT. I pushed a higher gear and my HR went up a little but not much. I upshifted again and started getting a little uncomfortable breathing but not bad, but I was in such a high gear I could not push hard enough. I stood up and mashed as hard as I could and my HR went up again to about 159 BPM but still no great labored breathing. Finally my legs were tired and the interval was over. After 1 more I was so tired quad wise I stoped.

Is this what happens when your LT goes up? It seems like my limiter right now is power and not HR by this session, wierd. Last night I felt very simular, it was not until I really pushed hard that I went anarobic and it was more tiredness in the legs vs HR.

Any interpretations

It's tough to say. I thought I had read somewhere that it's an indication that you're fatigued. Just from the workouts I've read here on the forums I'd say that you are fatigued and need to back off for a bit. This Article (http://www.ultrafit.com/newsletter/july01.html) is a very good one on the topic of heart rate and their indication of being fatigued.

Low HR is a classic sign of overtraining.

I guess it could be that you are getting stronger. Here's a way to test- just go all out and see if you can get your HR up to around your max. If you can, you're getting stronger. If you can't, you're probably overtraining.

I have never been able to get to my Max HR in a non race situation. Actually I have only seen 190+ BPM in a crit. All out sprints I can see 188 BPM though. I am going to go and run a performance test at the local LBS on the computrainer and see how my HR is. I felt real strong yesterday and could not get my HR up very much either.

Next week is a recovery week after the "race" session which I am in right now. If overtraining is the case then it should be evident after Sunday...

Did you recently do a max effort workout? That will boost your plasma volume and thus your heart stroke volume, so your heart can pump more blood per beat.

I've noticed that two days after a max effort, my climbing rate-to-heart rate ratio jumps up. But usually my legs are also tired.

Actually ya, the race on Sunday was quite hard and the ride on Tuesday was not slow either, maybe that is it. I am going to run a camputrainer test tomarrow and I will see how it is...

Something is wierd today, and I am a little confused on this issue, my HR is way low...

I started my Wednesday interval session as normal on the trainer for LT work. I warmed up for 20 minutes and noticed that my HR was low, like riding a 39 - 14 and my HR around 120... about 10 beats below normal. I though my HR monitor was on the fritz like it usually can be but I verified and it to be right on. I verified it again after resting and it was only 1 beat off from measured.


I did my warmup and started into my first LT interval, my HR slowly went up but in the usual gear I do it in I was not really working all that hard, pushing a 53-17 at 90 RPM. My HR was around 147 at the time and there was no labored breathing, no burning but I was putting alot of force (percieved exertion) into the pedals. I thought something was wrong with the trainer so I upped the tention on the wheel and started again, a little more force required but the HR was sticked right were it was, maybe at 149 BPM now. My LT is 166 BPM now and I still was not close, and still no labored breathing indicative of LT. I pushed a higher gear and my HR went up a little but not much. I upshifted again and started getting a little uncomfortable breathing but not bad, but I was in such a high gear I could not push hard enough. I stood up and mashed as hard as I could and my HR went up again to about 159 BPM but still no great labored breathing. Finally my legs were tired and the interval was over. After 1 more I was so tired quad wise I stoped.

Is this what happens when your LT goes up? It seems like my limiter right now is power and not HR by this session, wierd. Last night I felt very simular, it was not until I really pushed hard that I went anarobic and it was more tiredness in the legs vs HR.

Any interpretationsYup, fatigue. Last year when Polar was posting some HR data of several of the riders in the TdF it was pointed out how low many of their heart rates were even while sustaining quite a bit of speed. It turns out that near the end of the 3 week race their working heart rates are much lower than when they began the race due to fatigue. I've even noticed a slight drop in HR when doing several successive days of longish efforts. That's longish for me though and not for a true seasoned rider.

Your new coach should know all of this, of course. Keep them informed of anything like this in order for them to make a valuable assessment of your future training needs.

I guess this means that I will be taking a rest day off... that is fine, if it is what I need then great I will take the day off. The funny thing is I feel increadably strong but maybe I am fatigued. It is funny that I am a little tired in the morning but feel great during the day.

Taking the day off is one option or a nice long zone 1 or zone 2 ride wouldn't be out of the question. You will have to discipline yourself to take it nice and easy. No big chain ring stuff if you do ride.

What you have described is a classic example of fatigue, felt or not. It is simply that the muscles can not work hard enough to drive the heart rate up. The heart ( and heart rate ) do not control anything. The heart is simply a "sump pump" that RESPONDS to, not CONTROLS, the demands placed on it.
Being old enough to have purchased one of the first heart rate devices ( old Polar ) I well remember going out to train tired. My preconception was that I would get little benefit as my HR rate would spike because of fatigue. However, the opposite occurred. I could not go hard enough to get HR into the zone eventhough the preceived exertion was high. On reflection, it was obvious that it was my muscles that were tired, not my heart.
Another example of uncoupling of HR and effort is training in the heat. As the body heats up the HR increase for any given level of effort as the body invokes the sympathetic nervous system to open skin vessels and increase blood blood flow to the skin. At the time of these discoveries, I was a runner. I quickly concluded that using HR religiously for training in the heat will simply train you to run very slowly , at times nearly walking.
The same lessons have occured on the bike. The conclusion-- using HR alone to control the pace of a ride can lead to very slow rides at times. One needs to be aware of the many variables that can control heart rate. An individual in good shape can not possibly drive the heart into fatigue. The muscles and energy supply will give out far before the heart. The elevated resting HR that occurs with over training has little to do with the heart, itself. The elevated resting HR is simply the heart responding to the demands placed on it by a fatigued body.

hey, im a new rider and i just bought a heart rate monitor, and im confused. is a high heart rate good or bad? ive been reading all of this stuff, and it just gets more complicated.