kevmk81

I'm currently in my base phase of my training, 3rd month. Last week was a rest week, except on Sunday. Had a 31 mile road race. I finished the race, with which seemed to me, a lot left in the tank, even with the constant slowing/speeding of the group.

Monday was my off day

Yesterday I did an FTP test (I usually do a test first day back riding after a recovery week). It went great!

This mornings ride was horrible however (trainer ride). Wanted to do an hour ride with 50 minutes of it in zone 3. Turned out my heart rate was considerably unstable for the amount of power I was putting out. For instance, in a zone 2 - fully aerobic ride, I can manage 220ish avg watts. This mornings ride I wasn't able to do that, even putting out a seemingly tougher workout - with the next zone up.

This has been my winter:

Mid December through mid January: 592 miles, mostly all aerobic endurance rides in zone 2. pretty easy weeks
Mid January through mid February: Base, first month, 685 miles, mostly all aerobic endurance rides in zone 2. still pretty easy, but longer
Mid February through just last week: Base, second month, 756 miles, starting to throw in some zone 3 rides once a week. some hill work. but still mostly endurance rides in zone 2

I'm not doing anything I haven't done before on a yearly basis. Miles/time on the bike are just a hair higher than normal for this time of the year, but nothing too crazy. I typically put in 5500 to 7000 miles a year, so running 600 to 800 miles a month really isn't too uncommon for me!

So I'm trying to figure out, is my crazy high heart rate this morning a result of overtraining, or just recovery from Sundays race and yesterdays test? Maybe I'm getting (another) flu/cold? I have been more sick this year than usual, but we do have two young children both under 2 years old, and we've all been hit hard this year. So I'm not sure if my immune system is super low, or just taking a beating. Our entire area has been hit hard. Don't want to go to the doc just yet.

jsk

IMHO one bad workout does not mean you've over-trained. Probably just tired from the FTP test and/or other factors (sleep, diet). over-training doesn't happen overnight; if you were truly over-trained, you wouldn't have had a great FTP test yesterday.

beatlebee 

One data point: its hard to know. But otherwise, I think it is always best to err on the side of more recovery.

Carbonfiberboy 

Actually, it's easy to know: high HR is never a sign of overtraining. Being unable to get your HR up or being unable to hit your power numbers are signs. You just experienced the opposite of those symptoms. You're just tired now, which is good. Nice job: you worked to your potential. You tapered for your race, rode hard, and then had a great FTP test. Take a day off, do a couple of endurance days and you'll feel great.

Heathpack 

Haha, this happened to me.

I rode a 20 min FTP test one Friday plus two 20 min intervals at 95% FTP per my coach's instructions. I was going to do that workout on a trainer, which would have been about a 2 hour workout with warm up, cool down and RBI. But at the last minute I convinced a friend to do the ride on the road with me, which required riding to/from the appropriate hill on which to ride the intervals. I think it wound up being a 3+ hour ride.

The next day I went out and did a big climbing ride, something like 8000 ft of climbing & 65 miles, some steep stuff, and a freakish hot day, temps around 85-90 degrees. Terrible ride, I was really floundering.

Coach's response was "Duh, you were tired, rode a big ride the day before. Plus hot day + steep climbs. There is no problem here." Well, he didn't actually say 'duh,' it was implied. Along with 'maybe next time just do what I scheduled & no more'.