Here I go again! I post here because I suspect this is age related.
Heart Rate - I've never paid attention to HR much over the years, even when I was a marathon runner (under 3 hours). I stopped running (knees) about ten years ago and put on weight. I'm coming up on 65 so I'm more cautious. I bought a HRM computer (Garmin 705). I have been surprised at how low my HR is and I'm curious if it's somewhat typical for people our age (prompted somewhat by "jppe" report in my last thread that he TT's at 175 with a max of 193 at age 57).
- Maximum HR I've observed has been 152 (on a long hill) - I tend to ride pretty hard
- It doesn't get near that high in the gym or spinning class
- My average HR on my 2 sets of 2x3 flat-out intervals (don't laugh - everyone had to start somewhere) bumped up on each interval: 136, 139, 140, and 143 (max climbed from 145 to 151).
- My average HR on 30-60 mile rides ranges from 120-130
- The average on my fastest ride (18 mile club "Fitness Ride", 60 ft climbing per mile, 17.1 MPH) was 138 (max 151) - I was working pretty hard.
Is this low? Is it likely to increase? Is it totally irrelevant?
Why is there so little difference between my typical average speed on a ride and my speed on an interval? Is it because I'm a novice? I did my intervals on a pretty flat course, but nothing is really flat (83' gain, 97' drop going out). I do the first interval in one direction, do 3 minutes of easy pedaling, and then do 3 minutes the opposite way. I crank hard (the cadence of 95-98 was higher than I expected) and am very, very eager for the final minute to end. In other words, I think I'm doing it pretty correctly.
- Out = 21.4 average
- Back = 18.6 (slightly more ascent, slightly more tired)
- 20.0 mph average out & back
- The second set was 21.3 out, 19.8 back, average 20.5
- So that's a little over 20 mph going flat out, redlining my HR
- My average speed on the fitness ride (zero drafting) was 17.1 (I've done several 47-68 mile rides a little under 16 mph average)
I expected a 1 mile flat-out interval to be a lot more than 3 mph faster than a 18 mile ride!
I think the answer is:
"You have only been riding 2 1/2 months and concentrating entirely on long rides, not speed training. What do you expect? More distance rides will only raise your top speed slightly, you need to do a lot of speed training, like intervals." Right?