Originally Posted by
chasm54
Yes it's fatigue.
From your description I'd say you're spending too much of your riding time at or close to your lactate threshold, in HR zones three and four, without necessarily having built the aerobic base that is required to sustain such efforts. I'd reiterate the advice I gave above - do a test for your LTHR, work out your HR zones, and put in some time in zone two. You may think this is a bit tedious, because to start with you'll be going slower. But over time you'll find that your speed will increase while maintaining a HR that is well below your threshold, so you'll be cruising during your group riide and better able to recover from the high HR efforts when you have to make them.
chasm54, is this base miles you speak of? Besides reducing the likelihood of injuries and improving my aerobic base, what are the consequences of riding anaerobic throughout the week?
i started out around 12 mph early this year going slow and maintaining a HR under 125bpm, and now i can do 14 mph under well under 125 bpm without too many zone 2 ride training.
thanks for the input
Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
I mostly agree with chasm, except that my experience is that fatigue drops my HR. When I'm wasted, I can't get a HR over some number and find myself climbing in low zone 2. High HR toward the end of a long ride is always dehydration IME. Try drinking a lot more.
There's a big difference between 170 and 178. You seem to be saying that you can't maintain HRs over 178 for your TT test and 178/197 = .9, so that's probably near your LT.
i will pay attention to my hydration next time im out riding. when im doing the rotations/paceline, i tend to not go for the bottle because im not yet comfortable riding in a pack, dont want to spring side to side and causing accidents. thanks for the input