Originally Posted by
LGHT
OK I rode last night and it was a tough ride. I rode about 25 minutes to the base of a 8% grade that took me about 10 min to climb. I normally shift down to keep the cadence up, but this time I didn't. I just mashed and mashed it out. After about 1:45 my HR reached 160 so I had to slow down a little down. I usually try and keep it around 150 as my Z5 is around 165. I honestly thought I could push out at least 2 minutes, but I was huffing and puffing after just a minute and couldn't keep my HR down without slowing to a pace under 5mph.
So much for Bing Ring training. I'll have to add in more HIIT training on the trainer as clearly my fitness is not where it needs to be.
Why did you slow down? You should have let it rip and seen what happened. Anyway you passed the test and sure enough, yes you have enough leg strength. That's not your limiter. If 165 is your top of Z4, next time try for 168 in your freely chosen cadence and see how long you can hold it. Should be at least 4-5 minutes. Well-trained cyclists can hold about that level for 8-10 minutes. Don't just slam it up there like you did this time. Find an effort level that puts your HR up there in 3-5 minutes, holding the same speed and cadence if the gradient is even. It should be interesting to see what your freely chosen cadence would be, IOW what cadence allows you to hold that HR with the least suffering. See how many of those you can do. Recovery is the time to coast back to the bottom. Or do them on the trainer, same routine. Some people find they can ride harder on the road, others not. I much prefer my intervals on the road.
Again, do not keep your HR down! Instead, get it up and keep it up. Huffing and puffing is the norm. That's what you want. And you bet your sweet bippies it hurts. It's supposed to hurt. If it didn't hurt, you wouldn't need to do it. Ride easy on the trainer for 45 minutes the next day.