Originally Posted by
Viking55803
I've had some issues with beta blockers, which limit the heart rate, but am on the lowest dose they make. My conditioning has improved steadily especially since I started weight training about a year and half ago. But here's an issue that is concerning me today. Yesterday I did a 28 mile ride with about 800 feet of climbing. Normally on the hills or during a hard effort I can get my heart rate up to about 135 - 140, but yesterday I could not push it past 124. I averaged 15.3 mph and my perceived effort was fairly hard, but that heart rate just would not budge.
Any thoughts?
Like you, I was born in 1948. I briefly raced in the 1970s. I've had a heart attack. I don't know how high my heart rate went before my heart attack. I know I can get it up to 180 without too much difficulty on the steep hills around my home. I can go higher if I want to hurt myself for several seconds. Rather than hurt myself, I don't push myself as hard as I can up, but I certainly still ride up the steepest hills I can find.
Here's my thoughts about you: if your perceived effort was the same, then, for that one day, maybe that's as high as you could take your heart rate. Maybe it'll be different another day.
Maybe, since you've been training, you're getting the same amount of work out of a more efficient heart rate.
Perhaps you aren't really pushing as hard as you think you are, or can. If you really want to get your heart rate up as high as possible, you have to really punish yourself.
By the way, have you read this article:
Cycling to extremes - VeloNews.com - it's about what may be happening to older people who push the limits. It's definitely got me thinking I don't want to punish myself anymore.