Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
When I did my test, the doc said I had the physiology of a fit 43 y.o. And I should stop worrying.
The simplest monitor for training stress is to take your orthostatic HR every morning, without fail, and record it in your training log. After getting up and peeing, lie back down with your HRM. Allow your HR to drop as low as it's going to go. I'd give it maybe 5 minutes. It's very important to image calming things, meditate. That's your morning resting HR, MRHR. Then stand, note the exact time and keep watching your HRM. After you stand, your HR will go up to a peak, then decline, then go back up again. Stand for 3 minutes and take your average HR for the last 30" of that three minutes. That's your morning standing heart rate, MSHR. The difference between them is your morning orthostatic HR. Two things to watch. If your MRHR goes up 6-8 beats above completely rested, you're on the edge of overdoing it. If your orthostatic HR climbs over 20, same thing. My orthostatic normally varies between 8 and 13 beats. This test is easy to do and well documented as a tell. It'll take a few weeks to document what's normal and what is not, but it's another handle on the problem.
The other simple tell is to hit a hill really hard after maybe 1/2 hour of riding and watch your HR. You're already doing that. But when your HR won't come up, it's nothing wrong with your heart, you just need more rest before pushing it that hard. IME.
Thanks very much, that is very interesting to me. I think I'll try it. The only thing I might add is that these numbers can be quite fluid (pardon the pun), depending on overall volume/fluid status. Did you get up and chug a half-gallon of skim milk at 3 AM? Did you not only not eat dinner, but also for whatever reason have not had any meaningful fluids in twelve hours? So on and so forth. Anyhoo, all this intravascular volume stuff is important to bear in mind whenever you are looking at any kind of heart rate numbers.