Originally Posted by
don compton
I had a wake up call. I have been riding 20 mile rides at a zone 2 pace ( 125-135 bpm for me). Monday of this week, I kicked it up to 135-140. I didn't have a problem on the ride, but Wednesday my legs were DEAD. I recovered and today, I went back to 125-135 and stayed in a lower gear and actually was able to ride the same speed. In my 50x21, I am comfortable riding 14.5 to 16 mph keeping my heart rate in the 125-135 zone. Towards the end I do a couple of higher speeds ( for a 70yo).
Bottom line, I need to keep my heart rate in the 125-135 zone and keep riding a lower gear and increase my spin rate. It's taking some time, but I am slowly accepting that when I get fitter, I will still riding quit a bit slower than I did 10-15 years ago.
I load my recorded rides into Golden Cheetah, the free ride analysis software for showing trends and details with a power meter. A couple of years ago, in the early spring, I felt "slow", "weak". Is this all I have? Am I too old? Will I be slow from now on? No. Looking at the previous year, it took most of the season to get back up to speed. I was fine by summer.
See how you are doing after 4 months, or in next year's warmer weather
(I go by power range now for setting a pace, instead of heart rate. But 10 years ago, my maintainable heart rate was the low 140s, now it's low 130s, maybe even less. I can still set some personal records on Strava at these lower heart rates.)