Originally Posted by brigadon
I learned two things today..... first I found that the low maximum heart rate of 128 bpm that I could reach on my short ride yesterday was almost certainly due to an inadequate warmup. Today I did a 20 minute warmup gradually increasing in intensity. When I then hit a short sharp hill I had no trouble pushing my heart rate to 146bpm which is 84% of my "fictitious" maiximum heart rate.
So I now feel a little more normal and able to interpret the figures with more confidence.
Second thing I learned was that DnvrFox has a Scottish ancestry ....there is no way to acquire such a sense of humour except through an inherited dominant gene . I should know!
I do a warm up of 2 miles at around 120, then first slope get to 135 and I am puffing, let it drop to 120. Next slope get to 145 and let it drop to 130ish. Then push to 150 and I am shattered. I then relax down to completely comfortable and I can then do the ride at 140 to 145 within my comfort zone. If I did not do the warm up- then I am shattered at 135 and it will take a long time to recover.
I used to do long distance crosscountry runs and my warm up before the run was just some gentle jogging and stretching. At the two mile mark I was at the back of the field but from then on I started to work just a bit harder and a bit harder and so on. I was always way up the front by the end and it took a national runner or two to keep me off the Podium.
This is a system that works for me still on the bike, and the system is worth a try- but at your level of fitness.
Talking of Family quips dnvr Why is the sea so salty? Its because people keep throwing their empty potatoe crisp packets in the sea and it makes it salty-- my 25 year old daughter believed this until she was about 15, and I must have told her this when she was about 6.