Originally Posted by ericgu
I agree that you should see a doctor, if only to rule out any medical problems.
What sort of training are you doing, and how did you calculate your max rate?
I think you should split your training into two parts:
1) Endurance riding, which is done at a relatively low heart rate. For my endurance rides, I average about 70% of my 3-mile time trial average. For me, that's around 170 BPM, and I'm averaging in the 120s (usually the low 120s) during those long rides.
2) Focused training at higher heart rates. That might be tempo rides (20 minutes or so near the lactate threshold), intervals (lots of variety possible here), or something else.
I try to do both longer easy and shorter hard rides. My max HR (highest I've ever seen, i.e. sprinting up long hills to exhaustion) is around 190, so on my long rides I try to keep HR under 75%-80% of that, or below 150. This should be in the neighborhood of your 70% of 3-mile TT I think.
It's the tempo or hilly rides, where I try and ride between 150-175 HR that causes the head trouble. I guess I could just do the endurance training, but I'm looking to pick up my century pace this time around so I feel like I need to spend some time working harder. Maybe shorter but more numerous intervals would be the way to go, rather than just 20-30 steady minutes. Or maybe I just shouldn't try to do a fast century on a hot, steamy tropical island
