slowpedaller

Still working at coming back after 9 months off. My motivation is not quite where it should be, so I'm doing making myself go out, and dreading rides, and the cold, getting up earlier. I keep telling myself that if I keep doing it, the joy will come back. So far it's just been work, and I push through the ride, counting the miles until I'm done.

Last night I had a great ride though. I starting out planning to do 15 miles in the dark and I did 20 (so far that's been my limit this year). I noticed at some point that I am remembering how to ride, how to be light on the saddle over rough terrain, how to make a tight turn at a good speed, how to approach and ride up a hill without killing myself. When to put out 100% effort, and when to take it easier. When to spin and mash. My stamina was up. Towards the later part, I noticed my legs were not sore, so I rode harder until they were. I got my average speed up from about 9mph to 12.4, and I'm riding on studs, so a bit slower. My abs are getting stronger, I think, because my position was better, I wasn't holding myself up with my arms and getting a sore back. For the past few weeks, I've felt the frustration of knowing I'm not doing well, but being unable to do better because I'm so out of shape. It seems my body is remembering and wanting to, though. I probably would have gone longer except it was cold (18 when I got back), and my toes were frozen at the end despite the chemical toewarmers, and my eyeballs were cold. I think I need to try the plastic bag trick on my feet, or double-toewarmers, but how do you avoid frozen eyeballs?

As a sign of progress, I know my resting heart rate was about 80 at the beginning of the year, (I check my blood pressure daily) and is now down to 55. When I am in my best shape, I've seen it go down to 35. Its hard to believe I've come that far, and feeling so much better after being intermittent for about 6 weeks.

I still feel like I'm having a lot of bad luck, keeping me from getting as many miles in as I want. 3 flat tires. Last week I went down on some black ice, and I was hurting pretty good for a couple days. A few times I planned to ride, but work called and I had to put in extra hours there. My alarm clock failed to wake me up the other day. Weather. Today, it was heavy fog, which on the roads I ride, means no-go. But for a change, I really wanted to, and was disappointed. Its supposed to hit the high 40s today.

Bluish Green

That is pretty good speed on studded winter tires, keep up the good work. Better days are just around the corner.

InTheRain

A resting heart rate of 35 is usually an indicator that there is something wrong.

https://www.heartrhythmguide.com/slow_heart_rate.php

I have a relative that had a HR of 35 that went in for a routine medical procedure that required mild sedation. The doctors refused to sedate him due to the low HR and referred him to a cardiologist. They did a 24 hour study that monitored his HR and found that it went to 31 in his sleep. The cardiologist's office called him immediately for a consult and the cardiologist has recommended a pacemaker.

slowpedaller

Thanks for the concern. At the time, I thought it was great when it started to go down, because that's what it is supposed to do, but got concerned when it went that low. I was riding about 20 hrs a week. I searched bikeforums and the internet, and found of all athletes, cyclists seem to have very low heartrates, in the 20s and 30s sometimes. I asked my doc, and he wasn't concerned, said a low heart rate is usually good if due to exercise and thought the amount of riding I was doing was the cause. He said if it got that low for no reason, he'd be worried, but I seemed very healthy to him. Since then, I found my 2 brothers and 2 cousins have gotten heart rates in the 30s and 40s when working out a lot, so its probably genetic.

Of course, that could just mean my whole family is doomed.

jim p

I have heard that most warm blooded animals have a life expectancy of 1.5 billion heart beats. At your rate you can expect a long life.

If I rode in those temperatures, I would have a HR of zero. Good going.

LiamSkymom

+1

slowpedaller

Great!