dynawolf

I am 54 and normally ride with a heart rate monitor. I noticed some days I cannot get my heart rate up past "warm up" and I fell very sluggish. I tend to shorten those rides and slow the pace way down. Other days my heart rate sits in zone 4/5 and I can hammer. Why the difference? I am guessing it is recovery time.

Any suggestions on recovering at an older age?

deacon mark

Your older but not ancient either. What is your resting pulse? What is the max pulse you tend to get when you ride all out? What is your recovery HR after you go pretty hard and long after two minutes. Zones to me tend to be useless because they make assume of the average.

My resting HR is 40. I am 57 and have to be completely climbing and max out to get it much about 150 on any given ride. Running I can get it up the high but it feels like a race and I cannot hold it long. Recovery is longer with age for sure.

FrenchFit 

Diet? Sleep? Hydration?

At age 54 I could peak my HR up to 215, and maintain at 170 on a hard ride. Now I can't peak it past 170. But, I'm healthier now.

TimothyH

This is a classic sign of overtraining.

Every three to four weeks should be a week of reduced intensity, volume and duration AKA "Recovery week."

bruce19

Most of my issues related to this are diet and hydration related. I'm 72. It gets more important with age IMO.

TimothyH

Also make sure you are getting enough sleep.

I'm 54 and it it is often difficult for me to fall and stay asleep.


-Tim-

Classtime 

BlazingPedals

Agreed. If you can't get your HR up, your body is telling you to back off. That's not an 'age' thing, it's just the way things work.

caloso

This

Wildwood 

Don't have any info that hasn't already been offered.
But my personal experience could be worth asking about if you have had a recent electrocardiogram.

I didn't know I had left bundle branch block (LBB) until my 60s, when getting an ECG prior to kidney stone surgery. On one previous ECG, a treadmill stress test, I was told 'a minor anomoly', not a health issue or concern. Supposedly the condition suppresses the heart's ability to attain higher rates and lowers resting heart rate. I had been so proud of my low 40s resting heart rate - as a sign of good cardio health - prior to learning of the LBB.

bogydave

""I am 54 and normally ride with a heart rate monitor. I noticed some days I cannot get my heart rate up past "warm up" and I fell very sluggish. I tend to shorten those rides and slow the pace way down. Other days my heart rate sits in zone 4/5 and I can hammer. Why the difference? I am guessing it is recovery time. ""

Am 64,
Know the feeling on days I can't seem to get things going.
I feel pretty good if I have 2 days between rides, but
many times I ride every day, & have learned to not push HR above 145 or so.

It does amaze me though how good a salmon fillet tastes a couple hours after a hard ride,
....my body seems to really need whatever's in there.

IMO, diet & rest are the big recovery factors.
+ Everyone knows: Good Hydration is always a must

Iride01 

It might be overtraining. But without knowing the numbers you are talking about and knowing that you actually determined what your correct numbers are. I wouldn't begin to say.

It might be something that you should discuss with your doctor to be certain there are no other more serious things going on.

And I'm not someone that likes to go to doctors either. But sometime self diagnosis is not appropriate.

bruce19

I am NOT putting spinach in my whiskey.

livedarklions

Are you taking blood pressure meds?

Beta blockers like atenolol slow the heart rate.

Carbonfiberboy 

I have LBB. Doesn't seem to affect my HR, either resting or max, though MHR naturally gets a little lower every year now. I may have had it most of my life, a possibility according to my cardiologist.

Carbonfiberboy 

When your HR won't come up, it's because you're a little (or a lot) overcooked. Don't push when it won't come up. Go easy and try again tomorrow. If it's a lot, can take days. Don't worry, be patient. Sometimes you'll notice that it won't come up and then you'll do an interval to force it, and then it comes right up for the rest of the ride. That's because HR is driven by hormones. When you ask for a hormone, it comes up until you don't have anymore, then you're overtrained. So be careful about forcing it up as it tires your glands.

Wildwood 

golly,........ maybe I can (again) assume my low resting heart rate IS due to 35 years of cycling.
Ignorance is Bliss.

LAJ

You're not old. Of course, if you choose to call yourself old, you will become old.

As far as training issues go, as many have said, the heart rate is a good indicator, Without the whole story, it's hard to say.