I was wondering the same.
@Elroc, this thread points out that HRM placement and wetness have an affect. Could either of these be playing a roll in your outdoor rides?
Hello,
Just a couple of thoughts: You mention that you start your outdoor ride with a 12% gradient. That puts you into a higher power / HR zone. It can take 20 minutes (or more) for the aerobic system to go back to fat-burning Z2. If you keep your power elevated above Z2 during that period, your HR will remain elevated / carb-burn.
I also agree with many others that your max HR is higher than you think it is.
Last, I have read many times that the amount of time you can sustain near your max HR is an indicator of cardiovascular health. For example, if you can sustain a workout for 30 minutes near max HR, your cardiovascular health is probably better than someone who can sustain a workout for 10 minutes near their max HR.
As @Brett_J_Wheeler points out, this is most likely a primary underlying issue. Physiologically, youâve put the body in a deficit that it never actually climbs out of.
This points to a potential contributor that is mental, emotional and physical. Was that accident on a bike? Regardless of the nature of your accident, it clearly had an effect. Even if you mentally donât feel it plays a roll, if youâve not done the work to remove the trauma of your accident then the energy is still lingering in the system. I guarantee you that.
Hi, sorry I havenât been replying, I did a ride then went away for a long weekend and I cant really type on my phone with my thumbs without pain due to accident complications.
I have always had this issue with massive heartrate on the road. Iâll admit the road makes me anxious, I know that my life is meaningless to most motorists so I am a nervous wreck before getting to the cycleway but thatâs only the first and last 2km or so.
I had better luck with my latest 2 rides. I have been more aware of my body due to things mentioned in this thread and even though I said earlier I feel like I have a lot left in the tank, I tried that out and apparently Iâm just pushing myself really hard all the time. I enjoy it.
I managed to get it down to tempo in my last ride just following someone else with more sense than I have.
I usually do 3 or 4 morning rides on the trainer before work each week, they are all about 30km long and I am in zone 2 solidly for the whole ride. Then in the weekend I do my big ride, currently about 55km and I go reasonably hard (apparently harder than I thought though).
I think I just need to slow down.
My heartrate monitors all say the same thing, I have 3 chest ones and they all report the same numbers and my watch backs it up. I use both indoors and outdoors so they cant all be working wrong outside.
Thatâs exactly what I was wondering. Nothing wrong with it. Knowing yourself is always a good thing.
It sounds like youâve tracked down the bulk of the issue. Very good.
Life is about finishing with the highest FTPâŚ
I think it was an ancient and wise philosopher who shared the following mantra:
I get knocked down, but I get up again
Youâre never gonna keep me down
Just to clarify, when I broke my wrist, it was a motorbike on the cycleway coming in the opposite direction really fast, I swerved to avoid him and slid out. When I actually fell I was not moving but I was on a steep downwards slope so I fell further than I expected and landed poorly with a 30kg ebike on top of me (my commuting bike is an ebike). I broke my distal radius and needed a plate installed which was done in such a way that now the swelling has gone down I can feel 2 of the screws sticking out of the bone and tensing my wrist or moving my hand the wrong way causes pain as the muscle rubs across the screw.
I have binned it a few times on the road/cycleway but I always get back on again as soon as I am able, this is the first time I have broken a bone cycling but not my first broken bone by a long way and not even top 5 on my âexperienced painâ index
The anxiety you mention, as well as the physical issuesâboth the initial trauma and the ongoing irritation and painâare indications of how energy is stored in the body until itâs released. A true osteopath (not one who works as an MD, but instead does hands on treatment) or a Barnes Myofascial Release therapist can help the body release that energy. It will not leave the system on its own, but will instead cause continual disruptions and compensations.
I had a similar problem. Was sent to a cardiologist and did a treadmill test. He said my heart was fine and I had a high max heart rate. Thatâs actually a good thing. People who stay fit their whole lives tend to have high MaxHR. Its high resting HR thatâs a problem.
But why oh why didnât I ask to be referred to a pulmonologist? My lungs were the reason no matter how hard I trained I wasnât getting any fitter. I trained and trained indoors where I could modify my effort, made lovely muscles, but had no effect on my fitness. And was most obvious when I went out riding in groups and twiggy little girls whoâd just bought their first bike were leaving me for dead.
So my advice is follow it up. See a cardiologist but see a pulmonologist too and get a CT scan of your lungs for starters. Donât let anyone tell you its psychological. And explore every possibility. Unfortunately I believed all the glib explanations doctors gave me. I left it 10 year too late and in the end I had to tell my GP what test to do. She laughed and laughed that I thought I need a TB test (I donât have TB, but the test is the same). I hope she feels really stupid now.
I think ill do an FTP test this week and see how it goes. I have been putting it off because I know ill cry at the drop in power since my injury, I was hoping to build up a bit more strength first but I think I need to do it just to see all the stats.
I did have a bad round of covid back in 2021, I still donât have full sense of smell and taste back but I think that would also show when I am doing my weekday rides which I have no issues with at all.
I have a background of mostly fighting sports (wrestling and muay thai) but I spent 2 decades from 30 to 50 morbidly obese (128kg) sitting at a desk just before I did my âfit my 50â thing and got back down to normal weight (75kg). When I was in my prime in my 20âs I was working out 8 hours a week just fighting and weights and I went HARD back then so maybe that has something to do with it.
Recovering slowly from COVID is a good reason to get both your heart and lungs checked.
Iâd highly recommend to combine FTP test with a lactate / cardio pyramid test in some laboratory (usually it also includes a talk with a sport doc). It costs quite some money, but to be honest health is not a thing to cut costs in my opinion. By doing that youâll not only know your real FTP, but also a real heart rate zones and the overall how your heart behaves under load.
That sounds great and all but I canât afford that kind of thing, I donât even have a power meter on my outdoor bike, and I would definitely have that if I could. I might see if the doctor can get me tested for free but other than that its going to have to be a self test on a smart trainer.
For initial purposes and the main issue at hand, your own personal tracking is sufficient. If youâre concerned in any way about your heart health then see your medical professional.
I thought I had an issue with my heart rate when I saw a 190 on a ride (Iâm almost 70).
I then reviewed my strava max HR on rides going back a year. I had many between 170 and 200. I was concerned enough to see a Cardiologist. When presented with the evidence (I did a 10â treadmill test (HR183)), he wasnât bothered about the high HR, as long as it came back down reasonably quickly, which it did.
Itâs worth having it checked out.
If you do a ramp FTP test on the trainer you should be able to get pretty close to a good Max HR. Iâm convinced the main issue is that your Max HR is much higher than the standard calculation of 220-age. Therefore, making your submaximal efforts look like they are very close to Max.
Do the test well rested; couple of easy days prior. Good sleep. Get a nice high blood sugar going an hour or so before. All that should allow you to really max out on the ramp test.