Make me last longer when going hard

[TallPaul_S]

Hey guys,

Bit of background info first: About 2 months ago I got back into mountain biking/cycling after about a 10 year gap from riding cycles (I used a fixed gear in Bristol so was pretty fit then), and overall fitness in the last 10 years hasn't been awful, but not amazing either. I've been a semi-regular gym goer for weight training and although I do a sedentary job in an office I'm pretty active.

Some stats: I'm 37, 175-180lbs, 6ft 3in. Resting HR of 40-45bpm, I've seen it as low as 38 at times. Max HR is 178bpm.

Now, coming back to MTB and I'm finding I'm really struggling when exerting a decent effort, for instance long climbs, or just anything with a long elevated heart rate. After a few minutes my legs are basically out of energy and even though I'm gasping for breath my legs are definitely the first thing to go.

If I regulate my HR in zones 2 and 3 (65-85% of max HR) I can go for hours, it's the higher effort bits where I just have nothing left in the tank, even if I've only been riding for 20 minutes.

Just got back from a 2hr base mile training session as I figured it would be a good idea to get a decent base level of fitness before starting to work on higher intensity stuff, the hardest thing on this ride was staying in zone 2, see below:


Honestly I could have done another 2 hours without much issue, apart from my sitbones starting to hurt a little!

It would seem I've got a decent level of endurance, as above I've no issues with long rides at low/medium intensity. But finding myself literally having to stop halfway up a steep climb just isn't cutting it! I do sit and spin in bottom gear, but on climbs where this still requires a decent push by the legs or if I need to sprint for more than 10-15 seconds, my legs turn to jelly and I'm done.

My current plan is to do 2-3 base mile rides a week for the next 6-10 weeks, I'll try to up the duration each week, ending up at 2x 2hr rides on weekday evenings and then a longer ride at the weekend. This is in addition to the 4 miles a day I do commuting to work and back, so that's 20 miles a week commuting, plus 2x 20 mile rides minimum so I'll be doing at least 60 miles a week.

Any other suggestions as to what training would be best to introduce to improve my endurance at the top end of the HR zones?

Thanks in advance

 

[TallPaul_S]

Oh yeah I know the z2/3 stuff won't help directly with climbing but I still want to get a good base fitness level as well as trying to improve the high end stuff.

60 second max effort intervals - I think I could probably last 60 seconds at max effort (I'm guessing z4/5?) for a few attempts, my commute takes me down a hill close to home, then it's pretty much flat otherwise, that hill on the way home could form a single interval, it's about 60s long. I could also do a 1 mile loop with this climb, so that would be a 60 second interval then 3-4 minute recovery.

I'll have a look into intervals, it makes sense to train these as this is where I'm making the most.

 

[TallPaul_S]

Yeah, TBH i reckon just riding more will do it - I looked at my strava the other day and realised I've only really been back on a bike for about 7 weeks So any improvement in fitness may need to take a while longer

 

[TallPaul_S]

Well I'm not sure if it's just the riding more, or the base mile rides I've been doing, or a combination - but I'm seeing a big difference in my fitness levels already. Went out for a 20 mile ride today, which had a 2.5 mile 600ft climb, spent over half the time in zone 4 (150-168bpm) with the rest zone 3, max HR was 176 so 2bpm off my maximum. A mile from home there's a decent climb and I dispatched that with ease and even had enough energy to do some hops off the speedbumps A few months ago I'd have been dead after 20 miles!

 

[TallPaul_S]

no substitute for miles!

So, not long got back from a 52 mile ride. I've not been doing many proper rides over the past 2 weeks, just commuting, but whatever I'm doing it seems to be working!!

My max heart rate has increase since I did the test a month ago, it's now 183 up from 178. I did the same short sharp climb that I mentioned in my original post and a month ago I had to stop half way up, today I smashed nearly 1 minute off the time (3:17 to 2:21), no stopping and I hit 183 bpm. Then I went on to do another 45+ miles

 

[TallPaul_S]

Cheers!

This was no base mile ride either, really glad I'm seeing some proper results and increase in endurance and fitness. At about 30 miles stuff was starting to ache a little but I'm glad I managed to push through and get home without assistance!

 

[TallPaul_S]

Little update - haven't been out much on the bike over the past few weeks aside from normal commuting. Just got back from a 12 mile ride, 1 hour 15 mins. Strange thing was I'd be looking down at the HR readout on my wahoo and it'd be in the high 170's at time yet I never really felt out of breath - sometimes I didn't actually believe the HR monitor (it is accurate though) as it didn't feel like I was working that hard! The while ride was average 164bpm, apparently my 1 hour threshold is now 166bpm, whatever that means!

 

[TallPaul_S]

I doubt your HR monitoring is accurate if you can rest at 40-45 with only 175 ish max. Sounds like it's under reading. Someone who is 35-40 with that kind of resting rate should easily be able to top 180+ if not more. Worth checking.

My max HR is 183 currently, haven't checked my resting recently but I've hit 183 a few times when on rides.

I've now got my own car so will be riding properly most weekends now as well as the normal short commute.

This was my last proper ride, 1hr 15 riding time.

 

[TallPaul_S]

So, another max HR hit today, now up to 187.

 

[TallPaul_S]

What are you trying to achieve by using a variable metric (heart rate) to guage presumably fitness or intensity?

Something absolute, such as power, would be far more useful if available, no?

I'm not measuring my fitness based on the max HR, it's more in reponse to the post above which suggested my HR monitor might be mis-reading as my resting HR is 40-45 and my max HR was only 178 - it's now 187+ which in itself is a measure of fitness, no? Your Max HR increases the fitter you are, up to your hereditary maximum.

The ride I did today I did nearly a year ago in October, and including time stopped (for a breather, to lower the HR), last time it took me 1:35 to do the 7.7 miles, and I remember having to walk 2 sections. Today it took me 58 minutes, and no walking. I'd say that's some good progress