Ideas about fitness and heart rate etc.

A year ago I was unfit after being off the bike for around 2 years. Previously I was pretty fit, doing Cx/MTB races and the occasional road race.
I really struggled a year ago, but slowly got fitter, the excess weight woudlnt go away, but I did lose around a stone. My heart rate at the start would be up to 165bpm, and I’d be gasping like mad at the top of hills, and often getting off to push.
Fast forward to July/August, and I was in the middle of the weekly group I go out with, occasionally in the front, until the end of August, when everything started getting hard again.
Struggling to get up hills, being dropped by everyone again etc. However, my BPM now reached a max of 150, but I really coudlnt do any more, its not like I wasnt trying, I was gasping for breath, and my legs were started to feel dead, when this has never been a problem before.
If my BPM was still at 165, I could understand it, I just cant do any more than that (age!), but the heart rate is lower, yet I still cant go any faster/harder.
Any ideas?

Are you getting a decent amount of rest? One of the main symptoms I find when I’ve been overdoing it, is precisely what you’re seeing: just can’t seem to get the heart rate up. Legs feel fine, just no top end.

You had any time off? How’s your weekly schedule look like?

You might be too tired to be able to get your HR up.

Maybe keep an eye on HRV (heart rate variability) rather than HR. Having had recent spates of what you describe, I bought a Garmin watch that keeps tabs on my HRV, and surely enough the correlation between low/unbalanced or poor HRV and poor biking performance goes hand in hand. I’ve found that adjusting my fitness ‘regime’ when I’ve poor HRV makes a big difference. A steady walk/jog or easy Z1/2 Zwift cycle when low HRV means I don’t get the fatigue build up that I’ve been seeing when cycling IRL. Disclaimer….this works for me and whilst I’ve done plenty of research into HRV I still couldn’t be confident enough to tell you what it all means.

Potentially you’ve overtrained / under-recovered after the two years you’ve spent off the bike.

Were you unwell? I had almost two years without riding after long covid and getting back to my previous level has been slow and I’m noticeably less resilient than I was pre-break. Some of that may be the physiological impact of the illness, some simply time off the bike and maybe ageing.

Wear a watch that monitors your heart rate 24/7, so you can also see resting and how long it takes for your heart rate to drop after exercise.

What age are you (under the 220bpm – age = max HR ‘theory’)?

+1 paino, me too

Yeah, sound like overtraining/under resting. In my experience of being coached over the last couple of years & giving feedback, I’ve noticed that a lack of proper rest (or a few too many beers) results in the inability to push hard enough to get my HR up. Illness tends to show as much higher hart rate for a given effort, typically Z2 watts at Z3 HR.

Sounds like fatigue. Concentrate more on zone 2 for a while let your body recover and build your fitness back slowly. It’s a good time of year to build your base fitness again. I’d aim to get peak again in March/April. No point in being a January champion.

I am currently trying to recover and build my fitness again after a tumble off my bike. Zone 2 power is now well into zone 3 heart rate territory. I am resisting the temptation to rush into zone 3 zone 4 work on the turbo. There’s plenty of time for me to rebuild. I just need patience. So I’m sticking to zone 1 and zone 2.

There’s no shortcut to cardio fitness it’s a slow process. Just reset have patience and build it back slowly give yourself at least 3 months.

What age are you (under the 220bpm – age = max HR ‘theory’)?

LOL

What age are you (under the 220bpm – age = max HR ‘theory’)?

I’m 60. Last night I peaked at 148bpm measured with a cheapish Garmin watch, when I’d reularly see mid 160’s in Jan/Feb this year.
As for over-training, I go out twice, occasionally, 3 times a week, typically 8-12 miles, 300 – 400 metres ascent, so I wouldnt call that overtraining, its less than 4 hours a week. As for work, yes, I have been doing more recently, building a house, it isnt all hard work, but there are days when I’m lifting all day.

However, my BPM now reached a max of 150, but I really coudlnt do any more, its not like I wasnt trying, I was gasping for breath, and my legs were started to feel dead, when this has never been a problem before.

Any feeling of pressure, point pain or swelling anywhere, eg in your legs? If there is get a blood test – small blood clots getting into the lungs can have this effect and aren’t to be ‘pushed through’ as you might with fatigue. Unlikely but possible and easy to miss at the early stages.

I go out twice, occasionally, 3 times a week, typically 8-12 miles, 300 – 400 metres ascent, so I wouldnt call that overtraining, its less than 4 hours a week

That’s a reasonable amount of ascent over that distance. The overtraining would be if you are doing all those miles at a high heart rate. If it’s all near to your HRmax then you will struggle because your system is being overloaded. Your garmin should be able to tell you about HR zones you’ve been exercising in each week. If it’s all Z4/5 then you should look at some Z2 as someone up thread mentioned. If there is no reason for the sudden change worth getting some bloods done as james0 suggests

I’m in the same position as BWD. Covid 2 years ago has impacted me and I am not the athelete I was, even though I returned to everyday life within 3 weeks.

Although my resting heartrate has remained in the mid/low 40s my Max HR is down by 15bpm, I have no ability to keep pushing into the red-zone, my recovery is poor and I drift into accumulated fatigue without even trying, which has made trying to get fitness back difficult. So far I’ve only been slightly successful.

But, I’m lucky I don’t have long covid. I can function almost normally and I can still ride unassited, albeit with some concessions to intensity and duration.

My reduced capabilities have seen the earlier adoption of an Eeb in the fleet than I had intended, but it’s been an excellent foil against my new decrepitude and allowed me to hang with the fit bois on weekend trips instead of not being able to attend/keep up.

The most optimum way for me to function is to avoid becoming too spent on a ride and call it early rather than tough it out and hang on until I’m dog tired. That way I don’t seem to fall into the ‘fatigue pit’ because once I’m there it takes a day or two longer to get out of it.

If it’s all Z4/5 then you should look at some Z2 as someone up thread mentioned

As it happens, yes, my HR is above 120 from 2 minutes of leaving the car park, Ae Forest, so whatever way you leave the car park, you are going up a 100 metre+ climb within 5 minutes, less if you head toward the downhill tracks – the start of the climb is around 300 metres from the car park, and, typically, a 35-45 minute climb for 120-150 metres ascent. 10 minutes or less of downhill, which is still at a high heart rate, a 5 minute break, then back to climbing up another hill to go down again. 400 metres last night, 3 downhill sections in 1hr 45m, around 12 miles.
So the advice is to go out and do some easyish rides that are pretty flat?

Yes, i think that’s a good idea. Suspect lots of folk on here doing quite a bit of low intensity stuff in-between their higher intensity stuff. Might feel counter intuitive initially, but you should start to see benefits fairly quickly. You do need to set up your watch so that you can make sure that you are keeping within your zones. And you need to work out where to ride that is flatter, and make sure that you keep the effort sustainable. Give it a whirl, stick with it and enjoy the gains

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/zone-2-training-for-endurance-athletes/

I do a fair amount of flat gravel riding and recently my hr is far lower than the effort feels.

My limit is about 165bpm but on flat rides I’m struggling to get into zone 2 even when it feels like I am (eg 100-110bpm) I’ve done manual checks and found the hrm is correct. I seem to be maintaining the pace I would expect but I’d rather I could go a bit faster with a higher heart rate.