Hi all,
I’m on my last week of general build low volume before rest week. When I started the final half of the build plan 3 weeks ago, I was able to push my HR on Dade+1 to 170BPM (181 max HR). I had Matthes +1 last week and it was pretty rough, had to backpedal a few times on the last interval, but I was able to complete it. But today, on Kaiser +1, I could only get my HR up to 160BPM and had to dial back the intensity to 95%.
Is this a sign that I’m overdoing it? I’ve been doing strength training twice a week and also add on about 2-3 hours of endurance rides to supplement the training. To be honest, I’ve been feeling pretty ragged at the end of last week and I really didn’t want to be on the bike; I had to drag myself through San Joaquin +3 two days ago.
The thing that bothers me is the heart rate. On today’s workout, I felt like I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs and it kind of freaked me out a bit, but when I look at the screen it shows my HR is only 150-160. Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you!
Hmmm…let’s ask @TRusername —
Any other questions you can answer for yourself? 
Don’t sweat it. Rest up for a few days and get back to it. The heart is a muscle too remember. 
thanks @Captain_Doughnutman.
It’s weird because everything else says I’m recovered, eg HRV highest for the last month, RHH lowest for the last month.
That can also be a sign of fatigue.
I spent the last 12 months researching heart function. I don’t know it all but I do know a lot of weird stuff! 
You are tired. If HR doesn’t rise with that intensity it is time to rest
Thanks for the reply. Could this be more muscular fatigue rather than cardio fatigue? I noticed that about 1/2 through the interval my cadence would start to drop below 100RPM. About 2/3 in I would be fighting to keep my cadence about 95 and it felt like I was pedaling through mud. It was at that point I would usually bail.
Just fatigue. I do my vo2max workouts when i’m really fresh, currently Im doing a more polarized approach (2/3 vo2max and rest very easy) and that seems to work. Trowing in tempo or FTP will make me fail the VO2max workouts
Thanks for the follow up, really appreciate your insight.
No problem. I learned to watch my heartrate in combination of power and i can immediately see if i’m really fresh that day or too tired. If i’m too tired I don’t “fight” the workout and dial it down or just do some easy stuff.
Today I was fresh but at certain moment it i wanted to bail out. Just went trough with it because it was a mental issue.