Hi,
I recently invested in a hometrainer for adding some extra volume to my general endurance training, all has been going well adding 2-3 hours of biking weekly. Now I have sadly gotten injured in my calf and have to substitute all my running with riding.
I did a labtest last year, where I got my zone 2 tested and it was around 157 BPM (for running).
I assumed that for the bike, that would mean I should go around 10BPM lower to stay in zone 2 reliably. For some reason, my body feels way for fatigued after the rides and I struggle to ‘calm down’ even hours after some zone 2 1 hour rides.
Would you guys recommend me to go even lower (maybe 130-140 BPM) or should I do something else?
Without any additional information about your age and general fitness, the only real advice I can offer at this point would be the ‘talk test’. Basically, if you’re in Z2, you should be able to carry on a reasonable conversation with someone. They would likely be able to tell you are exercising, but you should still be able to hold a fairly normal chat with them.
I’m sorry, was a bit stressed out about it last night.
I am a male age 26, with a decent fitness level (running VO2max of around 60).
I am able to carry the ‘conversation test’ at 150 HR, but for some reason it feels like my body is ‘unsteady’ after the rides, unlike a run where I can stop and not a change in breathing.
I follow a lot of pro triathletes whos HR on the ‘‘Zone 2’’ rides is normally lower to around 130-140.
What cadence are you riding at? Maybe try riding at a higher cadence (obviously shift gears so the power stays the same). A low cadence requires more muscular endurance, and maybe your legs aren’t quite ready for a lot of cycling yet. A higher cadence shifts the work from the legs to the cardio system.
Thanks! I will try to ride at 130-135 today.
My issue was mainly that I can easily do the conversation test, but my body would feel stressed so many hours after riding, where as with running it would normally calm down after 2-3 hours the most.
Whilst you may be able to do the conversation test, the duration may currently be beyond you without rising stresses. Even Z2 endurance needs to be built up. The body is incredible at giving feedback if we are prepared to listen. Go with lower intensity, as I said, and see how you go.
Have you tried doing a ride where you MASSIVELY drop the effort to see what happens? Like just get on the bike and ride for an hour at like 110?
I’m curious if this would still leave you with the feeling you’re describing. I’m asking because I’m wondering if it’s not so much the riding as it is that your body is not managing the overall volume well.
If it’s still making you feel that way even after a ride with VERY low intensity, then I have to wonder if it’s something else and the bike is the indicator and not the cause. When was the last time you took a recovery week? Have you changed your diet? How’s your sleep? Drinking more alcohol? New medication? More stress at work or in relationships or life in general?
If you’re just getting into cycling from running, you could have a bigger discrepancy between the two sports than others. They each have unique demands..
Rather than guessing on where your HR zones lie, I’d recommend starting from scratch and calculating them separately. The best method, in my opinion, is a LTHR test, which will work for both running and cycling.
Since you’re off running for a little while, start with cycling. This 20-minute effort could also serve as a good FTP test as well if you aren’t already aware of your fitness in terms of power.
HR zones can be tricky, and making assumptions based on any one thing likely isn’t going to help much, so forget your running data and start from scratch on the bike. Once you’re back into running, it wouldn’t hurt to do a similar style test to double-check your current running HR figures since they do change over time based on fitness and other variables.
When you’re in the moment, though, don’t stress, and always go by feel. If what you’re doing feels too hard, it probably is (for whatever reason), regardless of what the data is telling you.
One thing that I haven’t seen mentioned but is a common issue for people newer to trainer riding is heat management.
Without any air moving over you you can easily overheat. Do you have any fans (or enough fans) pointing at you?
At Z2 you should basically have no dripping sweat.
Would you guys recommend me to go even lower (maybe 130-140 BPM) or should I do something else?
But yes, if your 1h endurance rides are leaving you keyed up for over 2 hours after then I’d go much easier. Even like 110 BPM. Try it out and see how you feel and then maybe work back up from there.
Thanks everyone!! I dropped the intensity to 130-140 BPM, and really made sure to conservatively increasing the power. Feels way better, and I my sleep doesnt get seriously impaired. I also moved my fan a bit to blow more into my core which pretty much removed most of the sweat.
Hi Eddie, I did a FTP test initially when i started training on the bike, and got a FTP at 270watts.
I used to cycle a lot of MTB when I was younger.
I dropped the intensity a bit on the rides and fixed my cooling, and that seems to have worked wonders.
Still.. 5x5 vo2max efforts made me throw up, where as on running it was manageable
