I have been quite fanatic in triathlon over the past few years and hence had a reasonably good condition.
However, I have done hardly any exercise over the past 3-4 months due to a number of reasons. I am now trying to get back into training with the ambition to be back in shape come spring 2021. I also gained a KG or 4-5…
I did a ramp test three weeks ago which put met at an FTP of 231. Unfortunately I instantly got a fever during the last two weeks.
My plan is to focus on base training, lots of base training to establish a proper base before going into more specific plans like the triathlon plans from TR.
Yesterday, I did ‘Echo -5’, with the idea to start with a reasonably doable workout, and I did finish it with ease.
However, my question is whether the Endurance workout, like Echo -5, are meant to be mainly done in Heartrate zone 2 - which I thought was meant to be spending the majority of your endurance work in.
However, my heartrate stayed mainly in zone 3. Could it be that my FTP is too high? I want to ensure I am doing these type of workouts correctly as I am planning to do many of them…
The following picture shows (in Dutch) my heartrate and underneath power zone for the the Echo -5 which I did.
Too many variables to judge form a one ride. Could be FTP but also temperature, cooling, sleep, stress, nutrition and so on. Try more rides and then you will have set of data.
I’d just say you’re detrained right now. This workout is looks on the high-end of endurance and even though its totally doable, its more stress at this time than if you hadn’t been sick and off the bike for months. I see this kind of thing with Pettit over the year… I start with an elevated HR and slowly over the season push the HR down despite the power going up. Eventually the hr/pwr zones will align better.
If you’re coming back from illness that could absolutely be the cause of an unusually high HR, and if you’re just jumping back into things that won’t help matters either. In any case, I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions from a single workout. Sounds like you have enough experience to know what Z2 feels like, so if the RPE seems reasonable I’d just roll with that and let your body get used to the workload again. If it’s consistently elevated after that maybe consider retesting.
Also, out of curiosity, how did you determine your HR zones? I found the default Garmin zones to be significantly lower than the ones I got via a LTHR test, so if that’s the case it might be a little out of whack.
Thanks for all the replies. I got the heartrate zones tested through a test at the local centre. I have a max heartrate of 206 so my zones are relatively high to what I see others having on Strava and the likes…
