It was so nice to see my RHR return to it's normal range in the last 2 days. October - December made me feel like I might never see that range again. Between the 2 sicknesses (not COVID) I had when returning from the Galapagos, the food and travel while I was there, the surplus days of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years in addition to days couched in where I relented to taking allergy medicine to aid my poor raw sinuses during the winter season, this heart was lucky if it could sit much less rest at 61-62 bpms. The high sometimes reaching 65-67 bpms.
The sixties are not a normal range for me unless it's post weights or strength training. And, even then it usually doesn't go higher than 62 bpms. Anywhere between 56-58 is it's normal consistent resting yogi asana so to speak, LOL.
I can't help but wonder if part of the reason is the change in approach to cardio training.
I have already increased the rpm range on 3 different programs in the recumbent, because this heart is aerobically adapting so quickly. It's unbelievable. My arm and leg muscles don't adapt as quickly to increases in weight or volume with lifting.
Perhaps, the RHR is my heart's way of letting me know it's on to my game and it's ready to throw down, LOL!
Sometimes, I imagine it saying things like "Well, it's about damn time you paid some attention to training me...you talk about your capacity for endurance enough and you haven't even scratched the surface!"
And, this heart would be correct if it were indeed saying this to me. I suppose it was overlooked by this mind for so long because I took it for granted. Don't we all take our hearts for granted most of the time. But, then I'm always reminded of something Goggin's stated in his book after running his first ultra and being destroyed by it, but still managing to complete it.
He said, "If I could still finish that ultra completely untrained and unprepared, what could this body do if it was trained proficiently to run it..?"
And, perhaps that planted the seed.
I increased the time on my weekend bike rides by five more minutes, putting me at the 50 minute mark with a record calorie burn of 695 cals. I'm still keeping the highest resistance levels at 18. This usually has me going between levels 13-18 throughout the ride, with some low levels couched in for recovery.
I allow for 12 minutes at the beginning of the ride for warm up. The goal of the warm up is not to go fast or slow, but just to find a very comfortable flow where I can set a pace and get the blood pumping. I can have easy conversations during warm up, but when the 12 minutes are up, focus is needed to ensure I'm hitting the rpm range for that particular level of resistance.
One might be very surprised at how extremely challenging it can be to hold back. Both body and mind want to go, go, go once the first of the lactic acid is eliminated from the legs, it's on baby!
But, with tempo training it's safe to say pace is everything and it sounds weird, but it almost feels like time under tension just to keep the body from following its natural desire to for momentum.
Sprint training is just as important to build endurance but takes up less percentage of the actual training. In cycling, it's the 80/20 rule (i.e. 80% aerobic/20% interval or sprint). My next training session is an interval session which helps to burn some of the carbon out of the engine. But, if the recovery score is good and it's a weekend I'll use any program and just let these legs go as fast as they want to at whatever pace they want too.
It's hard to explain, but tempo training makes you look forward to sprint or interval training because you can bust loose and it just feels awesome!
Today's recovery score blessed me with a rest day and I am thankful. It might seem that adding just 5 more minutes to a ride is minuscule, but one can tack on a whole other mile and 60-70 plus cals with five more minutes. It's an increase in energy expenditure when the body has already expended a great deal so it's essential to increase time and miles incrementally.
In addition to the 50 minute ride yesterday, a quick 20 minute cross-fit routine was couched in which usually wrecks me every time. So, I was was thankful indeed for a day to let these legs have a break.
I'm still keeping to the 1750-1850 caloric intake with a moving average of 121 and lows of 120 so despite the Holiday surplus, that is where this body seems comfortable for the time being. That being stated, since I'm burning a lot of calories it's safe to say those Holiday surplus days were well used.
I'm still trying to research nutrition for endurance. Believe it or not, dialing in nutrition for weights and strength is A LOT less challenging than eating for endurance. In part, because everyone's digestive system works differently. People's body's respond to carbs differently. What may make one person bloated, gassy, and burpy on a ride may not do that to someone else. Some fat is needed because one is burning through so much energy, but too much fat impacts performance. There's drinking carbs, but then one doesn't want that to interfere with electrolytes.
I'm thinking energy bars for myself. But, we'll see if I feel pukey after eating one on a ride then drinking my carbs may prevail.
I have learned if the ride lasts longer than an hour, one needs to start fueling every 20 minutes. But, that has some options too. Some may stop and refuel for 10 minutes and some choose to fuel while they are riding. I'll have to play with that one when the rides reach past the hour mark.
Carb loading or front loading is definitely encouraged, but again it's one of those circumstances where you want to know how it will affect the digestive system the day after when the body is utilizing it.
So, lots to explore here for sure. I have some time to consider it all. I don't plan on going past the hour mark until the summer or maybe even next fall. In the meantime, my pre-ride snacks do the job as long as I have something right after to get my blood sugar levels back up.
Mom asked me the million dollar question this morning. "How do you think this shift in training is going to impact your muscle mass?" I chuckled and replied, "that is a very good question and one I cannot answer."
I've split up all the weights and resistance routines so they last no longer than an hour with only 3-4 sets of 3 movements. And, I'm making sure to keep the protein high for muscle repair but other than that it's hard to know. It will be interesting to see what if any changes there are in my physique by next year.
A lot of this is kind of a "wait and see, learn as we go" kinda thing. But, then when it comes to exercising the heart most of life is just that don't ya think? :-)
Have a beautifully blessed week, everyone!
