Cardio condition rate loss?

Haven't ridden in 2 weeks.

So I gleefully head to the hills; the same hills 3 weeks ago I could climb up with brisk speed and
barely a pant. But now, I find I can barely make it up the darn hills. I get to the tops and I'm
ready to spit out a lung they feel so raw. Leg power seems to be ok, maybe a bit down, but the worst
part is I just can't breathe. I'm huffin like a teen at a Toncho party.

Does it really only take a rather short a time off to loose breathing/aerobic efficiency?

I doubt it. Could the air be a bit cooler than it was two weeks ago? (Sorry, I don't know what part
of the country your are from. I'm from NE.) I find that up to a point cooler is better. Then, I
start struggling when it's raw or colder outside.

"Destroy" <no@thanks.com> wrote in message news:1Einb.76766$%C5.72638@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com...
> Haven't ridden in 2 weeks.
>
> So I gleefully head to the hills; the same hills 3 weeks ago I could climb up with brisk speed and
> barely a pant. But now, I find I can barely make it up the darn hills. I get to the tops and I'm
> ready to spit out a lung they feel so raw. Leg power seems to be ok, maybe a bit down, but the
> worst part is I just can't breathe. I'm huffin like a teen at a Toncho party.
>
> Does it really only take a rather short a time off to loose breathing/aerobic efficiency?

stamkis wrote:

> I doubt it. Could the air be a bit cooler than it was two weeks ago? (Sorry, I don't know what
> part of the country your are from. I'm from NE.) I find that up to a point cooler is better. Then,
> I start struggling when it's raw or colder outside.
>

Never thought of that.

As a matter of fact you're right, it was substantially colder. 45 degrees F vs. a more normal 70+.

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 18:25:11 -0600, Destroy wrote:

> Does it really only take a rather short a time off to loose breathing/aerobic efficiency?

We all have off days. It probably has as much to do with that than the two weeks you spent not
riding. I have found, though, that you lose conditioning much faster as you get older - offset, of
course, by a much longer period required to get back in shape.

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least) "It's a shallow life that
doesn't give a person a few scars" - Garrison Keillor

Destroy wrote:

> Haven't ridden in 2 weeks.
>
> So I gleefully head to the hills; the same hills 3 weeks ago I could climb up with brisk speed and
> barely a pant. But now, I find I can barely make it up the darn hills. I get to the tops and I'm
> ready to spit out a lung they feel so raw. Leg power seems to be ok, maybe a bit down, but the
> worst part is I just can't breathe. I'm huffin like a teen at a Toncho party.
>
> Does it really only take a rather short a time off to loose breathing/aerobic efficiency?
>
>

Sorry to say, but I think one factor may be age. Another may be what you have (or have not) been
doing for those few weeks. After living and riding at about 8000 feet in Colordo for years and
years, I spent 1 month at sea level in Alaska, with relatively low aerobic activity. I was quite the
slug on the next ride back!

--
Craig Brossman, Durango Colorado (remove ".nospam" to reply)

Craig Brossman wrote:

> Destroy wrote:
>
>> Haven't ridden in 2 weeks.
>>
>> So I gleefully head to the hills; the same hills 3 weeks ago I could climb up with brisk speed
>> and barely a pant. But now, I find I can barely make it up the darn hills. I get to the tops and
>> I'm ready to spit out a lung they feel so raw. Leg power seems to be ok, maybe a bit down, but
>> the worst part is I just can't breathe. I'm huffin like a teen at a Toncho party.
>>
>> Does it really only take a rather short a time off to loose breathing/aerobic efficiency?
>>
>>
>
> Sorry to say, but I think one factor may be age. Another may be what you have (or have not) been
> doing for those few weeks. After living and riding at about 8000 feet in Colordo for years and
> years, I spent 1 month at sea level in Alaska, with relatively low aerobic activity. I was quite
> the slug on the next ride back!
>
I have to concur on the age thing. You lose it quick, and have to fight to get it back. Keeps us
40-somethings on our toes.

Paladin

"Paladin" <CDB@home.net> wrote in message news:3F9DF143.1050109@home.net...
>
>
> Craig Brossman wrote:
>
> > Destroy wrote:
> >
> >> Haven't ridden in 2 weeks.
> >>
> >> So I gleefully head to the hills; the same hills 3 weeks ago I could climb up with brisk speed
> >> and barely a pant. But now, I find I can barely make it up the darn hills. I get to the tops
> >> and I'm ready to spit out a lung they feel so raw. Leg power seems to be ok, maybe a bit down,
> >> but the worst part is I just can't breathe. I'm huffin like a teen at a Toncho party.
> >>
> >> Does it really only take a rather short a time off to loose breathing/aerobic efficiency?
> >>
> >>
> >
> > Sorry to say, but I think one factor may be age. Another may be what you have (or have not) been
> > doing for those few weeks. After living and riding at about 8000 feet in Colordo for years and
> > years, I spent 1 month at sea level in Alaska, with relatively low aerobic activity. I was quite
> > the slug on the next ride back!
> >
> I have to concur on the age thing. You lose it quick, and have to fight
to get it back. Keeps us 40-somethings on our toes.
>
Uh oh, sounds like I'm really in for it.

Cardio conditioning slides much faster than muscular strength, but I thought it was more like 3-4
weeks. Two weeks might well be the lower end. You can hold onto the benefits of weightlifting for a
month or two.

Another ride is needed to really determine whether you were just sluggish that day or actually
lost fitness.

--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

Raptor <me@attbi.com> wrote:

>Cardio conditioning slides much faster than muscular strength, but I thought it was more like 3-4
>weeks. Two weeks might well be the lower end. You can hold onto the benefits of weightlifting for a
>month or two.

A lot depends on your frame of reference as well. If someone is riding only an hour or two a week,
not much will be lost with a week or two off the bike. However, if you're out there hammering a
couple hours a day almost every day, you'll notice a lot of fitness loss in two weeks off the bike.

As I recall, Greg LeMond (uber-roadie) once said that he wouldn't be able to stick with the peleton
(main pack) if he took two weeks off the bike. This was at a time when he was spanking the best
riders in the world regularly.

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame

RE/
>Leg power seems to be ok, maybe a bit down, but the worst part is I just can't breathe. I'm huffin
>like a teen at a Toncho party.
>
>Does it really only take a rather short a time off to loose breathing/aerobic efficiency?

I think so.

When I was serious about working out, laying off and resuming went something like this:

1 day: Feel *Great* - tempted to do it more often.

2 days: Feel even better

3 days: Feel about the same as two, no apparent loss of endurance.

7 days: Gotta ease into it for a couple days

14 days: Definately starting from some lower level of capacity - but the 14 or more days was always
because of some illness like the flu...so I can't really say how much of it was laying off and how
much was damage from the infection.
--
PeteCresswell