I guess it's relevant to HR at all ranges of output, but it's easier to gauge max or near-max efforts than low and moderate efforts. My resting HR is still pretty much the same.
I lost roughly 8kg a couple of years ago, and a few more kg about a year before that.
I've noticed in the last 18 months or so that my HR doesn't get quite as high as it used to (about 5 to 7 beats lower) during very hard efforts. For example: a few years ago, on a "fresh legs" day, I could easily get my HR into the low to mid-190s during a hard interval or gap-bridging-type effort, but it's unusual if my HR nudges 190 in a similar situation these days.
It's only just dawned on me that it could be because my heart doesn't have to work as hard, due to their being less blubber to pump blood through. Is this how it works?
Prior to thinking of this, I assumed the lower HRs were due to older age (I'm 45), or coz I'd lost power from the weight loss (I've always thought that HR is a "by-product" of what the legs can generate on the day).
I don't have a power metre
Thanks