Fitness fallout, training and HRM



samcrx3

New Member
Apr 25, 2005
57
0
0
56
I've been trying to pick up my fitness, riding at least 3 times a week, 20km for two rides and 40km for one ride (a bit hard to squeeze in when you are a mum). I thought I was doing quite well until I hopped on the trainer one day and it nearly killed me! I had my HRM on (and it works fine - Polar F11) and I could not get my HR over 120bpm and I was exhaused. Talk about disappointed! I thought I had been doing well. Anyone know what is happening? Are indoor trainers harder work than going for a ride?
Thanks, Sam
 
samcrx3 said:
I've been trying to pick up my fitness, riding at least 3 times a week, 20km for two rides and 40km for one ride (a bit hard to squeeze in when you are a mum). I thought I was doing quite well until I hopped on the trainer one day and it nearly killed me! I had my HRM on (and it works fine - Polar F11) and I could not get my HR over 120bpm and I was exhaused. Talk about disappointed! I thought I had been doing well. Anyone know what is happening? Are indoor trainers harder work than going for a ride?
Thanks, Sam
How hard are your rides? What intensity do you do them at? What do you eat? How much do you sleep? How long have you been training?... The list goes on and on, but most likely it's your body telling you that it needs some rest. At least that's how mine tells me it needs a break. Maybe just back off for a few days or a week. And yes, indoor rides are more difficult than outdoor ones, mainly due to motivational difficulties. Ventilation is a big deal indoors as well. Hope this helps.
 
samcrx3 said:
I've been trying to pick up my fitness, riding at least 3 times a week, 20km for two rides and 40km for one ride (a bit hard to squeeze in when you are a mum). I thought I was doing quite well until I hopped on the trainer one day and it nearly killed me! I had my HRM on (and it works fine - Polar F11) and I could not get my HR over 120bpm and I was exhaused. Talk about disappointed! I thought I had been doing well. Anyone know what is happening? Are indoor trainers harder work than going for a ride?
Thanks, Sam
Some indoor trainers are difficult to ride on - it can be quite a different feel than riding on the road. What sort of trainer is it?

Stick with it, you'll improve if you can keep training consistently!
 
Bikeridindude said:
How hard are your rides? What intensity do you do them at? What do you eat? How much do you sleep? How long have you been training?... The list goes on and on, but most likely it's your body telling you that it needs some rest. At least that's how mine tells me it needs a break. Maybe just back off for a few days or a week. And yes, indoor rides are more difficult than outdoor ones, mainly due to motivational difficulties. Ventilation is a big deal indoors as well. Hope this helps.

Thanks for replying. My rides seem to me about medium, but certainly not easy (serious wind resistance) and usually a little hilly. I eat and sleep well. I have had a recent lull due to illness, but got back on the bike fine and have been going fine since. I got on the trainer. Perhaps I'm trying too hard and need to back off a bit. My HR seems to behave itself on the road and usually hang well in my aerobic zone but on the trainer (spinervals DVD) I could barely get to my aerobic zone without being stuffed, which is really strange. Maybe I'm working harder on the road?
Thanks Sam
 
If the HRM sedems to be acting differently when you are on the trainner then maybe something is iterferring with the signal. As for trainers being more difficult than a regular ride, they most certainly are. You don't get any breaks, (i.e. coasting). Unless you ride a fixee you get to coast a lot more than you might think, but as you no doubt know, if you stop pedaling on a trainer it stops spinning very quickly.
 
You might want to pace the first 15 minutes before you get to your target HR. On my first 20 minute interval I put HR limits on each 5 minute segment until I hit my target in the last 5 minutes this makes the next two intervals much easier and more importantly I get at least 50 minutes in before I quit. If you pace the first 15 minutes and you still feel exhausted stop and live to fight another day..... BTW a huge fan helps when riding indoors

samcrx3 said:
I've been trying to pick up my fitness, riding at least 3 times a week, 20km for two rides and 40km for one ride (a bit hard to squeeze in when you are a mum). I thought I was doing quite well until I hopped on the trainer one day and it nearly killed me! I had my HRM on (and it works fine - Polar F11) and I could not get my HR over 120bpm and I was exhaused. Talk about disappointed! I thought I had been doing well. Anyone know what is happening? Are indoor trainers harder work than going for a ride?
Thanks, Sam
 
If you are not well prepared and do not come from structured training I believe you will find the spinervals to be very hard.

I would lay off a few days, and train with my HRM on the road to get a feel for the kind of training you are doing for a start.

Then, build up on your trainer with the spinervals... when I first started using those I could not finish the entire workout, and worked up slowly to doing the whole thing.

Let us know how it goes...
 
samcrx3 said:
I've been trying to pick up my fitness, riding at least 3 times a week, 20km for two rides and 40km for one ride (a bit hard to squeeze in when you are a mum). I thought I was doing quite well until I hopped on the trainer one day and it nearly killed me! I had my HRM on (and it works fine - Polar F11) and I could not get my HR over 120bpm and I was exhaused. Talk about disappointed! I thought I had been doing well. Anyone know what is happening? Are indoor trainers harder work than going for a ride?
Thanks, Sam
When cold weather comes and I am "forced" to get on my trainer, the first week or two are very difficult. Everything hurts, my shoes and shorts feel too tight, I can't breathe etc. Without traffic, wind, and scenery, I notice everything else and cannot get my HR or power up. After a couple of weeks my workouts improve greatly. I don't train much by HR but I see that my HR rises to regular outdoor levels.

TV helps for easier efforts and fast music is a must for intervals or even 2x20s. Without those distractions, I just can't go very hard. Good luck.
 
samcrx3 said:
Thanks for replying. My rides seem to me about medium, but certainly not easy (serious wind resistance) and usually a little hilly. I eat and sleep well. I have had a recent lull due to illness, but got back on the bike fine and have been going fine since. I got on the trainer. Perhaps I'm trying too hard and need to back off a bit. My HR seems to behave itself on the road and usually hang well in my aerobic zone but on the trainer (spinervals DVD) I could barely get to my aerobic zone without being stuffed, which is really strange. Maybe I'm working harder on the road?


Thanks Sam
Hey well done that can't be easy fitting training around being Mum...I'm not sure how often you ride the trainer but it does get better the more you ride it. It can be hard MASTERING THE PAIN sometimes but you'll find it gets a little bit easy the more you ride it. As someone has mentioned make sure you have a really good fan. This really lowers the perceived exertion so you can ride at a moderately hard intensity without suffering too much. Every now and then you'll have an off day. Don't sweat it - you'll be back
biggrin.gif
Also don't be a slave to your heart rate monitor. Riding at a just tolerable pace where your breathing is rythmic but noticeable for chunks of 15-30mins spaced with 5-10minute rests should see you gain good improvements over a few months. Take care