Terry Women's Cycling

I just bought a new trainer and am not having much luck getting my heart rate into the tempo or threshold zone. I sweat, feel the burn, but don't see my HR go up much past endurance zone. Any hints on settings, etc. to help me get my HR up? I know you cannot simulate hill climbing or hill repeats on a trainer, but that's really the only way I seem to be able to get my HR up on pavement these days. I'm new to cycling and just love it. I would welcome any hints or thoughts on this problem I'm having.

There are a few things I can think of. Firstly, how high is your cadence? Typically the faster you turn the pedals at a given level of resistance, the higher your heart rate will go. It's possible to push relatively hard with a cadence of 50-55 and keep your heart rate from getting to high. On the other hand if you're spinning at 100-120 rpm, you can really drive your heart rate up at a lower resistance. An easy way to measure your RPM if you don't have a computer that will, is to count how many number pedals strokes you complete in 6 seconds and then multiply it by 10. This will tell you fairly accurately how many pedal strokes you are completing in one minute.

The next question: how many days a week are you training? Your low HR may also be a sign that you need to take a break. Every time you ride, you deplete your body's glycogen stores. If you ride a number of days in a row, you'll see that on the 3 and 4th days, your HR doesn't really climb anymore, and is relatively low. The same happens on really long rides. After 4 -5 hours, your HR tends to mellow out, indicating that your glycogen levels are low. What you may need to do is take a day or two off to allow your body to restore its glycogen stores. When I take a day or two off the bike, I actually find that my HR is a bit high the next time I ride. This is quite normal and a good indicator of having taken adequate rest.

Hopefully this is of some help!

Ireen has some good points.

One thing I've noticed when I ride my rollers (just got off of them, as a matter of fact), is that I tend to get into a rut. I ride in the same gear at the same cadence. Which does absolutely nothing for fitness. But once I start varying the routine (like when I start an off-season training program in January), a lot happens. HR moves around, legs and lungs burn and...the best part...the session flies by!

You might find that using a structured training program helps.

Thank you for the help! I am very new to cycling but love it. And I guess I'm just trying to learn, improve and get up to speed (so to speak) really fast. Answers to some of your questions are as follows: I am working with a cycling coach so I have a very precise program that each day I bike is different and each week is different. I bike Tu. Th. Sat.(I bike and run/brick) and Sun. On MWF I run to warm up and cool down from weight/strength training, swim and am trying to do a bit of yoga when I have time. I have tried to gear mash on my trainer (with 55-65 cadence) and spin like a crazy girl for me 85-100 on the trainer is fast since I am a gear masher by nature, I'm told. I feel the workout, but my heart just doesn't seem to react much no matter whether I mash or spin. I also find my heart rate is reacting less on pavement too, but at least I can usually get it up into zone 3...even if I can only get it in zone 4 when hill climbing. I find that I have to get my heart rate up right away because a proper warm up seems to set my heart into this place where it just hunkers in and stays. If I get my heart rate up pretty fast, first 5 minutes of the workout, I find on the trainer it settles down dramatically after about 5 minutes even though my intensity of my workout stays the same. I see this some on my run too, but not quite as much. My doctors all joke when they take my blood pressure that I'm barely alive. I have no idea if this is part of it. As for taking a day or two off...I think that might be a great idea. I notice that once in a while, when my work day is super long and I'm forced to take a whole day off, I feel really refreshed and tend to have a better workout the next day on the bike. I think I will take today off and see how tomorrow's ride goes. Thanks again from this grateful newbie for your input and any other ideas you can send my way.

I just wanted to say thanks again. I think the day off of training really was the answer. I was able for the first time in a very long time to get my heart rate in zone 3...on the trainer! I may have been over training. Thanks again for the help and Happy Holidays to all.