Quote Originally Posted by Suzi-Sue View Post
On Monday I was supposed to ride for 1hour at a steady pace (between 120-140bpm, 60-70%) But I could barley stay in that zone, and when I tried too, i would have been riding all day is was so slow!
I didn't feel as if it was worth riding at that pace at all.

I asked a personal trainer out of my class (i'm studying exercise and fitness, and before you think it! Yes, we have studied heart rate training zones. lol) He seemed quite surprised that my average was that high....
I was a little slow finding this thread, but this is exactly what I'm going through right now.

I'm approaching 40, and I'm guessing my max is a little over 200. I've hit 200 before, within the last couple of years. Makes me see stars and feel pretty ill, but I can hit it. And nearly every mountain bike ride sees me averaging somewhere in the mid/high-170's. On a road ride my average is usually about 10 bpm less. And this is for 2 - 3 hour rides, not sprints.

Now my legs kick butt, but I don't have the aerobic base to support my legs. So here I am a month before my 50 mile mountain bike race (with 7,000 feet of climbing), finally getting some help from a coach. She's got me going for rides in zones 1 and 2 (for me, HR below 140). On these rides my average speed is reduced by about 20%! Crazy slow! I have such a hard time restraining myself and going that slow. Honesly, it's a little embarassing.

Based on her advice, and Googling I've been doing, I'm seeing that, to get my heart to work more efficiently, I should have started doing these long distance/time low effort rides a long time ago.

But coach says the high HR is okay, and I simply have a fast-beating heart. No big thing, and doesn't mark me as unhealthy or anything. But I'm still doing what I can to increase my heart's efficiency, and if that means letting grandma pass me with her walker while I'm pedaling into a slight headwind ... so be it.