Almost into the retaste zone

Today's bike was one of those hard, harder, hardest things. It's ok out, but not summer, maybe 14C (57F) so I wore a long sleeve tech shirt. Warmed up 25 minutes. Then it was 3x15 H, H-er, H-est, with 5 minutes rest in between.

Holy crap. When running, I can settle in at 130, 131 bpm, breathing nice, good stride, feeling strong, going for a long time. Somewhere there is the bottom of zone 3 for me. Once I get up to 145 bpm I'm breathing really hard, but still in control. Getting over 150 is panting and the end will come soon.

So there I am, out on 22X trying to get my heart rate over 120 and having to push surprisingly hard. That 15 minutes averaged 121 and I was breathing pretty hard. That got me out to 22, and I turned south. Pushed harder, trying to keep the rpm up around 90, and managed to get my heart rate average up to 124. Breathing really hard, like a 140 bpm run. Legs are getting tired and I eased off a couple minutes early to stretch out my knees. It's hard to have your "easy" going up hill into the wind, but such are the joys of outdoor riding. For the last one I was determined to get my average heart rate over 130. I stand up to power over the top of the hill, and get up to speed. I'm pedaling like a madman at over 90 rpm. Trying to spin smooth. Mostly into the wind, so I'm pushing hard. Core is engaged, as in like a 5 carat engagement ring. Trying to keep my upper body still with my arms responsive to wind gusts and not reefing on the handlebars. Lungs are going like a 145 bpm run. I'm wondering how long I can keep this up.

What's my heart doing? Having fruity drinks delivered to the deck chair. Oh sure, it's doing some work, yeah, but not getting far from that deck chair. I remember looking at my watch through bulging eyes to see the max heart rate of 136 bpm. My legs are turning into noodles trying to keep 95 rpm. A minute later my heart rate is 130, and a minute later 127. I'm putting more power into the pedals at a higher rpm than ever before, I'm pretty sure, and my heart rate is dropping. WTF? The average over the last 15 minutes was 125. I'm not kidding. Several times I even counted my pulse (which is just a bit tricky, let me tell you) and got numbers pretty close to what the heart rate monitor was telling me. Getting towards the end of that set, near the Red Deer Lake School, I'm at 90 rpm pushing hard, breathing hard and my heart rate is down to 120. I'm trying to push harder, and I can't. The tummy is beginning to send some warning signals upstairs. I'm starting to regret the water I had earlier.

The end came just in time. I dropped 10 Kph off my pace, and my heart rate almost fell into double digits. Did some spin ups on the way home to help flush out the legs. The best one was the left turn at the lights onto 37th street. It's fun taking a corner at nearly 40 Kph and keeping up with the cars as they accelerate. At the very end of the ride as I passed the driveway my heart rate was 94. Cruised into the cul-de-sac behind our house, pedaling easy, and my heart rate drops to 74. I'm having a tough time believing this, but a manual check agrees.

Total ride was 1:40. Legs are tired. Tried the reverse lunges and leg drops and there is no way. My heart is on vacation, I think. Just sitting here typing the blog my heart rate is 48.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, then we're in for several days of crappy weather. I may be back on the (ack, choke) bike trainer. There is no way I'm going to ride in rain at 7 C (44.6 F) which is the high for Thursday. That's a sure bet for hypothermia. It might snow on Friday.