Just bought my dream bike, Marin Gestalt! Cant wait to shred some gravel.
19M here, fairly fit and have been doing combat sports for the past two years. Have decided to take cycling (specifically gravel) more seriously as it’s been an on and off affair for most of my life.
I can’t seem to hold my heart rate past the 100 BPM mark. I’m hydrated, well nourished and rested. I seem to be pushing pretty hard as I can feel the lactic acid in my thighs and lower back and my respiration rate seems to be “topped out”.
This seems to only be something that is effecting my cycling, when Indoor row I can get my heart rate to my maximum (207 BPM) fairly easily and can hold give or take 175 BPM for an extended period of time.
I am fairly confident in the accuracy of my Garmin Instinct 2 as it has been able to record my max heart rates.
I want to get faster, am I just a noob that needs more saddle time? Will I croak of some rare heart condition mid hill sprint?
by Due_Tooth_1549
29 Comments
Sounds like you’ve got a massive oxygen metabolism which you’re not able to max out with your presumedly ultra-weak and untrained leg muscles.
More riding, less looking at numbers. And get a HR strap – optical HR measurement is crap.
What are you using as a HRM? Where you riding significantly differently when it shows your HR around 150 BPM?
Something you might be dealing with is sweat buildup making your watch less accurate, especially with movement. I had this issue and it was remedied with a heart rate strap that measures hr without the little green light. Even for an experienced athlete with a low resting heart rate these heart rates seem really low and I doubt its from lack of effort.
Ride longer
Based on the training effect and exercise load score, that workout you posted is barely a warmup. For context, I checked my last Zwift race (same duration) and the exercise load score was 204.
Looking at your speed graph, it looks like you’re stopping often, what’s the cause?
And as the others have suggested, get a chest strap HRM, they’re much more accurate.
The position of your wrist when you cycle is different from running or rowing, could be impacting your HR
You can get married, have a few kids, raise them, get old and fat (like me) then you’ll have no problem getting your heat rate up at the slightest effort.😂😭😩
Probably already dead
If your heart rate stops at 150 at sustained max effort, might go actually to seek a medical opinion here. GL!
Get a chest strap HRM and I think this issue will disappear.
Sprint repeats, hill repeats, FTP training, longer slow efforts, etc. you can find lots of basic training plans online or hire a coach
Lots of “get a HR strap” here. Going in a different direction – your resting HR is very low, especially for a 19yo. Looking at your speed data, I’m thinking that with frequent stops (yes, I get you don’t want to get pancaked), your HR is recovering quickly, and not allowing to peak.
If you run, can you peak at closer to 180? Cycling HRs tend to peak lower than running.
Find some hills! Even a mild incline should definitely get your hr climbing. And ride longer overall, while pushing yourself to 18-19 mph if you can. 10 miles is barely a warmup ride. For cruising at 17mph on level ground, 100 bpm is completely normal in my experience.
Besides the HR strap, go climb some hills. 226’ over 10 miles? Find a parking garage or something to climb if there’s no natural hills nearby.
Either you’re a cardio machine and run a lot or your HR monitor isn’t getting a good read.
Sounds like you need some climbs, come out here to Seattle and you’ll get 3,000 ft ascend in.
To get your heart rate up gravel cycling, especially at your age with your fitness level, you’re gonna have to hit some long, sustained climbs, with high output effort. 226ft total climb over 10.6 miles is pretty flat. To get your HR up in a ride like that you’d have to be pretty close to flat out effort, and you’d be flying along for most of it.
Where I’m from it’s pretty hilly. I did a 17mi ride last weekend with 1500ft of overall climbing. That got the juices flowing. Granted I’m 40 and a bit overweight, so it doesn’t take much.
Edit: another thing you can do is check out some of the local hill segments on Strava and see if you can de-throne some of the KOM’s, that will get your sweat on!
You need speed, elevation and distance. Any combination and you’d get your HR up. Still pretty inpressive that you’re not even in zone 1 for your age. Unless your HRM is not working right.
Find bigger hills.
Wrist optical sensors are not accurate. Your heart rate is likely much higher than it’s reporting. Get a chest strap.
I’m inclined to blame the watch. My watch often reads slightly above resting when my heart rate strap reads 150+ bpm. Try checking your pulse manually (fingers on the neck, count heartbeats over 15 seconds, multiply by 4) after riding for 10-15 minutes and see how it compares to the watch.
Ride longer, ride harder, get a chest strap HR monitor. Wrist monitors are notoriously inaccurate.
Silly question but have you tried manually finding your pulse with your fingers and counting your bpm? Just count for 15s and then multiply by four.
Your garmin being able to pick up on your max HR says nothing about its accuracy, and in my experience, optical sensors on watch-style fitness devices can be WILDLY off, especially if clothes are pressing them too tightly against your skin or if the watch is too loose.
If you’re feeling a consistent burn in your legs and your HR is below 100, your watch is most likely the culprit.
Thats crazy. I get my shit to 180 over a brisk walk (slightly exaggerating)
Go climb a mountain in Colorado on a bike. Thin air and lots of elevation gain will get that hr up
If you can’t max out your heart rate either you aren’t trying hard enough or too weak to test your cardiovascular system.
226ft ascent could have something to do with it.
It’s all downhill.