Hi all,
I’m on my last week of general build low volume before rest week. When I started the final half of the build plan 3 weeks ago, I was able to push my HR on Dade+1 to 170BPM (181 max HR). I had Matthes +1 last week and it was pretty rough, had to backpedal a few times on the last interval, but I was able to complete it. But today, on Kaiser +1, I could only get my HR up to 160BPM and had to dial back the intensity to 95%.
Is this a sign that I’m overdoing it? I’ve been doing strength training twice a week and also add on about 2-3 hours of endurance rides to supplement the training. To be honest, I’ve been feeling pretty ragged at the end of last week and I really didn’t want to be on the bike; I had to drag myself through San Joaquin +3 two days ago.
The thing that bothers me is the heart rate. On today’s workout, I felt like I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs and it kind of freaked me out a bit, but when I look at the screen it shows my HR is only 150-160. Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you!
Hmmm…let’s ask @TRusername —
Any other questions you can answer for yourself? 
Don’t sweat it. Rest up for a few days and get back to it. The heart is a muscle too remember. 
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thanks @Captain_Doughnutman.
It’s weird because everything else says I’m recovered, eg HRV highest for the last month, RHH lowest for the last month.
That can also be a sign of fatigue.
I spent the last 12 months researching heart function. I don’t know it all but I do know a lot of weird stuff! 
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You are tired. If HR doesn’t rise with that intensity it is time to rest
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Thanks for the reply. Could this be more muscular fatigue rather than cardio fatigue? I noticed that about 1/2 through the interval my cadence would start to drop below 100RPM. About 2/3 in I would be fighting to keep my cadence about 95 and it felt like I was pedaling through mud. It was at that point I would usually bail.
Just fatigue. I do my vo2max workouts when i’m really fresh, currently Im doing a more polarized approach (2/3 vo2max and rest very easy) and that seems to work. Trowing in tempo or FTP will make me fail the VO2max workouts
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Thanks for the follow up, really appreciate your insight.
No problem. I learned to watch my heartrate in combination of power and i can immediately see if i’m really fresh that day or too tired. If i’m too tired I don’t “fight” the workout and dial it down or just do some easy stuff.
Today I was fresh but at certain moment it i wanted to bail out. Just went trough with it because it was a mental issue.
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