Yesterday I went for a ride which is the longest ride I’ve taken on for sometime. I cued up a couple of endurance workouts for the ride. I brought along 40 grams of skratch drink, a bottle of water, bananas, and a couple of Hammer packets.
I rode and nothing was off – all was well. I was hoping to stop for coffee and avacado toast roughly mid-way through the ride but was disappointed because the coffee shop closed the kitchen a few minutes before I walked in. OH well so I went to the local deli and got a turkey pesto grinder, soup, and a can of coke. Also, discovered a new bike shop next to the deli in the process of opening up, sad to say no carbs were available but that is why God made Kwik Trip and I loaded up on a liter of coke for the rest of the ride.
So, I got going with the second workout and I noticed quickly my HR was significantly elevated in comparison with first half of the ride. Looking over the numbers afterwards and my average HR was 16% higher for an average power that was about 3% lower.
I suspect this is because my circulatory system is now supporting digestion in addition to my work on the bike. I don’t suspect it was the caffeine in the coke as I was sipping that on the way back.
Needless to say my efficiency numbers for this ride are horrid!
100% normal to have higher HR after a large meal, even when just sitting and doing nothing. If you wear a watch that tracks HR, look at the time before lunch and after lunch. My HR might be 50-55 just working at a desk, but after I eat a large lunch it might be elevated to 60-70 depending on how large the meal was. You’ll also find that a large breakfast before you ride will also create elevated HR during the early part of your ride compared to eating something light like a piece of toast and jam or a small bowl or oats or something. 16% is probably a little higher than I would’ve thought, but an increase in temperature and general heart rate drift could account for some of that.
Yeah, I specifically noticed that happen to me this week. I usually do my zone 2 inside, in the morning, fasted (just coffee), and I hit zone 2 at about 165w and 108 bpm. But since I’m trying to get in more protein, I decided to eat a few hard boiled eggs before my z2 spin on Thursday, and I first was noticeably feeling blah from the mass of protein and fat in my gut, and 2nd noticed I was up to a little over 120bpm at about 160w. I recognized that is what had happened, but it made me ponder what my real numbers are, because I have to use HR outside to estimate what power (zone) I’m riding in, i.e. I’ve determined (fasted) that my top of z2 is about 215w, with talk test and I spin it at 130bpm (right where it should be based on LTHR).
Eating gels at the beginning of indoor ZO2 max and threshold workouts don’t appear to elevate my HR during the workout.
Then I had to think even more on my outdoor ride Friday, because I’ve always had a HR vs RPE inequality between indoor and outdoor easy rides … my HR is really hard to keep in z2 on the road (granted I’m riding a full suspension MTB), but I feel like I’m riding very comfortably, can talk/sing, breathing easy but at over 130bpm (top of z2). Hmm, I ALWAYS eat before riding outside, sometimes 2 hrs before, but sometimes only an hour.
If you take a longer break during a ride (say longer than 10-15min), your HR will always be noticeably higher when you start again and are riding at the same effort. Regardless of if you eat food or not.
The reasons for this are not entirely known. My personal take is it relates to some of the humoral and endocrine changes that start to happen after you body thinks you’ve stopped exercising and starts to enter recovery mode. Ex: IL6 starts to spike shortly after your body thinks you’ve stopped exercising.
