Recovery time from hard Cardio

helocat
helocat Posts: 40 Member
edited November 14 in Fitness and Exercise
2nd week of doing 45-60 min of spin classes. 3x days then one day off then 3x days on.

It's been 3hrs since the class ended. Hardest push for me to date. Yet my hart rate is still right around 100bpm. Sitting on the couch watching a movie for 2hrs. Still 100bpm. Even had a glass of red wine. Is this just a need more time with exercise thing?

46 male good 30lbs over weight.

Replies

  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Agree completely with @BrianSharpe. Long but moderate rides are invaluable for fitness.
  • mburgess458
    mburgess458 Posts: 480 Member
    Wow, that doesn't sound good to me. When I push hard my heart rate is down to 80-90 after just a few minutes. I would keep an eye on it. As long as it improves over time (meaning a week from now it's <100 after a few hours... a week after that it's down a little more or a little quicker, etc.) I wouldn't think it would be an issue.

    I agree with Brian that HR recovery is a sign of fitness. Have you just started exercising?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    Agree completely with @BrianSharpe. Long but moderate rides are invaluable for fitness.

    3rd...

    I ride 5-6 days per week...usually only three of those at most are interval/high intensity work...I mix in a couple long zone II rides which are both great for recovery as well as building up your actual endurance.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Like @cwolfman13 I typically do one high intensity day (hill repeats) per week. The following day is either a recovery ride (where I keep my HR below 100 bpm and my power output below 100 watts) or just a recovery day. I also do at least one "LSD" (long, steady, distance) ride per week, but ideally two.

    I'm tempted to say the long and moderate rides are more important to my riding and fitness. They may well be. For sure they're improving it in a different way than the high intensity riding, that really only helps me do high intensity stuff. The low intensity, long time workouts are like a rising tide that floats all boats.
  • helocat
    helocat Posts: 40 Member
    BrianSharpe wrote: »
    What's your resting heart rate?

    It's not unusual for your heart rate to stay elevated for a while, especially when you're first starting out. One of the first signs of improved fitness you'll probably see is that your HR starts to recover more quickly but the time it takes varieties from individual to individual.

    May I make a suggestion? Assuming that your spin classes are some variation on intervals try changing up your routine to alternate 1 day intervals and 1 day lower intensity steady state keeping with 6 days working out and 1 rest.

    It sounds counter-intuitive but, like running, the longer,slow, steady workouts are what really build endurance. My own coach has suggested that I do (in addition to my regular rides) 1 long ride (2-3 hrs) every week keeping my HR below 115 bpm.

    Great feedback. Totally makes since.

    Yes intervilles in my spin classes with varied resistance. Kicks my *kitten*. Last class was 660 calories in 45min. That is allot for me.

    My resting heart rate is low 70's. Yes I just started working out again from 3yrs of sedentary living. High stress desk job all day, then home for couch/tv and as many carbs as I could consume. (Ya that bad) 3yrs ago I road my road bike quite a bit and ate a bit better. Just doing a complete rewire of my lifestyle at age 46.

    I remember doing recovery rides after hard training days years ago. That kind of sounds like this. Longer slower ride. Ok I will do one this afternoon. Man 2-3hrs on a trainer... bla..... but I can do it. It just in the head. My road bike is hanging in front and above my trainer so I keep looking at it. If there was not a layer of ice on the road right now I would just take it out for a brisk 25° F ride.

    Thank you again.

  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    It sounds like you pushing yourself too hard too soon. You might be able to get away that and gradually adapt to your routine (but it will take longer), or you might get into an overtraining syndrome which will often require a complete break.

    Believe I understand the drive to get back to a higher level ASAP, but it can become counterproductive.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    helocat wrote: »
    Man 2-3hrs on a trainer... bla..... but I can do it. It just in the head. My road bike is hanging in front and above my trainer so I keep looking at it. If there was not a layer of ice on the road right now I would just take it out for a brisk 25° F ride.

    Thank you again.

    Yeah 3 or 4 hours in the saddle is a piece of cake if you're outside but on the trainer all I can say is "thank you Netflix for series worth binge watching!" B)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited December 2016
    helocat wrote: »
    BrianSharpe wrote: »
    What's your resting heart rate?

    It's not unusual for your heart rate to stay elevated for a while, especially when you're first starting out. One of the first signs of improved fitness you'll probably see is that your HR starts to recover more quickly but the time it takes varieties from individual to individual.

    May I make a suggestion? Assuming that your spin classes are some variation on intervals try changing up your routine to alternate 1 day intervals and 1 day lower intensity steady state keeping with 6 days working out and 1 rest.

    It sounds counter-intuitive but, like running, the longer,slow, steady workouts are what really build endurance. My own coach has suggested that I do (in addition to my regular rides) 1 long ride (2-3 hrs) every week keeping my HR below 115 bpm.

    Great feedback. Totally makes since.

    Yes intervilles in my spin classes with varied resistance. Kicks my *kitten*. Last class was 660 calories in 45min. That is allot for me.

    My resting heart rate is low 70's. Yes I just started working out again from 3yrs of sedentary living. High stress desk job all day, then home for couch/tv and as many carbs as I could consume. (Ya that bad) 3yrs ago I road my road bike quite a bit and ate a bit better. Just doing a complete rewire of my lifestyle at age 46.

    I remember doing recovery rides after hard training days years ago. That kind of sounds like this. Longer slower ride. Ok I will do one this afternoon. Man 2-3hrs on a trainer... bla..... but I can do it. It just in the head. My road bike is hanging in front and above my trainer so I keep looking at it. If there was not a layer of ice on the road right now I would just take it out for a brisk 25° F ride.

    Thank you again.

    It's certainly not the most pleasant thing...but that's what Sunday, Monday, and Thursday football is for...and college football on Saturday.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    helocat wrote: »
    2nd week of doing 45-60 min of spin classes. 3x days then one day off then 3x days on.

    It's been 3hrs since the class ended. Hardest push for me to date. Yet my hart rate is still right around 100bpm. Sitting on the couch watching a movie for 2hrs. Still 100bpm. Even had a glass of red wine. Is this just a need more time with exercise thing?

    46 male good 30lbs over weight.

    If you're only 30lbs over and with an RHR of 70 then you've probably got a combination of going from sedentary to a reasonably high training volume very quickly, and using that training volume for high intensity effort.

    30lbs is a decent amount to lose, but your RHR isn't bad. As in the advice upthead, you'd do well to moderate your effort, and build your aerobic base.

    I'm largely a runner, with cycling being transport and x-training. I try to stick with the principle of 80% of my effort being moderate aerobic with with one or two sessions of tempo or fast intervals. When I am on the turbo trainer I'll use the Sufferfest base training sessions, or as upthread, watch a lot of box-sets.
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    edited December 2016
    helocat wrote: »
    2nd week of doing 45-60 min of spin classes. 3x days then one day off then 3x days on.

    It's been 3hrs since the class ended. Hardest push for me to date. Yet my hart rate is still right around 100bpm. Sitting on the couch watching a movie for 2hrs. Still 100bpm. Even had a glass of red wine. Is this just a need more time with exercise thing?

    46 male good 30lbs over weight.

    Without a good base riding plan before you entered the "block training of 3 days on of HIIT, one day off" - it's quite a bit of training stress for you to adapt to so suddenly in the first two weeks. Heck, I'm in great shape and it would knock me flat doing that much HIIT without recovery between. Nothing wrong with the 45-60 minute HIIT training, or the block training for that matter - but it is tough. Did somebody (a coach) prescribe the three days on, one day off block training to you?

    Once you hit age 40 and beyond, a rider needs a lot more recovery than say a 20-30 year old. Do you have to go to spin class for the HIIT three days in a row? I'd suggest cutting the HIIT back to 2 x per week, and the day after a HIIT session should be 30-60 minute recovery ride (keep the heart rate low which is hard to do, but "train hard, recover harder" is the motto). One day a week you could spin in a nice Zone 2 HR for 60-90 minutes, and one day as mentioned above could be a longer Zone 1/2 combination ride of say 90 minutes up to 3 hours. That would give your overall system a workout instead of just the high end.

    It would look something like this to start...

    Day 1 - rest day (good day to lift weights)
    Day 2 - HIIT for 45-60 minutes
    Day 3 - 30-40 minute recovery ride and foam roller
    Day 4 - Zone 2 for 60-90 minutes
    Day 5 - HIIT for 45-60 minutes
    Day 6 - 30-40 minute recover ride and foam roller
    Day 7 - Zone 1/2 for 90 - 120+ minutes

    And of course, progressive load to include some longer Zone 3 and Zone 4 intervals on your longer rides would be added throughout the weeks.

    It all depends on your goals, but as everyone pointed out you dove in pretty hard the first two weeks with the HIIT block training which I don't think anyone of us would respond to in the best manner. I did three HIIT days in a row last week, but that's after a full season of racing - and it taxed me enough to disturb my sleep pattern and created enough "fog" in my daily routine to realize it was too much. You could invest in a periodized structured training program designed by a professional cycling coach (can download many plans from TrainingPeaks) that builds a nice base over a 12 week period that has built in recovery and plenty of adaptive training stress to take you from where you are to being rather fit.

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