Adding Bicycling to activities.

oeagleo

I am just starting out, and am seemingly full of questions training, and limits. First, I have to say that since I first decided that 300+ pounds was too much to be carrying around, I have made it down to the 230-ish mark and am happy to continue in that direction.

I have been doing about 20 minutes of treadmill daily, along with an hour and a half or so of weight training every other day, and it's paying off, at least in my mind. I'm feeling better, I know my cardio is better, as on the treadmill, I have no problem going as long as I want, and never leave (Polar fitness term) Zone 2 (124- 108) on the Polar FT60 that I use to monitor my heart rate.

However, I have recently purchased a used mountain type bike, and want to be able to use it to go geocaching (another passion of mine), and think it would be fun to be able to ride 5 - 8 miles and collect the geocaches around the area. One thing I've found is that bike riding isn't as easy as it was when I was 12. It seems that my heart rate almost immediately goes into the "zone 3", and frequently moves on up into the "out of range" zone, (for me, around 150-155). When I notice this, I stop, and huff and puff until my rate goes back solid into zone 2, then go some more. I was doing this every day, as I really want to be able to be able to do the geocaching thing. However, the Polar Fitness site states that I'm "very close to overtraining; spend less time in zone 3".. and my "training load" is way in the "red" area (for those who know what I'm talking about). When I'm doing weight training, the training load is around 85, if I ride the bike and treadmill in the same day, it's way over 100, sometimes reaching 150.

I'm wondering should I cut back on the bike riding to the days that I'm not weight training? Weight training puts me into zone 3, but not at the extent that the bike does. I can REALLY feel the "workout" in my thighs when I'm riding the bike, however the knees feel a lot better on the bike than they do on the treadmill (I have some osteoarthritis in my knees).

Any helpful suggestions, or hints that will help me reach my goal would be very much appreciated, and while I do have definate goals in mind, I don't want to overdo it, and possibly do more damage to my heart than good.

Basic information, I'm a 64 year old male, my Polar Fitness test was 20, (which says "fair" for someone my age, according to the website), I'm 5'7" and weigh 230-ish. My Blood pressure runs around 115-119 / 60-65, and I feel pretty good, but I don't think I understand the actual implications of hard exercise.

Thanks in advance

Pebble321

I'm not convinced that those recommended heart rate ranges are really that useful, they are based on standard formulas which don't take into account individual variations.

Are you confident that your maximum heart rate is within the range they set? The reason I ask is that my maximum heart rate "should" be 165-175ish (depending on how I calculate it) but that just isn't reflected in what actually happens when I exercise. My comfortable heart rate that I can sustain for a long time (half marathon for example) was around 155, when I working hard it easily gets up to 180 and I have gone over 200 more times than I can count.
I've talked to my doctor who confirms that I have no heart issues and there is no problem with me running long distances.

In your instance I'd suggest that you ride a pace that is comfortable and that you can sustain, and that you monitor your heart rate but don't make an electronic gadget stop you in your tracks when you are out having a good time. Of course, it is always worth checking with your doctor to make sure there aren't any issues that should cause you to slow down.

PS. Congrats on the great work so far, geo-caching by bike sounds like lots of fun!

oeagleo

I should probably add that mainly when I look at the HRM, it's because my thighs are SCREAMING, and really would like for me to quit using them quite so much.. I generally look at the HRM because I know it's time to slow down, and rest. It looks like from the limited time I've been doing this, that about the time that the legs start complaining, is the time the HRM goes up quickly. Not sure of the relationship there, but I'm hoping that's so..