Anomoly or Building Fitness?
In week 6. Life got in the way Tuesday and I couldn't get on the bike. Had a very good run per plan on Wednesday, actually hit numbers and didn't overly suffer. So last night, I decided to do Tuesdays bike since it is a harder one and the one I missed. Hit all the numbers, and it felt considerably easier. My FT as tested week 1 is 225. Did the 1st 15' @ 225, Hr was 10 beats below last weeks workouts for the same intensities. Normal Hr for FT stuff had been 157-162, my max is about 180. Last night, I was running between 147 and 152, depending on the gear and cadence. About 12 minutes into the second 15', when it usually starts to get tough, I thought, hey I'm going to turn this up a bit and ended up finishing the last 3 minutes at 235, 240, and 250. Then the 85% stuff at 190 seemed like no sweat at all either. Checked the PM and it was calibrated OK.
I was on the original Power Hack test group 2 years ago and it seems like I remember the same thing happening there, that as the weeks went on, the Hr dropped at the same power levels. If its not a building power thing, the only other things I can think of would be maybe being 1 day more rested, and I had my Ipod in last night cranking out some great tunes.
Anybody else experiencing similiar stuff? The running at Threshold pace is getting easier too. Looking forward to week 8 testing.
Comments
Right there with ya... but unless I miss my guess, I think this is what the game is all about.. body adapts to harder efforts... not much different than lifting weights... if you benched 175lbs 5X in week one, if you continue to lift heavy weights 3X per week then by week 7 you oughtt to be able to do more reps of 175lbs with less efort and/or do same reps of a higher weight... congrats on the progress!
Dave,
Congrats!...but I encourage you to focus on the watts and not try to make fitness conclusions on what your HR is/is not doing at those watts. Mo' watts = mo' betta, but tagging HR to changes in watts can sometimes be confusing. Just do the work.