Low heart rate levels during intense training

Triathlon Forum
1

I’m wanting to pick the brains of those that know about heart rate, perceived effort and whatnot.

This week is my final race taper week for the season. I’ve made big improvements on the bike. So tonight, I go out for a short hour ride, with a 15 minute tempo ride in “zone 3” (my first mistake I’m sure, training by heart rate… but that’s besides the fact). It was extremely difficult to get my heart rate up during the zone 3 effort, and my perceived effort, based on my legs feeling like they were on fire. I’m not sure if I feel like I’ve lost power, just feel like I can’t get a good training session in. Should I feel this bad the week before a race? In the 4 years I’ve been training, I’ve never felt like this before. I’m hoping it’s not overtraining/burnout. I’ve been sleeping well, feel like I could sleep more, but I haven’t been sleeping bad lately. I haven’t been irritable/cranky either…

Should I make a visit to the dr with this? Is it something I should be worried about going into a race? I’m aiming for an AG award, so I’ll be pushing the pace pretty hard (for me), especially since it’s my last race of the season. Running and swimming I’m not having issues with.

2

Why are you pushing tempo and trying to ride hard in your taper week? I think your body is trying to tell you to easy on it so that you can hammer it on race day! Dont worry about it, the key is to feel great on race day, not the days before the big day!

3

If you can’t hit your (higher) HR targets it’s a sign of being over reached. Take it easy. Recover.

Also make sure your HRM is working (ie: compare what it reads to what you actually count when feeling your pulse (did you do that?)).

4

Keep training with minimal zone 3 or any real intensity, but trust your taper. Feeling crappy during a taper is pretty normal. Your body is getting some serious recovery and if the taper works well, you should be feeling great by race time.

5

enjoy the taper, however funky you feel. rest and trust your fitness…it’s not going anywhere at this point.

albert