It’s been 2 days in a row (Th-Fr) that I do home trainer, and I have absolutely no legs. I can’t push, and my HR can’t go high enough to do a decent aerobic training. Yesterday, I did 2hrs of trainer, followed by 30min Trun. I could barely increase my HR to 130 (while I should do an average of at least 136 to be in Z1). Last week it was fine for the same kind of training week, but this week, it looks like it didn’t work. I’ve done squats and other weight lifting on Wednesday (like last week), so I guess it’s caused by this training, but I was OK last week with the same kind of training. What do you do when you have no legs? Do you still do your training, for at least put the miles in? What can cause a low HR (I’d be very surprised to be overtrained now, so what if this is not an option?) (BTW, I’m doing LP, and live in a city where we can’t bike outside now, so I have to do those long sessions on the fcin trainer.) Thanks!
I’ve had very similar experiences. What worked for me was to take a day off of hard work and just spin nice and easy in case I just need some type of active recovery. Then when I come back the following day, I do a long tiered warm up to threshhold with several sprints to really get the heart rate up and the motor running, THEN proceed with hard workout.
Take a day off from bike/run… your legs will feel better the second day after it I bet (my day back after a day off, they always feel tight). YRMV.
HR is under nervous system control, parasympathetic division I think.
It’s likely your diet. You need to load up on the carbs after a 2 hour bout on the trainer - all your glycogen is gone. If you’re not refueling properly, you will get to the point where you are over-training. Take a day off, continue to eat well, and remember - pre workout carbs are key to successful training. Post-training, make sure to load up again on carbs and throw in protein (a 2:1 carb to protein ratio will get you back on the right track.) So load up, pre and post training with 50-75 grams of carbs split in simple/complex and 25-35 grams of protein. That should do it.
P.S. perpetually low heartrate indicates excess buildup of cortisol - an indication you are beginning to overtrain.
Thanks for the post… maybe I’m on the edge of being overtrained… I took yesterday off, we’ll see how it goes today, and tomorrow.
I’ve found this article on ST on overtraining, very interesting:
“There are days that I just can’t get my HR to the zone I want it to be in,” says Ironman and World Champion Karen Smyers. “This is a sign of not being recovered, and I reschedule the hard workout planned for that day. If you recognize it early, you can usually recover in a day or two. If you have pushed through it for a long time, you may need a much longer time to pull yourself out of the slump.” Every triathlete who has done the big miles can relate to a time when the heart for some reason won’t beat fast enough under load. What is in question is exactly why this happens and what the physiological mechanism behind it might be."
http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/coachcorn/overtraining.html
the lack of legs and lower HR thing happens to me sometimes at the end of a heavy 2 week training block. The way I have my IM training set up, every third week is lower volume and lower intensity for recovery, usually it is all back in order by the time I am supposed amp it back up the following week. From time to time if I feel really zapped I’ll just take a day or 2 either off or with ez spin/swim with no intensity and I am back on track. Hope it helps.
I have experienced that as well. It seems to be some fatigue issues and also carbohydrate issues. My HR got worse when I went to a much lower grain/sugar diet last summer. In general it has been good. I lost ~10 pounds and my watts and run paces have gotten better and I still swim like a fish, a very slow grouper-like fish 
. But I have noticed that I need to fuel up before harder days, otherwise the legs just don’t go and the HR stays low. If I need to hit a HR goal multiple days in a row, like during a build week, then I have to take a gel or two before the session. I also have to pay attention to my refueling. My HR usually rebounds after an easy/rest day with good CHO intake.
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When the legs don’t use any blood, the heartrate can be lower. You know, like this guy:
Everything is back to normal! Yeah! It looks like it was both issues: nutrition, and fatigue. Your comments were much appreciated. Thanks.