Egull1- Журнал, 14 мар 24

Oh average hr was 140 Bpm, which is good for max effort. I use a polar heart strap not the watch because the watch is not very accurate. And polar is one of the most accurate out there right now. 

👍👏 

Wow! Awesome! 

Jelly, I can't do cardio. 

Outstanding! 

That is some really impressive power! 

nice! I can only imagine what your ftp must be! 

Nice work. how many months were you in zone 2 only? 

Thanks, everyone! I'm still blissful as all get out right now :-) And, of course after that max effort, it's not like I slept the best. Endorphins run high at that speed so all those beautiful "feel good" natural pharmaceutical drugs our brains already have opened there bottle caps and let loose the goodness. I'll likely enjoy this high for another 12 hours or so and hopefully sleep better tonight. I've worked really hard for this one. It's not that I haven't hit 280 watts before, but it was during a 40 minute cycle time and that's not quite the same because the length of time makes a difference. A lot more miles worth of endurance can make quite a difference with regards to heart rate and stamina when 40 more minutes are tacked on to the equation. The highest I've been at 75 minutes is 269 watts. And, yes ya know I want 300 watts and I don't want to stop until I get there...and we're getting close :-) @ aby - 7 years ago I was 92 lbs heavier, doing pushups against a wall, using 3 lbs weights, and could barely do 10 sits ups. I was only at level 5 resistance on the bike for 20 minutes back then. But, I knew if I was going to go further and change the story, "can't" was not allowed to be a part of the new narrative and "baby steps" and "trust the process" would need to be at the beginning and end of each chapter I wrote. @Asarver - I just accepted your request on Strava! YAY! You can now see how this old lady gets it done. hehehe. Although, keep in mind I'm in "fitness maintenance" mode right. No more challenges for a bit, especially after the 2023 triple crown of triathlons. The cycling wattage goal is just to keep my head in it because I want to maintain at least 50% of the conditioning I gained from the half iron man. Trust me, you will too. It's amazing how next level fit your body becomes after a 70.3. It's crazy! And, it's funny you mentioned the FTP, because I was thinking the exact same thing when I got off the bike and saw the wattage pop up on the screen for this ride. I don't know if I could pull off 20 watts more for the full 75 minutes...yet. But, maybe for 40 minutes? The resistance I set is 13, which is akin to a moderately hilly ride. This particular program on the trainer is one of the hardest. It will work you up to a level 9 resistance and then keep you going up and down between level 9-13 the whooooole way. It's not pedal stomping per say, but you feel like you're hugging some pavement, LOL. Grueling is a more appropriate word! @ddrudd - I've been doing the zone 2 training since about November 2023, but really its couched in the polarization approach or the 80/20 rule which is the most common technique used these days among elite training. So, 80% of the time I'm in zone 2, about 15% in tempo, and 5% at maximum RPM's. I just recently increased the RPM ranges for minimum, moderate, and maximum efforts because of course my heart rate adjusted and rule of thumb is when the HR hits the lower part of your aerobic range, you start gently increasing the speed and allow it to adjust all over again. And, it took about 3 weeks but the heart is already beginning to adjust to its new ranges. I know Zone 2 training is grueling and let's just face it, it's kind of boring too. But, the bottom line is it works and there are very few elite athletes out there not doing it at this point. From my perspective, and at 50 years of age I know it will allow me to do what I love to do for a whole lot longer and it's just plain good for the heart muscle. Less long term injury too :-)