Maximum Heart Rate

It has been a while since I raced and the results earlier in the year were disappointing. I could ride consistent lap times all day long, but they weren't fast enough. I'd done the base miles training for other things like the South Downs Double, but had no top end speed.

The other week for some reason the usual Sunday Social ride became an off-road team time trial. We tore along the trails at warp speed trying to rip each others legs off on every climb, descent and all the bits in-between! I spent over an hour of the 3hrs I was riding with the guys, in my top heart rate zone.

I was ruined when I got home but I hadn't got dropped or spat out the back of the group. The others have been racing all summer so it had hurt but it gave me hope. Since then I've been following a more structured week, instead of just crunching out the miles.

Part of this is something I haven't for done a while. Hill rep intervals! When I was younger I'd head out every Tuesday and push the heart rate monitor up to 220. Now-a-days I'm coughing up a lung at about 185bpm.

It hurts and the final rep is always torture, but the raging endorphins riding home and the sense of achievement is worth it. I've got a month until the Gorrick Halloween race. Lets hope I'll have more va-va-voom when the starting horn sounds.