FTP & MAP Up, but cthr Down?

[HoffmanHoy]

Hi,
I don't know if anyone can point me in the right direction, but I'm a few months in to fairly consistent indoor training (the Laser Goats in the former Sufferfest are keeping me away from the doughnuts) and I did a half monty today and in the past couple of months my FTP & MAP have both gone up just over 10%, but my cthr has come down nearly 5%. Does that mean I should / could have pushed harder today, and just didn't get my heart rate as high as it "should" have gone?

TIA!

 

[BurningLegs]

Heart rate is a funny thing. It can vary in an individual from day to day, and ride to ride for a huge number of reasons.

You are right to focus on power, and well done on the increases there. Don't worry about the heart rate - it will do what it will do

In terms of should you have pushed harder - the answer is always yes, isn't it?!

 

[ColinJ]

I feel like I have just eaten a bag of magic mushrooms - I didn't understand a word of that!

 

[CXRAndy]

Power is the ultimate measure, but you need to keep an eye on your physical side too. HR and breathing at the levels of intensity need to be factored in.

Are you a bit fatigued?

 

[Peter Salt]

Don't worry about HR too much, maybe you had your coffee earlier or the day was gloomy, literally everything can affect it.

 

[HoffmanHoy]

Don't worry about HR too much, maybe you had your coffee earlier or the day was gloomy, literally everything can affect it.

Thanks - that's quite possible - I do start my day with a pretty hefty coffee (22g fwiw)

Heart rate is a funny thing. It can vary in an individual from day to day, and ride to ride for a huge number of reasons.

You are right to focus on power, and well done on the increases there. Don't worry about the heart rate - it will do what it will do

In terms of should you have pushed harder - the answer is always yes, isn't it?!

Thanks - lol, yes, it even points it out at the end that everyone thinks that they could have pushed harder

Power is the ultimate measure, but you need to keep an eye on your physical side too. HR and breathing at the levels of intensity need to be factored in.

Are you a bit fatigued?

It's a fine balance isn't it - I was starting to tend in that direction (gentle 5k and Sufferfest 9 hammers on Sunday), but then yesterday I managed 90 minutes averaging 85% my new threshold (88% going with normalised power) and HR was fine, so I guess it could just be an anomaly.

 

[HoffmanHoy]

I feel like I have just eaten a bag of magic mushrooms - I didn't understand a word of that!

To be fair, power and heart rate based riding is like opening Pandora's box, but as a former software engineer, I love number crunching, and it helps motivate me.

 

[ColinJ]

To be fair, power and heart rate based riding is like opening Pandora's box, but as a former software engineer, I love number crunching, and it helps motivate me.

I was tired when I started reading it and then I realised that my mind had gone completely blank!

 

[HoffmanHoy]

Ok, so I really could have pushed harder in my ramp test. This morning I did a 20 minute FTP test, and my FTP went up another 3.5%, and that's at the end of a full-on week with a really intense ride on Wednesday, but all in all, pretty chuffed.

Heart rate is a funny thing. It can vary in an individual from day to day, and ride to ride for a huge number of reasons.

You are right to focus on power, and well done on the increases there. Don't worry about the heart rate - it will do what it will do

In terms of should you have pushed harder - the answer is always yes, isn't it?!