So about 6 weeks since I restarted cycling after a 7/8 year lay-off and it is going much better than it ever did before, thanks I think to a bit more structure and understanding of my own body. First couple of weeks were a bit difficult as clearly attempting to ride like you did before is only going to bring disappointment, but it seems I've reactivated the cycling muscles now and things are picking up.
Today I thought I'd best do some sort of FTP test on Zwift as it will help with the multitude of training programs on there where it needs to have a base number so it can work out intervals etc. specific to you. I didn't fancy the 20 minute test as I've never done anything like that and I wasn't sure I'd be able to accurately gauge a 20 minute effort without ballsing it up by either going too hard and blowing up or not going hard enough and it being a waste of time, so instead I chose the ramp test.
I've no idea how it works it out from how you perform but you do 1 minute @ starting at 100w and then it goes up in 20w increments every minute until you can't go any more. I know that nothing but a proper power meter is the way to go, but I only wanted a number for Zwift programs and I calibrated the trainer twice before the test and made sure my weight was up to date so as not to skew anything. Result was 241w whatever that means.
Then straight after I did this ride as I needed 3000ft for those stupid Strava badges.
One thing I'd like to know more about that I'm finding a bit confusing is heart rate. I've got two different heart rate monitors here and I've been using them both for the past 6 weeks, now looking online there is something called HRR (Heart Rate Reserve) and when you calculate it then you can work out a heart rate training zone, now from my numbers my zone should be 142-162 and yet I only averaged 135 for the ramp test and then 144 for the following ride at what felt like a considerable effort, if I were to try and average the upper end of that zone I don't know how hard I'd have to go!
Does anyone here know much about heart rate? I do feel like I'm not breathing very hard, when I put in a big effort it is clearly my legs not able to clear the lactate fast enough that means I blow up, not heart rate/breathing. Will this change as my legs get better at dealing with lactic acid and enable me to push for longer?
Sorry for the long post but I'm finding it all really interesting.