perceived exertion. some people think about your A-B-C in terms of how hard they
feel they are working. So the same effort can
feel easy one day, and difficult the next - mostly based on fatigue, but sleep, and food count too. Since you use a heart rate monitor,
there are well defined zones based on your age/max HR that trigger different things to happen. I don't know the physiology, i just know that running
slowly helped me run faster, and farther. I trained at 10+min/mile pace to run low 9s for a marathon. go figure.
what this perceived exertion really did was enable a group leader to tell everyone to "recover" or "hardest effort" and it would mean different HRs and Power numbers
for different people - but each person was to judge their effort.
--
so if i look at an endurance ride - the distribution looks like
These are based on "me" - you could think of your A as Z2 and below, B as Z3, and C as Z4 - you can now match the
words about zones to your mental map.
View attachment 91963
Here is
@terrabike01's race from yesterday (i forgot my HR strap) - he is your age (a few younger than I), but has a significantly different range
for each zone based on his max HR. In the race, he basically runs his heart rate in the upper end of the sustainable zone. Frank finished 3rd in fatbike
and had some podium finished in MTB last year - he is in very good shape to do this.
View attachment 91965
So as you've established on your trainer, you can "structure" or compose your work-outs, with your A - moderate/conditioning, B -tempo/interval training, C - threshold/Peak - above that is anaerobic - someone else can explain the biology here - i'll just botch what it means in a workout sense.
- so there you have it - some vocabulary - now what to do with it?
training plans will tell you to hit certains zones for a certain amount of time, on certain days....they expect you to follow the plan.
If you don't follow the plan, and fatigue yourself on a recovery day, then can't make the numbers (sustain your heart rate) the next day,
it is postulated that more damage than good was done.
@Norm has discussed this in his blog.
As far as "base" - just getting your HR up 3x a week for an hour, then 4x, then add a bit. Nothing crazy. this gives you some fitness to
build upon. Many people go into this and start at zero fitness, and get frustrated. You are not at zero.
Since you are an analytical person, I think we just need to get the words into a working framework for you.
One thing about trail riding, it usually doesn't lend itself to long, low HR riding. It is max effort to get up a hill,
or through some rocks, followed by a recovery, either by stopping, or going very slowly. I found this very difficult
from a fitness standpoint. The roadbike was much better. I could choose a hill based on how i felt that day, and
ride "easy" whenever needed.
PS -
I wore lycra to a spin class full of women wearing yoga pants, and got some strange looks - and an odd comment from the owner.
I don't go anymore because of the smart trainer, but i did switch over to a pull up chamois and regular gym shorts.....