Sudden Heart Rate Drop

It's really hard to try to answer your question. We need way more specifics. I.E. Same course, same milage, same speed, same cadence, temperature change? What are those training heart rates, %, etc. With the info you have provided and not knowing anything else, all I could say is that your effort is just lower than last month. Give us more info.

FloydLandis said:

About a month ago i went for my 80 mile day and noticed that my usuall training heart rates were about ten to fifteen beets lower. I figured maybe i was about to get sick but not the case. For the entire month so far it has remained. Is that strange or just a big increase in fitness.

Before the 80 mile route, were you doing more hill training than normal?

Yes i added more hills. My efforts were about 95% of max same milage same speeds same courses. Even during my interval training on my indoor trainer i have noticed that. It just seems like my max, upper and lower rates have substancially dropped out of nowhere. I first figured i was getting sick becuase this happens when i first get sick. Not the case. And then I figured maybe i was not riding as hard. My avg and my speeds are the same if not better. The temps are getting higher this is in New JErsey so the past month has seen some increase in temp. The other thing that is puzzling is that my legs and heart feel great. I hope that helps sorry i neglected to include all the variables before. I also started including one minute sprints after each turn and at the top of each climb after i noticed the drop though. Thank you all for your time and info it means alot.

So now that you are at 10 to 15 beats less is the percieved level of exertion the same as before the 80 miler time period? Are you feeling stonger than before? If your feeling better than you could probably go faster then right? What happens when you try to go harder? Can you get your heart rate up to where is was getting to before?
Recheck the memory on your heart rate monitor, make sure that your personal settings are still the same. 15 beats per min less is an 8% drop. Are you not able to get to 95% of max anymore? When you say your efforts were at 95%, I assuming it you got up to 95% for a second then came back down right? 95% is hard to hold for a sustained time.

FloydLandis said:

Yes i added more hills. My efforts were about 95% of max same milage same speeds same courses. Even during my interval training on my indoor trainer i have noticed that. It just seems like my max, upper and lower rates have substancially dropped out of nowhere. I first figured i was getting sick becuase this happens when i first get sick. Not the case. And then I figured maybe i was not riding as hard. My avg and my speeds are the same if not better. The temps are getting higher this is in New JErsey so the past month has seen some increase in temp. The other thing that is puzzling is that my legs and heart feel great. I hope that helps sorry i neglected to include all the variables before. I also started including one minute sprints after each turn and at the top of each climb after i noticed the drop though. Thank you all for your time and info it means alot.