What’s happening?

What's happening is that your power has increased 43% in 4 months. Great Job!

You're only riding at 80% MHR, so clearly your heart has room to beat faster if it wanted to keep up with your legs. Are you getting out of breath at 152 now, whereas you weren't before? Or is it your legs that are fatiguing because of the higher power? How's the temperature in your garage now that Spring is springing? Are you cutting your calorie intake to try to lose weight? More detail about how you're feeling and your ride conditions would be helpful.

To me, it kinda sounds like your improvement is plateau-ing to some extent. It may take more variety than just constant, 1-hr, 80% MHR riding to continue your improvment. I'd probably shift to primarily power-based riding, and not worry about HR for a while. Also, I'd include interval sessions 1-2 times per week consisting of ~15 min at 230-250w, with 5 min rests in between, for your hour workout. Are you close to being able to get out of the garage and onto the road?

frenchyge said:

What's happening is that your power has increased 43% in 4 months. Great Job!

You're only riding at 80% MHR, so clearly your heart has room to beat faster if it wanted to keep up with your legs. Are you getting out of breath at 152 now, whereas you weren't before? Or is it your legs that are fatiguing because of the higher power? How's the temperature in your garage now that Spring is springing? Are you cutting your calorie intake to try to lose weight? More detail about how you're feeling and your ride conditions would be helpful.

To me, it kinda sounds like your improvement is plateau-ing to some extent. It may take more variety than just constant, 1-hr, 80% MHR riding to continue your improvment. I'd probably shift to primarily power-based riding, and not worry about HR for a while. Also, I'd include interval sessions 1-2 times per week consisting of ~15 min at 230-250w, with 5 min rests in between, for your hour workout. Are you close to being able to get out of the garage and onto the road?

[font=Times New Roman]Thanks for you reply.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]I find that it is my legs that are feeling it and perhaps I am breathing a little stronger than a few weeks ago when the power output was lower. The temperature in the garage is about 50 deg F and I have a fan on as I get too hot. I have not altered my diet in any way recently (although I need to lose 10lb!). I live close to Toronto Canada and the weather here for this time of year is very good with double digits forecast for the weekend in which case I will rip the bike off the wind trainer and get some not so mind numbing miles in. I will in the meantime try the 15 min intervals at 230-250 watt, would you recommend I do two or three in my hour on the rack?[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]Many thanks again for you reply,[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]Bill. [/font]

[quote="BILLYHOLMES"][font=Times New Roman]I find that it is my legs that are feeling it and perhaps I am breathing a little stronger than a few weeks ago when the power output was lower.[/font][font=Verdana][/QUOTE][/font]

Ok, that makes sense. Basically, what you're doing is trying to 'drive' your HR up to 152 bpm, but after riding for a few months your leg muscles are now the limiting factor at that level. I'd suggest using a power level as a guide for your trainer workouts (since that's a better measure of what your legs are going through), and probably stick with HR as a guide for your outdoor rides.
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BILLYHOLMES said:

[/size][/font]I will in the meantime try the 15 min intervals at 230-250 watt, would you recommend I do two or three in my hour on the rack?[/size][/font][font=Times New Roman] [/font]

[quote="frenchyge"][/size][/font]

Ok, that makes sense. Basically, what you're doing is trying to 'drive' your HR up to 152 bpm, but after riding for a few months your leg muscles are now the limiting factor at that level. I'd suggest using a power level as a guide for your trainer workouts (since that's a better measure of what your legs are going through), and probably stick with HR as a guide for your outdoor rides.

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It's not important to be real precise with these. The idea is that instead of slogging along at a particular power level, you push yourself for a bit, then take a break, and end up spending as much (or more) overall time at around 230w than you are able to do now (and probably with less distress). Riding at a slightly higher power level encourages your body to continue to adapt to the higher energy demands. The pushes should be between 15-30 minutes in length, at a power level near or slightly above what you can do now. As far as how many to do: just fit them into the workout schedule that you keep now. If you ride for an hour, you could probably do 3 @ 15-min or 2 @ 20-25 min, including the rests. Good luck![/QUOTE]
Hey that sounds good to me. I tried this out last night and I found the first 15 mins not too bad my heart rate was 162 @ 250 watts then the second I was up to 172 @ 240 watts and the third I could only manage 10 mins 175 @ 230 watts and was all puffed out! Do you think I should reduse the power output to stop me running out of gas or just carry on bashing away. Thank you again for the advice.
Best Regards,
Bill.

BILLYHOLMES said:

Do you think I should reduse the power output to stop me running out of gas or just carry on bashing away. Thank you again for the advice.

I'd suggest dropping the power to 230 or 240 for now, and raise it a little when you're able to do that comfortably. It should be challenging, but you should find a power level which allows you to complete the whole workout.

frenchyge said:

I'd suggest dropping the power to 230 or 240 for now, and raise it a little when you're able to do that comfortably. It should be challenging, but you should find a power level which allows you to complete the whole workout.

Thanks I will try that.
Best regards,
Bill