Exercising and heart rates

[Kealia]

I don't know my RHR, but I know it's low.
Low enough that when I recently was starting a new medication and had 3 options, 1 was immediately ruled out because it would lower my blood pressure/heart rate and the doctor didn't want me to go any lower.

I exercise regularly and have been a competitive athlete my entire life. It has slowed down in the last 18 months as the wear and tear has been catching up with my body. But I wouldn't trade the fun I've had for anything!

[mashani]

It has slowed down in the last 18 months as the wear and tear has been catching up with my body. But I wouldn't trade the fun I've had for anything!

This is why I cycle and nordic ski more and run and swim less these days. Cycling is now my "1st" sport, but I used to be more of a runner and swimmer then a cyclist, cycling was my "3rd" sport in the past. Right now I'm a better cyclist then I've ever been.

Pool running instead of land running and converting much of the remaining land running to shorter more high intensity workouts has helped me recover from some ankle issues. Swimming is restricted compared to what I used to do due to my shoulder issues. I don't let anything "stop" me, I just adjust around things to the extent I can.

[Kealia]

That's what I am learning to do now. Between some tennis elbow issues that are persisting (I don't plan tennis BTW) and some shoulder issues that only Cortisone seems to help, I'm learning how to adjust what I do. Weights are become less of an option and I've always walked/treadmilled/ellipicticalled for a while each day, too.

I need to get my lazy butt back to my martial arts studio to get my interval training back in place, too. I tend to lag in going to class in the summer when I do more hiking and outdoor activities in general.

[docpd]

I have gradually moved from running to more cycling and elliptical trainer due to knee issues. I really loved running at least as far a 1/2 marathon distances, but a couple of meniscus tears and some nagging Achilles tendinitis has made running less appealing. I was a competive swimmer until college but haven’t been able to make much time to get in the pool recently. Cycling is great for about 8 months a year, but here in Indiana winter riding is not much fun. Overall, you guys are both right that you just need to adapt to what you can do and just keep doing it.

[Beer-lord]

I had meniscus surgery in one knee 3 years ago and the doc who did my surgery does surgery for the Saints and Hornets so I believed him when he told me running, especially without the best shoes on a good track, was going to be the end of many people when they get older. He told me Elliptical and swimming were the best exercises. I prefer the elliptical but stationary bikes work for me too.
Bottom line, any exercise is better than none.
You guys are pretty amazing. I am not worthy!

[mashani]

'Tis why I do track workouts now vs longer runs, except for once in a while on a trail or grass. You can get just as much out of it in a shorter period of time and with less joint stress. But you do have to do all out intervals to get the max benefits. It also helps to run with shorter strides and higher cadence. Less "pounding" that way, less extreme hip and knee angles are reached, and if your doing it right you don't feel the impact anywhere as much. But higher cadence does require greater cardio, so it's a balancing act (although to purely build cardio, and not race at your fastest speed for the longest time, it's not a bad thing regardless). I'm often running 180-200 strides per minute on the track, sometimes even faster.

One other thing I've found is that at least for me high cadence cycling is also much better for my knee and hip joints as well. My bike is geared accordingly, smaller chainring up front, and wider range cassette in back. My top end gear isn't as big as a "normal" road bike, about 40 gear inches instead of 50, but I still can go >40mph in my top end gear before I start to feel remotely spun out, so I don't really care. My low end gear is about 12 gear inches (or even 10 with my "dirt" wheels), where most road racing bikes would be more like anywhere from 14 to 16 or even more gear inches, so I can stay seated longer and maintain spinning on steeper gradients.

I also ride now with smaller cranks (165mm) even though I'm nearly 6' tall, which also is better for my joints because less extreme angles for knees and hips are reached, and the shorter cranks also conducive to spinning at a high cadence without getting all bouncy. Whenever I get a new bike, I might go with even smaller cranks. Vs. my old 175mm cranks, 1cm doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider the entire distance of the "circle" it adds up to a good amount, and since you raise your seat by 1cm as well to get the correct leg extension it makes a bigger difference then you would think in the overall knee/hip angles reached. Which = less strain on them.

My typical cadence is between 90-110 rpms when riding at tempo except for say if I hit a > 12% or so grade that goes on for a bit, most often between 100-110. I can comfortably spin at 120-130 rpms when I want to go faster. I know that I've gone over 150rpms when sprinting at times but I wouldn't maintain that type of cadence for a long period of time. And although 70-80 rpms is OK still, I'd rather be 90+ most of the time.

This is with clipless pedals of course (for those who don't know, they are like ski bindings for bikes). I don't think I'd want my foot to slip off a flat pedal at 130rpms.

I have a little bit less low end "torque" then I did on my old road bike with bigger gearing and 175mm cranks, but I have more power at speed IE "horsepower" as such. As long as I maintain my RPMs, I produce higher power with less perceived effort then I did back in the days I rode at 70-90 rpms in a huge chainring. I climb things I used to stand up for sitting down and turning my cranks at ~80-90rpms and going just as fast if not faster.

I also clear lactic acid much when faster spinning, which I wish I discovered years ago, life would have been a lot less painful.

YMMV, I know for some people spinning faster can be more tiring. IE bigger people with large powerful legs might find spinning less efficient for them then using their greater muscle power in a more direct way, or people who don't have a strong cardio base. But as a skinny dude with good cardio fitness it works better for me to spin and regardless of who you are it's better for your joints even if not for your efficiency.

Either way, I know that the theoretical efficiency lost due to spinning (just because your using energy to make your legs move fast) is most apparent at lower effort levels, and the closer you get to your max output the less the efficiency loss becomes. And for me any theoretical efficiency loss is more then made up for by lactic acid clearing. Nothing sucks worse then trying to go hard over your LT when it doesn't clear well during the brief moments of rest you get. I'd rather need to eat a few more energy gels then feel that much burn.

[bpgreen]

I haven't been biking much this year. It's been really hot, so I'm not spending much time outside. Last year, I was riding 10-20 miles a day, usually at an average pace of about 15 MPH (I think the fastest I'd get was about 28 going downhill).

I've even changed my approach to walks in the heat. I used to take one long walk of about 3-4 miles at a relatively fast pace (4 MPH give or take). Now, I'm walking at a much slower pace (3-4 MPH) and breaking the walks into two shorter ones.

To make up for slacking off on biking and walking, I've increased my swims from 2000 yards to 3000 yards. According to my Garmin, I burn a lot more calories swimming than I do walking or biking, but I want to add biking back into the mix because I think it's a good idea to do a variety of exercises. Maybe I should start using my stationary bike when the weather isn't conducive to outdoor biking (or maybe I should bite the bullet and bike despite the heat).

I should probably bring my bike to the shop and have them help me adjust the seat, handlebars, etc. I don't think I've got it set correctly. I may actually need a bigger bike, but I got this one through a local radio station's online classified ads (they were well entrenched before Craigslist even existed).

And I should look into different pedals for the bike, as well (and maybe shoes designed for biking? I don't know if that's a consideration). But I'm not really sure whether it makes enough of a difference at my level of riding. I don't go all-out. I just ride at a pace that is fairly comfortable (except when I'm going uphill). I get passed on the trails more often than I pass people, but I'm not racing, just trying to get/stay in shape.

Four or five years ago, I weighed about 50 lbs more than I do now and my waist was probably 6 or more inches bigger than it is now. I didn't measure it until I'd already lost some of the weight, and even then, I'd suck in my gut and stretch the measuring tape as tight as I could so that I had to replace it after a couple of months. Now, if I measure it at all, I just kind of pull it snug without trying to suck in my gut at all. Mostly I just go by my pants and belts and don't bother measuring my waist.

My smart watch is saying my lowest RHR today was 36. I saw it once at 37, but it was kind of like Schrödinger's cat (or the Heisenberg uncertainty principle; I get the two confused). When I saw that my watch was reading 37, I manually checked my pulse and it was in the 40s, so I looked at my watch and the watch matched what I got manually. Maybe that means that the watch is accurate and it had dropped to 37 briefly, or maybe it means that it should have been reading in the 40s all along.

[mashani]

Calories burned greatly varies due to resistance (water and air) coupled with speed. So if you swim in tight suit sometimes and a "drag suit" other times and try to go the same speed your going to burn a lot more calories in the "drag suit". Same when cycling, if you ride on the tops or flat bars, you will burn more calories at a speed then the hoods or the drops. Wearing a t-shirt vs. tight clothing = more watts for the same speed. So to get a really accurate number you have to know the actual watts you are putting out compared to body weight, and not just your "speed" which is easiest in cycling because we have power meters. Where everything else is just a generalized estimate.

A 1mph difference in the water is a lot different then on a bike, in the water it almost doubles your calorie requirements due to how much more drag there is. The difference between 1 mph (Noodler) and 2mph (normal lap swimmer) and say 5mph (Olympian) in the water is huge. Like many thousands of calories huge.

Since I have a power meter on my bike I know pretty accurately what my calories burned are because watts don't lie, they account for all the resistance factors. When I am doing all out 40/20 intervals or riding with the Cat 2 / 50+ masters, I sometimes am burning upwards of 1100-1200 calories an hour if I average it out, and if I go out with the roadies it's usually a 2-3 hour ride. After those efforts, especially after going out with the roadies, I most certainly need homebrew.

As far as pedals.

I ride with spd mountain bike pedals and shoes on my road bike because it is actually a cyclocross bike that I swap out wheels and cassette for road riding. And in cyclocross you have to jump off the bike and run which mountain pedals allow you to do as the cleat is recessed in the shoe where road shoe cleats stick out.

And I don't want to change out the pedals and shoes all the time. So I just invested in high end light weight mountain pedals that provide a good stable platform that works for me for everything.

You can get pedals that are the "low end" version of what I ride on (this just means they weigh twice as much and are slightly less aerodynamic, and have slightly lower grade bearings, but not that they are "low end" as in junk) for about $40 on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052XXW32/re ... th=1&psc=1

I like them better because you can walk in the shoes, where with road shoes and cleats walking sucks and any difference in performance is negligible unless you are a true pro. Some people would argue with me about that I'm sure, but that's my view at least, and even if they are right, it matters not for a "normal" cyclist. One thing that is true is that I could save a bit more weight with road pedals, but it's not really worth it for me, I don't do long mountain climbs in races where say 4 more oz shaved off might make some kind of significant (that means something like 5 seconds) difference.

The advantage of riding with either road or mountain clipless pedals is that your feet won't come off unless you want them to. So you can spin faster without feeling sketchy, it makes it easier to spin, and you can also use more of the movement besides just the down stroke to produce power. You still get most of your power with the down stroke, but you can pull up on the pedals, and also push them forwards and pull them backwards as part of the circular motion. With practice doing this, you can effectively give some of your leg muscles a little break even though your still going at a hard effort by taking advantage of this even if your not actually producing more power. And you don't lose power because of your feet lifting off the pedals when you hit a bump or whatever reason.

The downside is also that your feet don't come off unless you want them to, and you learn how to do it and it gets committed to your muscle memory. The first time you ride with clipless pedals you are going to stop and then fall over sideways in slow motion thinking "*@$~!%@!~!!". So if you get them, go out on the grass or a soft trail until you get the hang of it. And unless you get 2-sided pedals with a binding on one side and flat on the other you can't go riding them in your tennis shoes. 2-sided pedals exist, but what happens with them is the binding always ends up at the bottom and then you have to try to flip them with your toe to get it so you can clip the cleat in everytime you unclip and take your foot off the pedal. So they actually become a PITA when you want to ride with your bike shoes. Since I can walk in my bike shoes, that's just a pain, and I'd rather be able to clip in easily with a 2 sided binding.

For someone who has never ridden them before I'd recommend getting the "multi directional cleats" if those are not what came with your shoe. Those will allow you to pull your feet up off the pedal and get the cleat detached with the typical motion that happens when you "panic stop", but otherwise normally keep you clipped in as long as your pedal is adjusted.

I don't know if they make multi directional cleats for road pedals. If not, yet another reason to go with SPD mountain bike ones for a first try.

You will see a term called "float". That is how much you can pivot your foot (move your ankle inwards/outwards) with your cleat clipped in. More float is better for your knees, especially if your cleat isn't exactly mounted by a professional bike fitter to match your biomechanics, and that assumes your biomechanics are "stable" in all circumstances too. Less float might be better for a pure racer who has perfect biomechanics and a great bike fitter as no power will ever be "wasted" by your feet moving around. But that's not normal for most people, so I would say you want 4 degrees of float or so if your a normal human, and most racers even have cleats with some level of float, the 0 float people are IMHO nuts. The mountain bike SPD cleats/shoes always give at least that much float.