How to pace yourself (and maybe why?): new use for the heart-rate monitor

Another long-delayed entry. We did almost 70 miles the other day, so cycling condition is nearing its peak now. I really hope to be able to put in a 100-mile day this year, though that may be unrealistic. We'll see.

Also, DVD 9 (chest, shoulders, and triceps) from our alternate modified P90X is rough. My triceps are still a little stiff from our workout last week.

In this entry, I'd like to talk a bit about a subject I've brought up previously--pacing oneself. I've blogged about not overdoing fitness so that it doesn't become a burden. I alluded to how I would get burnt out on training back in my bike racing days because I was always trying to go all out whenever I was on the bike: I didn't vary training intensity enough.

Well, I find that I'm doing a little of that now. I want to ride hard when we go out for a ride. And I end up sort of gauging my output by whether I can catch someone ahead of me, or whether we get passed--not such a good idea when you're on a tandem where one rider is quite a bit stronger than the other (you're actually getting a whole lot harder workout than whomever you're trying to catch, since he is probably not essentially towing his partner).

I think doing that could not just get me burnt out on riding, but it could actually stress out my system. I've noted previously how one intense chase session sort of put me out of commission for a few days. So, how to put a governor on the effort?

Well, it might seem pretty obvious to others, but it came as kind of a revelation to me. First, I decided I might try doing some walking in place of cycling, since it's pretty hard to overexert yourself walking. So I did one day of that. But then I got to thinking, why don't I wear my heart-rate monitor and use that to curb my efforts a bit?

So I tried it. And it turns out to be a really ideal way to do it. What I did was to decide on a certain heart rate as a sort of upper limit: I'd try not to exceed that amount.

150 bpm works well for me. At around that rate I'll get a decent aerobic workout, but it really doesn't stress me in any way. It helps me to hold back a bit on the physical output, but at the same time I know I'm getting a good workout. So I'm very happy this simple solution finally dawned on me.

In fact, I used it on our 70-mile ride. I tried to keep the heart rate at or below 150 with the idea that, if toward the end I felt I still had energy to up the pace a bit, I would. So I did for a few miles prior to the end of the ride (I sustained 160-165 for probably 15-20 minutes). Seemed to work really well.

Then there's the matter of pacing yourself, and why and how you should do it if you're not a competing athlete. Ok, athletes--or at least smart athletes--follow a training schedule that aims to get them in peak form at a certain point, in preparation for a certain event. So they take it easier at the beginning of their preparation, gradually increasing intensity. Then, not long before the event for which they're preparing, they often taper off the intensity.

Well, all that doesn't really apply to me, since I'm not preparing for any competition. I don't need to "peak" physically at any particular time. What I need to do is just to keep active.

Anyway, I'm still puzzling out how I should approach that. I'll offer further thoughts on that later.