HR after exercise

[JamesJeffery]

Been exercising for 2 weeks, cycling (obviously), today I did 35 miles. I am a little worried as my HR is taking a while to drop to its normal rate. It is dropping, but slowly.

I'm a web developer, so before this I didn't really do much exercise. Am I working myself to hard?

Will my recovery rate improve over time?

Thanks.

 

[Crackle]

Some figures needed. Is it dropping by 30 beats or more within a minute of stopping excercise?

 

[JamesJeffery]

Some figures needed. Is it dropping by 30 beats or more within a minute of stopping excercise?

Not sure. It was around 170 during the ride. I think it went to 150ish, then started dropping slowly.

 

[Crackle]

Do some reading around, for instance this, which tells you about what to expect in terms of drop after excercise. If it's really not dropping much after you finish then go see your doc but in general it takes a while for your HR to return to a normal level but you should see a drop of 20 - 30 beats or more in the first minute and this should improve as you get fitter. I find CV fitness takes me 3 or 4 weeks to attain from zero.

 

[Fab Foodie]

If you're starting from zero and doing 35 miles after 2 weeks, then you're working yourself quite hard for a newbie. Make sure you start the first few miles at a gentle pace to warm the system up gently, likewise wind-down at the end of your ride, taking the last few miles slowly.
Agree with Cackle even regular cyclists who take a few weeks break take a bit of time to get the system flowing at its best.
Build-up gradually and in a few more weeks you'll be much improved!

 

[fossyant]

If fit, just stopping at a set of traffic lights will have the HR rate drop significantly.....

Don't worry too much at the moment - your body isn't used to this so will take some time. Cycling is very much aerobic efficiency (OK with some leg strength), but the ability to push HR and lung capacity is where it is at....

A gauge of fitness is the speed your HR takes to drop to say 100 bpm (varies by individual and what HR you were pushing).......... you need to monitor this for yourself. You'll see the time it takes for your HR to drop reduce as you get fitter.

 

[JamesJeffery]

Ah I see.

Well now it's at a nice 80. Usually it's lower, but I suffer with anxiety also, so I think I've been working myself up.

I'm going to take it a little more easy next time. 35 miles is a bit far.

 

[I am Spartacus]

I find CV fitness takes me 3 or 4 weeks to attain from zero.

Cool, I'll put you in the lab Crack... base aerobic fitness takes 10 to 12 weeks poss longer.... HM Forces basic training lasts over 12 weeks for a reason you know.

 

[Crackle]

Well seeing as you know so much try putting it down constructively so we can all benefit from your experience, rather than sniping at people, or posting teasing amounts of info on a subject you obviously know more about.

I'll qualify my statement, which was written in the context of starting to see some improvement, not to be picked out to stand alone: It takes 3 or 4 weeks before I start to see a significant improvement in my HR i.e. faster recovery, significantly lower HR during excercise and a lower resting rate. Before that time the improvements seem to be much smaller. For me that's the start point where I stop being limited by my CV system and can start to push harder riding or running. I don't think I said that I was fully fit after this time, remember the context was two weeks on the bike and not seeing his HR come down.

 

[I am Spartacus]

Apologies if I was coming across as 'sniping' wasnt me intention...
I was just hoping to highlight the mundane fact that fitness gains do start from day one but realistically it is only after those number of weeks where the 'gains' become sufficiently pronounced for the person to realise that ' yup, I can push myself harder ' or 'I feel stronger' - goal dependent along those lines.
The OP has a very sedentary job.. in front of a PC all day.. prob young (assumption, I know) and initiated the thread with "Been exercising for 2 weeks" .. just wanted to hilite not to expect too much, too soon.

 

[Fab Foodie]

There's also a difference in context, for instance following Crackle's post I responded as someone who has a pretty good base level of fitness (assumed Crackles view was the same), however after a few weeks holiday say or business travel with little cycling, it takes me a couple of weeks of my usual routine to get back-up to the pace I had before the holiday/Biz-trip.
Starting from a very low base like the OP will take longer and I'm not surprised if something like 8 weeks is the time to really get fully operational. What's nice about cycling unlike say running is that you see noticable benefit for the effort quite early on.