Good Afternoon!
Unfortunately, I am still stuck in the 90's and using heartrate and RPE as my training barometers. With that said, here is my question/dilemma...

While riding outside, my RPE and heartrate dovetail quite nicely. I can judge my efforts and know pretty much right where my HR will be based on how I am feeling. However, once I move inside, I generally find that my legs will be screaming in agony before my HR climbs to anywhere approaching what should be my threshold. Am I unique in this, or is this just a fact of life?

If I just need to suck it up, tell me. You certainly will not hurt my feelings!
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Do you have one of these? :-


Thermal stress is a large component of fatigue especially when exercising indoors. Also due to lack of other stimuli you tend to focus on what the legs are feeling. So all perfectly normal.

_________________
"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study."
"I'm not a real doctor; But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm." - TMBG

+1 on the fan. Heat load is a killer for me.

The other thing is that the constant load of the trainer is not what you experience on the road, where you get more 'roll' and little 'breaks' due to undulations in the road.

I get the same problem, Ill do intervals and my legs will burn before my HR gets close to 90% max, on the road its a different story.

I thought it was the trainer, same problem with my gf's trainer.

I bought an industrial fan, little difference.

I also find my legs are sorer after trainer sessions than road sessions.

_________________
Current Harem: Sally (Serotta Nove - Ti/C), Peggie (Pegoretti Love #3 - Alu), Speedy Custom Baum (Corretto - Ti)* & Climbing Baum (Corretto - Ti)*

*Lady names just never came to me.

Just curious GGG, you say the fan made little difference. Are you only using HR as the benchmark or some other data?

_________________
"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study."
"I'm not a real doctor; But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm." - TMBG

In a related phenomenon: I never wear my HRM in an actual race. It is simply too frightening!

Tod hi

I would agree; for me there is an appreciable difference and a fan makes no difference. What I tend to find is that my heart rate is lower from the outset. I put this down to a lack of stimulus from wind and other sensory inputs that raises my pulse on the road. Using Power, I can see that my outputs are similar, but there is a long lag for HRM. This is alleviated by a long and strong warm up, and by 30 mins in, there is only perhaps 5bpm difference, which is perhaps explained by the sitting position, rather than standing climbing.

I think you just have to understand your own zones, both inside and outside. I have similar understanding of my zones for climbing, time trialling, track.