Anybody had decreasing resting HR with decreasing fitness?

[Rapunzel]

Fitness has dropped from good to moderate over the past month and feeling pretty meh on the bike the past week - no energy, no power.

Normally would expect my resting heart rate to increase but over the past 5 days it's dropped significantly lower than it's ever been, even pre/post big stage races or at peak fitness. Normal RHR is about 43-44 and now at 39. Any ideas? (maybe old age making me too chilled?)

[RobertWhitehead]

54 minutes ago, Rapunzel said:

Fitness has dropped from good to moderate over the past month and feeling pretty meh on the bike the past week - no energy, no power.

Normally would expect my resting heart rate to increase but over the past 5 days it's dropped significantly lower than it's ever been, even pre/post big stage races or at peak fitness. Normal RHR is about 43-44 and now at 39. Any ideas? (maybe old age making me too chilled?)

So what I found personally: I trained extremely hard and often (5-6 days a week) I then found that I would be really slow and tired on the bike even though my RHR was also around the low 40s. Life then happened and I now only train 3-4 days a week, but more quality stuff, no more "junk miles" or "wastes of time coffee rides". Strava reckons my fitness has dropped by close to 40 points but Garmin reckons my fitness is excellent. Turns out: I was overtraining (Such a revelation I know ). But the question for you then: Don't you think taking the foot off the gas a bit will give your body some time to recover and ultimately give you a chance to catch up with your actual fitness that your RHR shows? 

[Mook]

16 minutes ago, RobertWhitehead said:

So what I found personally: I trained extremely hard and often (5-6 days a week) I then found that I would be really slow and tired on the bike even though my RHR was also around the low 40s. Life then happened and I now only train 3-4 days a week, but more quality stuff, no more "junk miles" or "wastes of time coffee rides". Strava reckons my fitness has dropped by close to 40 points but Garmin reckons my fitness is excellent. Turns out: I was overtraining (Such a revelation I know ). But the question for you then: Don't you think taking the foot off the gas a bit will give your body some time to recover and ultimately give you a chance to catch up with your actual fitness that your RHR shows? 

Yep, overtraining does exactly what Robert says. 

Me thinks 🤔

[Pieter-za]

Are you tracking your HRV as well?

[FDP]

From personal experience I've seen that other stressors (work/family stress, sleep, etc.) often have a bigger effect on RHR than fitness alone. 

[Rapunzel]

2 hours ago, Pieter-za said:

Are you tracking your HRV as well?

If I understand Garmin, this is measured as stress which is also very low (between 19 and 25 is daily average). Is there another way to check HRV on Garmin devices?

[Mamil]

After x-rays I had when I took a MTB spill and cracked a few ribs I noticed on the radiologists report that he noted cardiomegaly with a chest to thoracic cavity ratio of .59. I put this down to 30 odd years of endurance oriented sport and the athletes heart phenomenon. My resting hr in December dropped during sleep to 38 or so and once to 35. 

Have taken it to my GP who says he's not worried but it's worth checking.  Keep training as normal and off to the cardiologist for a full workup. 

My BP normal, a bit of tiredness on the bike but that's cos I'm ramping up the distance in prep for tour du cap and 36one. I do occasionally feel very light headed when I stand up after even one beer which makes sense because ethanol is a vasodilator the doc tells me.

Take it to the doctor OP... At our age (I assume you too are a mamil) there's no sense in taking chances and the peace of mind is worth the expense imo.

[Marcv]

What has your heart rate on the bike done? 

[wolver]

1 hour ago, Rapunzel said:

If I understand Garmin, this is measured as stress which is also very low (between 19 and 25 is daily average). Is there another way to check HRV on Garmin devices?

Which Garmin device do you have? the newer ones track HRV specifically.

[Rapunzel]

14 hours ago, Marcv said:

What has your heart rate on the bike done? 

Lower than normal - can't get it much over 140 where normally can get it to 160 for 4min intervals

13 hours ago, wolver said:

Which Garmin device do you have? the newer ones track HRV specifically.

Using a Garmin Venu. Downloaded an app last night (HRV Analysis) to check HRV which checks over 5min period and result (39 and 43) appear to be normal-ish but not baseline to check against. 

Taking a few days off the bike first to see if that resolves this.

[bleedToWin]

16 hours ago, Rapunzel said:

If I understand Garmin, this is measured as stress

Garmin Body Battery is largely based on HRV.

['Dale]

Rest, my ambitious one. 🌼

Exhaustion has all kinds of predictable and unpredictable effects on one's physiology and psychology. And everyone is unique and different (especially with life 'load', not just training load) even though there are clear scientific parameters for homo sapiens.

Anything irregular in terms of bio-feedback requires a strict look at rest and recovery strategies. If it persists for more than healthy dosage of rest and recovery or more acute symptoms arise, then a good medical screening will be vital.

Sterkte @Rapunzel

EDIT: Grammar

Edited January 24, 2023 by 'Dale

[reteid]

my 2 cents worth. if you are feeling meh and cant get the hr up when trying to rev the engine rest.depending on your training history it might be more days /weeks that you need to take off to get the zip back. as to hrv it only helps and gets to be a better indicator of things when tracking it over a period of time.

[edgarblount]

I know The Coach @J Wakefield is a very busy man and cannot divulge all his IP but maybe he can shed some light on this topic. Always good to hear it from a professional like John. 

[J Wakefield]

2 hours ago, edgarblount said:

I know The Coach @J Wakefield is a very busy man and cannot divulge all his IP but maybe he can shed some light on this topic. Always good to hear it from a professional like John. 

There would need to be more context in the info. Reading it with the limited info it is the following:

Fitness has dropped (presume to less riding and training)
hasn't felt good on the bike (would be a normal reaction to loss of fitness 
Resting Heart rate is 5 beats lower than normal

This isn't enough info to say this person is over trained. Possibly could be a variable but he has mentioned nothing on his last 4-6 weeks of training volume. 

Has he been restricting meals to lose weight? if so, no energy and power is a typically a 1st sign. 

Typically 5 beats difference up or down is not a red flag when looking at variability. 

More info and you can start to investigate why. 

Edited January 24, 2023 by J Wakefield

[RobertWhitehead]

the clue is in the name me thinks, I think it is safe to say that @Rapunzelis a female