contesstant
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
So, I raced my mountain bike this weekend. It was HOT. I was riding a trail I ride all the time, and can usually ride with good intensity.
I thought I was going to die. I've never worked so hard on any ride, and I wasn't pushing hard. I just wanted to finish!
Anyway, I was kind of perplexed and did some digging. Turns out, post-menopausal women do not dissipate heat because estrogen plays a key role in that process. I am on low-dose estrogen, but clearly not enough to help with this issue! I got some advice to try BCAAs so am going to give those a shot. I'll not be racing in the heat again. It was downright dangerous. I had electrolytes in both water bottles, and my favorite ride energy, Hammer Gel, which normally gives me a boost after about 10 minutes. Not this time.
I read that for every 1 degree that your core temp increases, your HR goes up by about 10 BPM. My heart rate was in the mid-170s for nearly the entire ride (high for a 52 year old!) I did the same ride two days prior and it barely went above 160. So yeah, there's something to the age-related slow downs even if you're fit. It was a real eye-opener for me. It made me mad. This aging garbage really sucks.
Side note: more age divisions in MTB racing would be really nice.
I thought I was going to die. I've never worked so hard on any ride, and I wasn't pushing hard. I just wanted to finish!
Anyway, I was kind of perplexed and did some digging. Turns out, post-menopausal women do not dissipate heat because estrogen plays a key role in that process. I am on low-dose estrogen, but clearly not enough to help with this issue! I got some advice to try BCAAs so am going to give those a shot. I'll not be racing in the heat again. It was downright dangerous. I had electrolytes in both water bottles, and my favorite ride energy, Hammer Gel, which normally gives me a boost after about 10 minutes. Not this time.
I read that for every 1 degree that your core temp increases, your HR goes up by about 10 BPM. My heart rate was in the mid-170s for nearly the entire ride (high for a 52 year old!) I did the same ride two days prior and it barely went above 160. So yeah, there's something to the age-related slow downs even if you're fit. It was a real eye-opener for me. It made me mad. This aging garbage really sucks.
Side note: more age divisions in MTB racing would be really nice.