Lessons learned from my first 90 min. Zone 2 Cardio workout

^{Photo generated by Dall-E.}

Starting this year, I have decided to pursue two to three bouts of Zone 2 90 minutes of cardio workouts every week. As noted in the book Longevity…Simplified by Dr. Howard J. Luks, the benefits include burning body fat and improving metabolic health. I am also curious to see if I have the stamina to complete each workout for its entire duration and the grit to stick with the regimen for the entire year. 

So, without further ado, I decided to try out my first session this week. The goal was to complete 90 minutes of bicycling on a road bike on one of the County parks’ bike roads. I intended to pedal non-stop for the entire duration as diligently as possible. And then see how I did it.

I have been bicycling for quite some time now, primarily for relaxation. My biking speed is atrocious compared to folks in Pelotons and individual rocket cyclists. I sometimes double-check when they zoom past me from behind to ensure I am not parked. I tell myself it is all fine as I do this for fun and not for competition. But secretly, I suffer.

It was a bright, shiny day at the park. I strapped myself with a Polar H10 heart rate monitor coupled to the Polar Flow app on my phone and climbed onto my bike. I selected Road Cycling by tapping on the timer icon of the app. I clicked the Start button and verified that the app received my heartbeats. With my phone secured on a holder on the bike handle, I slowly started moving. It felt different as my eyes were locked in on the app screen showing my heartbeats. I mentally mapped the beats in my Zone 2 heartbeat range and vowed to do my best to hold it there. 

It took about four to five minutes to ramp my heartbeat into Zone 2. For the next 35 minutes, I had no trouble staying in this zone. And then I started losing it. On another day, I would stop at a trail station and take a few sips of water from one of the orange coolers mounted on the wall. But today, I cannot, as it would break my 90 minutes streak. As I progressed, my heartbeat started to fall, and then I went out of Zone 2. I kept pushing even though I was not feeling good. Then, after a while, my body adjusted, and the feeling of thirst started to ebb. My heart rate started picking up but stayed below Zone 2 for quite some time. In bursts of a few minutes, it shot up in Zone 2 but then fell soon after. I was able to complete 90 minutes of bicycling without stopping. I estimated that my total Zone 2 time was about 40 min. I will take this 44% as my base and then build on it. 

There is a funny thing I noticed, and it has nothing to do with bicycling. My average biking speed, on a good day, is about 13.5 miles per hour, as per my bike computer. I stay mainly in the 12 to 14 miles per hour range, with 17 miles per hour as my max speed for a few seconds. Yes, it is pathetic. The average speed of cyclists overtaking me is at least five miles more. No matter how hard I tried, I could not do any better. So, I came to accept these numbers as my ceiling. However, on this day, my average speed shot up to 15.6 miles per hour. I mainly stayed in the 15 to 17 miles per hour range with a max speed of 18 miles per hour for a few minutes multiple times. What happened? 

I was standing in my way. You see when I was fixing my eyes on the bike computer, it was creating a narrative of a number, a 13.5 miles per hour limit, that was putting a straitjacket on me. No matter how hard I tried, my subconscious was regulating me to stay inside that narrative. 

When I fixed my gaze on my heartbeat number and pushed myself to stay within my Zone 2 range, it created a new narrative. It overwrote the old narrative in my mind and regulated me to remain inside the new one. It subconsciously forced me to increase my speed to a level I never thought was possible.

I need to build better narratives to grow myself. 

Interestingly, I now see the same pattern in Julia Cameron’s classic book “The Artist’s Way.” She has very successfully used the narrative of opening us up to God (or Good Orderly Direction, for atheists rolling their eyes) or the Great Creator to unleash our creativity. This narrative has freed people from standing in their way to become more creative. This is a book that I am reading, but with serious doubts. But now, encouraged by the power of narratives, I intend to follow the author’s guidance to see where it takes me.

And yes, I must figure out a way to stay hydrated on my next Zone 2 bicycle ride.