With the cooler fall weather here, commuter biking season is over for me. The cold weather is taxing on my system, between the TBI and asthma.
That being said, I attempted to cycle once a week the 7 or 8 kms to and from work. The start of the season was terrible. Every time I arrived at the office, I was exhausted and my head felt awful.
I didn't know it at the time, but I was pushing myself too hard. Between not wanting to be late for work and some of the hills being more of a challenge than I remember, I was getting my heart rate too high. Dr Lawrence was kind enough to remind me that I needed to keep my heart rate below the max recommended rate of about 180 bpmbpm: beats per minute (depending on which method of calculating you use).
I had purchased a heart rate monitor a while back when I was working with a kinesiologist. She recommended at the time that I not exceed 150 bpm... I had totally forgotten! Back into the toolbox went the heart rate monitor. I initially set myself a sustained target rate of 170, but I'm not one to just take it easy. I regularly found myself hitting 175 and feeling terrible when getting to the office. So I dropped my target to 160 bpm.
It was quite the challenge to keep my heart rate around 160. I had to learn not to go full tilt. I sucked in my pride and incorporated rack and roll on OC Transpo to bypass some hills where I'd previously push myself to keep the same pace. I practiced controlling my breathing if I exceeded 160. All these things added up to consistently making it to the office feeling good.
Incorporating these strategies on my ride home even allowed me to conserve enough mental and physical energy to bike to daycare and return home with kids in tow in the bike trailer.
I learned that yes, I am still capable of many things, but I have to respect and learn a list of new limits. Next year, maybe I'll bike to work twice a week (if I figure out how to manoeuvre the O-Train crowds with a bike)!
[Photo by Nick Fewings]
