My Holistic Aproach to Training Part the Two

In the first part I mentioned the use of weights in training. I have had to revert to their use again. I am having so much trouble with my arms getting tired during long rides because of their increasing weakness I feel it necessary to strengthen them. I have had to use tribars to gain relief but as they are illegal in the Round Taupo Challenge I have decided to do something about it. I think apart from strength I also need high reps with low weights for endurance, so to this end I am doing the bench press and arm curls with dumbbells, gradually increasing reps and weight. So far it seems to be helping.

In the past we were not blessed with Heart Rate Monitors to help us in our training. I have been using one for about twenty years now but only now am I making proper use of it. For long rides I was more inclined to watch my speed ignoring my heart rate. Because I have had problems with atrial fibrillation after training I have made sure not to exceed 80% of max for more than very short periods and try to stay below 70% to 75% for most of my ride (118 bpm.) Its too soon to say I have solved the problem but so far so good.

Yesterday I decided to tackle a hill I have always been scared of. Its a little less than 3ks much about 7%. Anyway I took the bull by the horns and made it without any problem. Just at the top my HR went up to 132 bpm but just for a short period and I had no ill effects afterwards.