Why I am in atrocious cycling form 90 days into a plant-powered diet.
By: Omer Ehtisham
Tags: Self Improvement, Cycling, Aging, Vegan, Health

Yet, earlier this week, I clocked in the fastest long ride I have done in a decade of riding in peak form. Something entirely unexpected and super cool is going on in my 47-year-old battered and abused body which I am rebuilding ground up, on plants.

Over the last 90 days, I have widened the bandwidth in which my heart can operate by about 15–18% with no meds and no gimmicks — all for free.

Plants ONLY (breakfast, lunch and dinner) — no eggs no cheese no milk no animals and I am loving it.

I’ve been doing an experiment literally within myself at cellular level to establish a new low point from where to start re-training having incorporated veganism and meditative breathing, specifically (the Wim Hof Method) into my life. I started the process of atrophy and physical de-conditioning 4 months ago. Rather than concurrently ramping up my healthy living by adding regular training, I went the opposite direction; I took the training away and spiralled down the fitness ladder. This is the story what happened and why I took this path.

There are so many accounts of being fitter, stronger and faster being plant powered in endurance sports. In part, (but not wholly), added fitness and strength is what attracted my to a vegan lifestyle in the first place. Over the years I had imbibed the trifecta of the vegan kool-aid. Health, climate and cruelty, leading me down the rabbit hole to complete dietary conversion 3 months ago. I had to be extra vigilant in segregating the impact of concurrent training while measuring physiological changes through my riding caused by changes in diet and breathing. I wanted to keep the benefits, (if any), from my diet and breathing practices independent from continued physical conditioning. With no control factors, it’s confusing when incremental gains can come from so many variables; so it was important to re-measure my baseline, my most realistically attainable entropic state of physical conditioning, so that when rebuilding, I could isolate and further optimize what really works.

Over the last 120 days I have been entirely off the bike, or any other endurance activity, clocking in only one intentional data point ride each month measuring about 100km. I worked my body the hardest I could go in each outing. There was no change in my pre-ride nutrition, (black coffee, rolled oats cooked in water, with honey, chopped dates nuts and seeds, and maybe a banana if there was room).

I’ve done almost no riding other than this. Sunday was the 5th of these data point rides — I am proudly un-fitter and more out of physical form now than I have been AND I am also faster today than I have ever been in peak form. For the first time, I feel that my moonshot goal of doing 100km in 2h:30m averaging 40km/h for the entire ride, does not seem too far away.

Closing in on my moonshot goal of doing 100km in 2h:30m — that’s averaging 40km/h for the entire ride.

Over the monthly rides I honed in on 3 variables during each outing; ave speed, ave heart-rate, and peak power. I also made a note of how I felt. Each ride was +/- 100km and the routes and wind conditions were similar.

Ride 1. Oct: 33km/h @ 138bpm with peak power 590 watts (easy as pie I was still in shape and my heart was not particularly stressed)

Ride 2. Nov: 31km/h @147bpm with peak power at 594 watts (total suffer-fest with a hint of cramps with a noticeable increase in my average HR. I had to nap after the ride to recover)

Ride 3. Dec : 33.5km/h @152bpm with peak power at 557 watts (losing fitness but not determination. Peak power dropped and my HR is busting upper zones for about the same effort — I was tired and little sore)

Ride 4. Jan : 36.3km/h @160bpm with peak power at 560 watts. (WTF! HR through the roof, as expected, but where did the speed come from? I was completely fresh after the ride, and in fact, went kayaking shortly after — no fatigue and almost no need for recovery)

Ride 5. Feb: 36.4km/h @162bpm with peak power at 645 watts. (Still faster — a lot faster and no pain whatsoever, no hint of cramping or any residual fatigue. And where did I pick up 60 watts in peak power?)

It seems over the last 3 or 4 months I have dramatically altered my lactate threshold HR level upwards in an incredibly short period of time. What this means is that I have upped the game in what is physically achievable while getting my heart to beat faster than it could before for equally long periods of time. In this case, what has been physically achieved in cycling terms is shaving 20 min off from my best century ride while being totally out of shape. I cannot wait to re-start regular training and see what I can do fully trained on this new regimen.

That is one side of the story— here is the other; on the opposite end of my HR spectrum, over the same period, I have noticeably dropped my resting HR. So at my maximum efforts, I can push harder with less fatigue and while relaxing my heart seems to be functioning more efficiently than it has ever done. The data does not lie.

HR while chilling (down 8–10bpm)

This experiment has now come to an end. There is no way I am going back to my rib-eye diet — I do love the memory of if though much like I do the memory of so many things I did and experienced when I was younger — they were good then but their time and place has elapsed in my life.

This little experiment has re-energized me in my fitness and training goals which hit a plateau by doing more of the same. Outside of physical fitness, this experiment has also taught me an incredibly important lesson; we are constantly so busy trying to do more and fit more in, sometimes it is really worthwhile to do less instead. Reinvention without observing stillness, and even decay, is inefficient.

Complex systems can and will become more efficient within limited parameters by re-organizing resources; but isn’t it so much cooler to blow our old parameters out of the water and re-redefine who and what we can be.