Hi I completed the 4dp session last night and I found out I’m a sprinter.
One thing I have noticed is my lungs tend to give out before my legs burn. I hit 162 bpm and my legs are not burning like the use to.
My assumption is that it is because I’m not aerobically fit and I struggle with long efforts.
Is this accurate?
My legs don’t burn either. They skip that phase and move straight to cramping, even when I’m at the top of my form.
I’d suggest that just indicates you’ve gained some fitness and endurance, or a higher tolerance for pain.
If you are limited by your breathing then yes, your cardio system is weaker than your muscular system. If you want to try to stress the muscular system a little you could try a lower cadence, but I’d recommend just building your aerobic base.
I’m the opposite, my cardio system is very good, it is always the legs that give up before my breathing.
If your breathing is limiting you more than your legs, then you probably want to work on doing more VO2 work. Doing a lot of lower intensity Zone 2 riding is important for your base level of fitness and endurance and then the VO2/MAP efforts will do wonders for your cardio system. Pretty soon your legs will be burning long before you’re out of breath.
I certainly had this problem when I started, and in a way that felt really foreign to me. I was always a runner and I found it strange when first cycling that the limited breathing seemed to be delayed from the muscle fatigue. So, I’d do a really hard effort and my legs would burn so I would slow down. Then a couple seconds after I stopped I’d find that I couldn’t catch my breath. The very first time I went out on my bike I was amazed at how much faster I was on such a light bike and was enjoying some fast efforts. Then I got home and stepped off the bike feeling great… and then ended up lying down and breathing heavy for about 5-10 minutes until I no longer felt like I was going to pass out. But, I didn’t feel that way until like 5-10 seconds after getting off the bike. It felt so strange. This happened even tho I was running half marathons at the time. So while some running and cycling fitness does overlap, there is apparently a lot that doesn’t. lol. But that’s a whole 'nother topic…
If you’re talking specifically about Full Frontal then it sounds right (to me anyway) that your lungs “give out” before your legs “burn” - the test is predominantly a measure of your aerobic capacity. The AC interval at the end is a different beast but that’s over pretty quick even if it feels like an eternity.