Does heart muscle get "tired" like say leg muscle?

[Spinnor]

I'm a 52 year old male and have been bicycling for pleasure and exercise for many years. I have noticed a pattern that would like some comment on. I have noticed that if on a hour to two hour ride that if I push too hard for too long that short term I will recover but the next day or two my energy level is low, I'm tired and lack energy. My thought is that like a leg muscle, if the heart muscle is pushed too hard it will take several days to recover completely, and with my heart not at peak performance I feel tired.

So last Saturday I went for a two hour bike ride and pushed quite hard. Sunday I'm a zombie and later that night when I go for a shorter ride I can tell my power is way off. I'm still a bit off today and don't feel quite as sharp as I do on a good day.

It seems there is a fine line between a good workout and over doing it?

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

[Evo]

Go to a doctor, there are serious conditions that could cause this.

We cannot diagnose you or give you medical advice.

[Proton Soup]

also, cycling is more than just exercising your heart.

[berkeman]

I'm a 52 year old male and have been bicycling for pleasure and exercise for many years. I have noticed a pattern that would like some comment on. I have noticed that if on a hour to two hour ride that if I push too hard for too long that short term I will recover but the next day or two my energy level is low, I'm tired and lack energy. My thought is that like a leg muscle, if the heart muscle is pushed too hard it will take several days to recover completely, and with my heart not at peak performance I feel tired.

So last Saturday I went for a two hour bike ride and pushed quite hard. Sunday I'm a zombie and later that night when I go for a shorter ride I can tell my power is way off. I'm still a bit off today and don't feel quite as sharp as I do on a good day.

It seems there is a fine line between a good workout and over doing it?

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

Since you're 52, I'm assuming that you have a physical every year now, correct? Have you talked about this effect with your doc yet? I agree with Evo that you should. I'm 51 and very active, and I'm very lucky to have a doctor who is an athlete himself. We talk a lot about different aspects of working out, and how aging affects it over the years. You should discuss this with your doc, and have any extra tests that he/she recommends. At the very least, there are some blood tests that I think your doc will have you do. As long as your blood chemistry is okay, and maybe you end up doing a stress test ECG and passing, then it may just be that we're getting old, brutha'.

[Danger]

As far as I know, the heart is the only muscle in the body that doesn't experience fatigue under any normal circumstances.
The symptoms outlined could be the result of anything from a heart defect to diabetes. Definitely get to a specialist if your own doctor doesn't know what's happening.