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

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.