Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => Health & Fitness => Topic started by: jhob on 09 June, 2014, 08:35:54 pm
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So, generally I feel pretty fit and stay active. I'm 36, 6ft2, weight a little under 12 stone. However when I'm out on my bike at maximum exertion climbing a hill my heart rate will go to 196 (sometimes a couple of bpm higher). I can only sustain that heart rate for a few seconds, if that, and then need to reduce exertion to something in the 185-191 range which I could maintain for quite a while. For instance this climb from a 100k perm I did at the weekend:
(http://hob.so/VyRK/Image%202014-06-09%20at%208.30.05%20PM.png)
See full size image (http://hob.so/VyRK/o)
In a climb that took over 16 minutes my average heart rate was 190bpm, maxing at 198bpm. The climb was really tough, particularly at the bottom and took everything I had to get up it.
That aside my resting heart rate can be as low as 50bpm and I can repeatedly drop 30bpm after one minute of resting from a maximum exertion.
I'm just a bit worried there might be something up with me given that most maximum heart rate calculations would have me somewhere in the high 180s, just seems a bit abnormal. Can anyone with experience of these sorts of things advise if this is normal or not?
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Seems pretty normal to me! I maxed at 192 on my 1.5 mile commute to work when I was 31.
My resting heart rate was 42-48 when I was fit but is around 55 now (I'm 56 and have had no exercise for 12 years.)
If you don't feel unwell and your heart rate recovers quickly after exertion, I don't think there's any reason to worry.
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No, I don't feel unwell and my heart rate recovers quickly so sounds like nothing to worry about.
It's one of those questions that has been nagging at me for a while, good to hear it's nothing to worry about.
Is it right that maximum heart rate isn't affected by fitness, just that as you get fitter your heart rate on the same 'task' should be lower?
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I'm 48 and my resting heart rate is under 50 ( under 40 when I'm proper fit ) and max is 190-ish
220-age should be 172, the formula is a generalisation
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The highest I ever saw was 196 (running up a hill) so I'd say that yours is fairy normal. The only thing to watch is if you have (or think you have, or have very recently had) a cold or 'flu virus, as some of these can muck about with the heart rate to the extent that you hit MHR much sooner than normal and you think you are about to die. If this happens, keep riding slowly or get off the bike and sit or lie on the ground. Otherwise, as soon as you stop, all the blood pools in your legs and you faint. Fainting itself is not harmful but whacking your head on the ground while unconscious, and therefore unable to break the fall, is very painful. DAHIKT.
I also hit MHR halfway through a flat TT once...I vaguely thought dying on a flat road would make me look a bit of a lightweight as I slowed right down (following the advice above). 30 seconds later everything had dropped back to normal and I could get back up to race pace again. It's scary when you can't breathe, though.
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I would sustain 176 for around 20 minutes during my (flat out) fast commutes fairly comfortably.
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My resting HR is in the early 40s but my max is over 220, and I hit that at the end of races. That formula is just a generalisation, don't stress about it if it's normal for you. It's only when abnormal things start happening there's a problem ;)
People look at my average TT heartrates with horror, but they're normal for me. I just hope we don't have a set amount of heartbeats in each life :o
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. I just hope we don't have a set amount of heartbeats in each life :o
Heart rates are linked, inversely proportionally, to life-expectancy in mammals.That's the bad news regarding fast heart-rates.
However your Athlete's low resting heart-rate, for long periods of the day & night, is what you should consider rather than short periods at max heart-rate.
So the link is a good one in your case.
If your resting heart-rates was 220bpm then you may possibly be a Rabbit and you shouldn't make any long-term plans.
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I have a RHR of around 45-50, and a normal max heart rate of about 180 (male, 58, a bit overweight but fit). Yesterday, my previously utterly reliable Garmin gave my average for a relatively gentle 50km ride as 155 and the Max as 224, with extended periods (during an admittedly hard-working stretch) over 190! The strap has a new battery in it, but I think it's telling porkies nonetheless. It resulted in a new TP calculation of threshold heart rate of 173, which is just ridiculous for me!
Jhob, yours looks entirely normal and reasonable to me.
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Thanks folks, I've learnt a lot about heart rates through this thread now, all very interesting. I shall stop worrying and just keep on riding!
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. I just hope we don't have a set amount of heartbeats in each life :o
Heart rates are linked, inversely proportionally, to life-expectancy in mammals.That's the bad news regarding fast heart-rates.
I was under the impression that a high resting heart rate was not in itself bad news. (Altho I am usually under 50, 47-48).
I have never measured my high heart rate in my life! Sometimes my head pounds when hill-climbing but if I swallow it calms down.
Am going to join a gymn over the three worst winter months and they will give me what they call an 'MOT'. Let's hope it is not too :o
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My doc says that you don't need to worry how high it goes but how fast it comes down again. If it stays high when you're resting, that's the time to worry.
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I was under the impression that a high resting heart rate was not in itself bad news. (Altho I am usually under 50, 47-48).
Depending on how high it is it could be bad news.
I think it's still recommended to investigate possible causes behind a resting heart rate of >90bpm (even though that alone may not be a sign of poor health).
I proved this year that, with a bit of weight-loss and a return to cycling longer distances, it's possible to make significant improvements in HR and Blood Pressure in just a few weeks.
The benefits of training at a high (or max) heart-rate (for me anyway) is that I've got used to the feeling. It means that I know how long I can maintain that effort.
That's useful when you can see the top of the hill 100 yards away and realise that you are going to make it without the need of the granny-ring.
It has also improved my recovery time significantly. That means I'm not draped over the handlebars for quite so long at the top of said hill.
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My doc says that you don't need to worry how high it goes but how fast it comes down again. If it stays high when you're resting, that's the time to worry.
+1
When I was a competitive rower we used to use the Harvard step test as a measure of fitness and recovery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Step_Test (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Step_Test)
Other recovery tests are available.
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If your resting heart-rates was 220bpm then you may possibly be a Rabbit and you shouldn't make any long-term plans.
I'd just look forward to the constant shagging.
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I just had a chat with my landlady here in Germany (who's medically trained) and she was shocked to discover that my average heart rate, when riding fast, is around 140 and that my max last month was 199. She thinks this is far too high. As does a German chap I cycle with - his doctor has told him to keep his heart rate under 180 (he's 47 so a few years older than me).
Is this a strange German obsession with heart rate (akin to their obsession with the fictitious illness Kreislaufsstörung and examining their poops) or is it strange that my heart rate goes so high? Resting is 60-70, a pootly ride sees the average around 115-125. The high rates are when going up hills (which I am crap at).
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I have similar figures to yourself, helen.
On the hospital cross trainer, a power output of 230W resulted in a heart rate of about 130bpm (a bit higher if I did more work with arms than legs).
This made the physios look all concerned and ask me to take it easy. For a 5min workout. I can keep up 230W output for quite a while, as is pretty normal with those who cycle a lot.
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I have similar figures to yourself, helen.
Same here, although resting rate in the 80-90 range.
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It makes me wonder what these physios etc are expecting?
A workout at 130bpm and they are saying take it easy? What are they expecting it to be if you are doing any exercise? Do they not want people to get out of breath or exert and effort or something?
Just turned on my garmin- my average heartrate for 21 minutes last night was 212. (max 221)
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I don't think obsessing about heart rates is very useful for healthy people most of the time.
Wear a monitor so you know what rates you have for rest, gentle pootling, hill-climbing and flat-out riding.
Assess how these feel and their associated heart rates.
Then leave your monitor in a drawer.
Enjoy your cycling!
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It seems mostly useful as an early warning of lurgy, tbh. Though I do find the HRM handy for pacing myself at the start of long rides.
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My peak is 196, when I hit that I know I've put it all out there.
Once my initial concerns were allayed by this thread I now find a useful pacing tool, particularly when climbing - my heart rate tells me how much I have left in the bank and how much more I can push.
It also stops me from taking it too easy!
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A workout at 130bpm and they are saying take it easy?
That's about what my HR was while riding up the Hardknott Pass (33% gradient) on the Swan with Two Necks 600 earlier this year.
My maximum is somewhere around 180 as a reasonable guess. Last time I did a ramp test was 1991 and I got 192 IIRC So 130bpm isn't even a high intensity workout even for me, it's probably moderate walking pace for you.
I don't think obsessing about heart rates is very useful for healthy people most of the time.
Wear a monitor so you know what rates you have for rest, gentle pootling, hill-climbing and flat-out riding.
Assess how these feel and their associated heart rates.
Then leave your monitor in a drawer.
Enjoy your cycling!
I've taken to using a HRM for rides. I use it to tell me when I'm going at over 65% MHR, which when I first went for a ride, came surprisingly quickly and easily while riding up an easy hill.
Given that I'm relatively unfit this year, I've been pleased with how relatively well preserved I've felt after some pretty hard rides and not felt as trashed the morning after as I think I would have been.
Just turned on my garmin- my average heartrate for 21 minutes last night was 212. (max 221)
A crafty midnight 10 mile TT?
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I'm no athlete - I have the VO2Max of an unhealthy slug.
130 is definitely a good workout for me, probably about right for 21-22mph. On the flat I'd expect to be able to sustain that for an hour (see first sentence).
I think the physios had a low benchmark. Most of the people in the class were pretty unfit.
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Not at midnight and not crafty ;)
I would also never put my HRM in a drawer, use it religiously for training (along with a power meter) Sometimes its very easy to go a bit too hard on the easy sessions without realising if you have no numbers, and then you wonder why you can't hit the numbers on the hard sessions.
Also, with the hard sessions/racing, I find that using it, although it might feel like near death, the HRM actually says its not quite death so push harder! ;)
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Sometimes its very easy to go a bit too hard on the easy sessions without realising if you have no numbers, and then you wonder why you can't hit the numbers on the hard sessions.
Sure is easy to overcook it, unless you're knackered.
We seem a lot more savvy about training than when I was a young lad racing on the local velodrome in the late 1980s. I was bought up the old school way for club 10s, that you just went as hard as you can. It worked well enough on the velodrome when races for a juvenile were never more than a mile and there were a few tactics going on to save yourself for the sprint finish. But for club 10s, I think that I started off too hard. The coach at the velodrome never talked about HR or effort, except that you just rode as hard as you could.
Track racing did get my speed up a bit, but never made much difference to my 10 mile times.
Going back to a few club 10s a few years ago with the same mentality and not using a HRM, I'm sure that I went straight into 95% MHR + for the first half a mile (I remember doing 25mph uphill from the start and not going any faster when it go flat, but being out of breath) then tried to recover, then going back up to 95% and so on. I did wonder why the fast lads didn't seem out of breath while I was gasping but put that down to not being used to short events.
Pacing myself never really occured to me for a 10. ??? :D
Suppose I ought to try a club 10 this year with my HRM. I doubt I'd be much slower than a few years ago, unless I ride it backwards! :D
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Old school mentality still exists around the 10 mile TT and that you should just ride them as hard as you can, but I ride to heart rate and every week I see if I can go up another beat and sustain it. My max HR is 191, so I find riding at 178 is the way I can maintain the fastest speed.
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Shirley you DO ride them as hard as you can. But that's over the whole 10 miles - starting fast then blowing up is just not a good way to PB!
Riding at the hardest _sustainable_ effort is the key. You can do this by feel, but HR makes it easier to get right. For most riders, anyway.
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I would sustain 176 for around 20 minutes during my (flat out) fast commutes fairly comfortably.
an old thread, but I just stumbled accross it
On Sunday, I rode a 50km Sportive and this is the 1st time that I have gone as fast as I can for the entire distance of 50km
I'm 57, and my max heart rate (according to my Garmin, and before Sunday), was 177....
On Sunday, my max heartrate went up 2 beats to 179. On the ride, which lasted 1 hr 45 min, I rode 84% of the time in Zone 4, and 9% of the time in Zone 5. I was pretty knackered at the end.:
https://www.strava.com/activities/1281665044/overview (https://www.strava.com/activities/1281665044/overview)
I've been taking it easy since Monday, but how long should I wait before having a hard ride again?
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How long was the total ride? I see that you did it in 1:44.
I would think you would be OK tonight.
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My New Years Day 5k parkrun. https://www.strava.com/activities/1335688336
29 flippin minutes, walking up hills, utterly shagged and an ave of 189bpm with a max of 221. EEEK. Something not quite right here. I'm 52 years old but my 'normal' max is 198ish, and I usually aim for 24 mins at around 177 beats (my lactate threshold). I was sweating so there's nothing up with the chest-strap contact. I've had similar bonkers readings running and cycling in the two weeks preceding, which i put down to the cold weather snap.
I've got a dust mite poo allergy and having used up my nasal spray which kept the worst of the symptoms at bay, I started on the generic anti-histamine pills you get from the supermarket as a stop-gap. I'm pretty sure this is the reason for the 'jump' in my HR (I'll have a stab and go for Supra Ventricular Tachycardia (expialidocious!)), and I stopped taking them 3 days ago.
Beware! It looks like anti-histamines can magically up your heart rate folks. To maximum.... And beyond!!
Maybe I'm being oversensitive but my chest still doesn't feel right (could be the allergy though - I'm now slightly wheezy), and I'm a tad concerned I've damaged something cardio-wise. Is it worth bothering/pushing my GP for an exercise ECG, or will i just be thought of as one of the 'worried well'? (Or then again I could get a script for some salbutamol á la Chris Froome and smash my pb - or die tryin'.)
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You might have a virus
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Re chest pains after high heart-rate exercise: I get them all the time. Doc opines that they are just internal* inflammation caused by the heart pummelling at the inside of the ribcage. Mine usually get worse if I lie down, especially on my left side. I can also get them at the beginning of a ride if I haven't fully recovered from the previous one: they go away, sometimes with a sort-of unsticking sensation.
And having experienced both, I can tell you that angor - extreme angina/heart attack - feels quite different.
*just as well, that
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You might have a virus
Possibly, although I don't feel remotely cold or flu-ey.
Re chest pains after high heart-rate exercise: I get them all the time. Doc opines that they are just internal* inflammation caused by the heart pummelling at the inside of the ribcage.
That's a point. ISTR you can get a soreness in the ribcage too due the intercostals working harder under exertion. Or something. Anyway, my allergy spray from Corticosteroids-R-Us has just popped throught the letterbox, so I'm sneeze and wheeze free again. Might pop out for a short, light jog and see how things go.
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Beware! It looks like anti-histamines can magically up your heart rate folks. To maximum.... And beyond!!
Sounds plausible - ISTR reading something about pseudoephedrine and caffeine reacting together to raise heart rate to dangerously high levels, so if your antihistamine contained pseudoephedrine and you washed it down with a mug of coffee...
Don't take my word for this though - I may not have remembered the details correctly. But it could be worth checking.
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Riding at the hardest _sustainable_ effort is the key. You can do this by feel, but HR makes it easier to get right. For most riders, anyway.
Yes - HR isn't always a reliable measure, but if you know what you're capable of, it can help you to keep pushing yourself harder. You might feel like you're pushing hard already, but then you look at your heart rate and see you're only in the 'tempo' zone, when you should be in the 'threshold' zone. Then it's a case of applying a bit of Rule 5 to get yourself where you need to be...
Take my recent parkrun performances, for example. For the last few weeks I've felt like I've been running quite hard but have come away with relatively poor times and looking at the stats, this has been matched with a correspondingly low average HR. Today, I followed the pacer for a faster time and managed to persuade myself to keep going even when it started hurting - and my average HR was much closer to what I know from experience to be my limit. So I reckon I can justifiably feel pleased with my effort, even though I was still a lot slower than my PB (set in 2014 when I was much fitter and about 13kg lighter).
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Sounds plausible - ISTR reading something about pseudoephedrine and caffeine reacting together to raise heart rate to dangerously high levels, so if your antihistamine contained pseudoephedrine and you washed it down with a mug of coffee...
They were Loratidine and Cetirizine salts. One's meant to be less drowsy-inducing than t'other, but i can't tell the difference. Neither have pseudoeph listed as an ingredient. (Some of the previous generation of antihistamines might do though because they have a secondary use as sleeping aids. Nytol etc.) What these things do have though are cholinergic effects, which I understand to mean that they interfere with the neurotransmitter/signals which tell the heart to slow down when it's beating fast. I've taken cold remedies with coffee before but never had such a high beating heart. Anyway, I'm off them now and things have gone back to (what for me is) normal.
Yes - HR isn't always a reliable measure, but if you know what you're capable of, it can help you to keep pushing yourself harder. You might feel like you're pushing hard already, but then you look at your heart rate and see you're only in the 'tempo' zone, when you should be in the 'threshold' zone. Then it's a case of applying a bit of Rule 5 to get yourself where you need to be...
I'm the opposite! I think I'm just cruising along, maybe upper zone 2/zone 3 on perceived exertion, and then i look at my hr and it'll be doing high 170s - even without the drugs. (On the antihistamines it was hitting 200 plus for that level of effort) I've always had to try to rein things in.