Fitness Levels using HRM
JasonB
Posts: 303
in General Chat
When I go for a run my HR is constantly over 140 no matter how slow I go, (Well above walking pace I mean)
When I go what I expect to be a reasonable pace. It shoots up to about 150-155, even to 160.
However I feel fine, yet for me to train at an easy level which is 130-139. I need to be virtually walking.
Hope that makes sense.
My question is, do people who use a HRM find this also. Or have I got a heart defect lol.
Do peoples HRM give reading that your heart is pumping like mad, yet you feel fine?
When I go what I expect to be a reasonable pace. It shoots up to about 150-155, even to 160.
However I feel fine, yet for me to train at an easy level which is 130-139. I need to be virtually walking.
Hope that makes sense.
My question is, do people who use a HRM find this also. Or have I got a heart defect lol.
Do peoples HRM give reading that your heart is pumping like mad, yet you feel fine?
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Comments
This is a hot topic for me at the moment. I'll explain why.
Me and mate from work ran the Paris Marathon on Sunday. I'm 31 and therefore have a max HR of 189, my resting HR on the morning of the race was 48. My mate is 26 so his max is 194 and his resting rate was 58.
It was a first attempt at a marathon for both of us and the temperature reached 28C. Hardly ideal for such an event.
As soon as we started running my HR reached 140 and 10km had passed before it reached 150. As the race wore on and the temperature rose my HR went up and steadied at around 163. My max HR was 171 for the "sprint finish" and my average for the whole race was 153 so I was quite impressed. Finished in 4hr 21min.
My mate however started running and his HR went straight to 160 and gradually rose to 170+. His average was 177 and his maximum was 190!
He finished in 4hr 13min.
We're both of good fitness but its strange the my younger mate had such a high HR and maintained it for so long. He's now worried that he might have a problem yet he ran a marathon and felt fine throughout.
Looking at your figures I wouldn't be too concerned, especially as they are so similar to mine and I'm not!
Wouldn't mind hearing others views though.
I'd be suprised if you have a heart defect, you just have your training zones worked out wrong. I suspect you are working out your training zones from age related heart rate max, i.e. 220-age=HRmax. This can be very inaccurate, with large variations between same aged individuals (my age related HRmax is 187 bpm, whereas my actual is 193 bpm and the variation can be greater than that). The only way to be totally sure of your HRmax is to be tested for it. A good way to train with heart rate is to combine it with percieved exertion (how you feel when you train). I set my steady state runs at between 150-160 bpm. There are yet more accurate ways of determining zones which I'm sure most training manuals will give advice on.
As for your previous question, you are absolutely right. Different sports require different types of fitness, a olympic weight lifter and marathon runner use very differnt types of fitness.
Boycie.
What you need to calculate is your anaebolic threshold.
This is the rate your heart needs to be going when you start to breath heavily. My A threshold is about 150 although it depends on what sport I am doing.
A good way of calculating is get on a treadmill with a mate holding your hr monitor and slowly jack up the speed. As you start to run faster you should move above your threshold. Your partner should be able to calculate this from checking how heavily you are breathing. They record the hr and this would be around a threshold.
Get hold of the triathletes training bible they describe it a lot simpler than me!
For me, it's much easier to perform the test (30min treadmill time trial) and following the tables in the books your various zones are simply obtainable. It really has worked for me and made the whole thing a lot simpler. It can work for the bike too but I simply based my bike threshold as 7 beats down on the run level. As my bike is poor in relation to the run I think the zones might be too high but at the level I'm taking part (as opposed to competing!) what the hell
I appreciate it does work for everyone but it suits me down to the ground.
You need to learn a long ish sentence that you then attempt to say out loud, without drawing breath, whilst training. You can then correlate how far you get through the sentence with the session you're doing (and your curent HR if you want). You can just count out loud and see how far you get, but a silly sentence is more fun!!
This is an indirect measure of oxygen demand (by talking you are reducing oxygen transfer to your blood; sooner or later the system demands more oxygen and a breathe reflex is initiated).
I do track my HR, but I run at a pace that feels comfortable for me, rather than running to the HR zones.
I agree with you. Even though there is great advise from everybody. I know when I go for a run, I think i have to get back before my best time. The storm off ignoring my HRM.
Although from reading things, this is the slow route to get fitter, and faster. THe HRM is maybe not the quickest, but is the best way
David.
I'd begun to wonder about just how reliable the 220-age max calculation was and it seems I need to try one of these tests. I notice a recommendation for the Triathlete's Bible... Is this a useful starting point for HRM training? I'd like to brush up on a bit of the theory behind it and would welcome any suggestions for good reading material.
Cheers
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Total-Heart-Rate-Training-Customize/dp/1569755620/ref=pd_bbs_7/202-8672345-3889410?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177419750&sr=8-7
I use the HRM method all the time and it really suits me, but it's not for everyone.
So, I have not bothered with a HR monitor for years now. But having read your posts I wonder if I should.
Is it possible to get a monitor that doesn't use a chest strap? We have one that came with our treadmill but I never use it as it hurts my ribs/chest. It also gets sweaty and falls down to my waist- not much use.
Do the wrist units work? Any recomendations would be appreciated.[:)]
Jon.Es info is very helpful Im going to give treadmill test a go for sure, although I would find it very hard to walk for the sake of keeping HR down to a certain level.
The other thing I noticed (and my gym instructor did too) - was that the HR monitors I have used have a lot of problem reading my HR. That's because I have a ectopic beat in my heart rhythm- basically it pauses then rushes for a few beats then goes back to steady, then repeats it again. My "pause" is so long that the HR flips out and says the signal is lost.
So that's probably another reason why I have stayed away from them.
Thanks for the advice guys- I'll do some googling.
Piglet