Heart rate question

Patrick_K

Hi Folks,

I've a question around HR as I'm a bit confused about what I'm seeing at the moment.

I'm a 34 year old male, reasonably fit and not overweight - 5'10 and 11 stone
I ran the Raheny 5 yday in just over 33 minutes. Have only been back training for 2 weeks since "The Big Freeze" so I was completely maxed out and felt pretty crap in the last mile.
What confuses me is that my Max HR hit was 179 and I've noticed I don't often (if ever) go over 180.

What I'm wondering is what do similarly aged folks on here see their Max HR get to and if I should expect to be able to get my Max higher as I get fitter or is it a pretty hard ceiling in your experience ?

Cheers,
PK

dario28

Patrick_K wrote: »

Hi Folks,

I've a question around HR as I'm a bit confused about what I'm seeing at the moment.

I'm a 34 year old male, reasonably fit and not overweight - 5'10 and 11 stone
I ran the Raheny 5 yday in just over 33 minutes. Have only been back training for 2 weeks since "The Big Freeze" so I was completely maxed out and felt pretty crap in the last mile.
What confuses me is that my Max HR hit was 179 and I've noticed I don't often (if ever) go over 180.

What I'm wondering is what do similarly aged folks on here see their Max HR get to and if I should expect to be able to get my Max higher as I get fitter or is it a pretty hard ceiling in your experience ?

Cheers,
PK

That sounds about right -http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hrm1.htm

I have found running Im about 155-170
Spin is 170-183

resting heart rate is low 50's

Going over 180 takes a big effort and i found same using garmin 305 i normally am around 179.180 in spin on sprinting hills

Patrick_K

I guess it's just a sign I'm getting old dario !

It does seem to be very individual too as some of the people I run with (all younger but not a huge amount) do seem to have Max HRs closer to 190 than 180.

menoscemo

I'm 32 and the max i have ever went is 181 on the finish straigh of the adidas 5 mile last year. So your data yesterday sounds about right to me.

I have a suspicion that I may have went close to my record yesterday, but unfortunately my HRM strap appears to be banjaxed (it gave me an average HR of 91 for the last mile :rolleyes:.)

littlebug

I'm 40 and my max is 191. It seems there's just huge individual variation. I also appear to be able to do things that I shouldn't be able to do like run at ridiculously high % heart rate for an hour.... I dither between thinking I need to get it checked out, completely re-think my training and go back to basics or throw the damn hrm in the bin

Patrick_K

Big difference there littlebug and menoscemo so I guess that's just it, it depends on the individual.
Now onto trying to run faster at my relatively low max HR !

catweazle

Ya I wonder about my HR monitor sometimes, i tend to get a spike when I first start eg well over 200 bpm which had me thinking of calling it a day after 200 metres a few times before I keel over. I tend to disregard my HRM for at least 5 minutes till it settles down a bit, other times it spikes from low 140's up to 160's and goes back down again only to spike up again.

I am beginning to be able to go by feel now anyways

menoscemo

catweazle wrote: »

Ya I wonder about my HR monitor sometimes, i tend to get a spike when I first start eg well over 200 bpm

This generally happens if you have not wet it directly before going out on your run. HRM strap will work best when there is sweat between it and your skin. Failing that, run a hot tap over the contact area just before you set off and you tend not to get this spike at the start.

SucCes09

Wonder about my HR too... stopped to walk in the DCM last year when it hit 191 around mile 20. I'm 37 and reasonable fit (or at least was back in October...)

dario28

SucCes09 wrote: »

Wonder about my HR too... stopped to walk in the DCM last year when it hit 191 around mile 20. I'm 37 and reasonable fit (or at least was back in October...)

Under training for a marathon can do irreversable damage to your heart...191 would have scared me , how were ya feeling at the time ?

Also your heart looses a beat a min every year ya get older, how depressing is that

Krusty_Clown

dario28 wrote: »

Under training for a marathon can do irreversable damage to your heart...191 would have scared me , how were ya feeling at the time ?

So can not training for marathons. can + worms = open.
I don't think it's too unusual to finish a marathon with a high heart rate, but certainly mid-way through would be a problem. I think I would have slowed to a walk too.

jonnyfingers

I'm 27 and reasonably fit. I was cycling up a steep hill in a triathlon last year and I was really finding it tough. Looked at my heart rate and it was 199!:eek:

Eased back a good bit after that.

SucCes09

When i stopped to walk i was a little light headed, and watching the 4 hour ballons disappearing into the horizon was a little depressing... Lesson learnt that i pushed myself to hard on my first time out.

Jip

Patrick_K wrote: »

What confuses me is that my Max HR hit was 179 and I've noticed I don't often (if ever) go over 180.

I'm just about 34, 5,7 and no idea what my weight is but currently my max heart rate is around 180 since I started checking it recently and that's when I'm pushing it hard. I'm just back from a relatively sedate December so I do expect it to improve a little, but maybe that's just as good as it gets for me.

--amadeus--

HR training is such a minefield you really do need to understand what you're doing or it can be counter productive.

To get your MaxHR your best bet is to find a steep hill. Sprint up it as fast as you can and jog down. Repeat till you puke. The maximum level recorded will be as close to your MaxHR as makes no difference. IMO taking your max from a race is a little risky as there is a risk (however small) of your readings getting mixed up with someone else's. You should also re-test your max HR periodically (every six months or marathon training cycle) as training can change it - not by much, but by a little.

HR zone training is grand but rather than work of a % of MaxHR you are better working of % Heart Rate Reserve, the difference between your resting HR and your max. It's much more accurate but you need to retest your resting HR regularly as it can drop significantly through training leaving you training at teh wrong intensity.

The Rook

I'm in a very similar demographic to the OP. (2 years younger and about half a stone heavier)

Ran the Dungarvan 10miler at the wekeend, avg HR was 191 and reached a max of 206.

Went to Cardiologist before I started training seriously (am doing the Barca Marathon fingers crossed) and they said that my heart was perfect and that I had an excellent tolerance for hard exercise...everyone's different I guess!

Patrick_K

Amazing the difference between us Rook.
I'm going to try that test Amadeus to get a more accurate Max.

--amadeus--

Patrick_K wrote: »

Amazing the difference between us Rook.
I'm going to try that test Amadeus to get a more accurate Max.

Good stuff. Remember though that MaxHR is just a number, like height, age or weight. On it's own it's just a useless piece of personal trivia unless you actually go ahead and commit to proper HR based training.

Patrick_K

Yup I know what you mean.
I guess I'm at an early stage in my running so I'm just trying out a few things to see what works best for me.

Cheers,
Pk