HR question

aidanor

Hi, when i bought a garmin 500 last yr i set the heart rate as 220 minus age which is 183, so ive been trainin for months and everything seemed ok but i recently went on holiday for 2 wks and just after i returned i went on a spin and a small gradiant hill, N81 from tallaght towards blessington, which before I max'd at 176 bhp this time max'd at 187bhp now my question is should i change my max HR to 187 or will i just put it down to the 2 wk break in training? now while my HR was 187 I didn feel under pressure while climbing, still at similar speed, I hope I explained it ok

Zyzz

Could be anything from the break to caffeine intake to what sort of mileage you'd done previous to attempting the hill etc which would be affecting your HR..

But the real question is have you ever heard of a full stop? :pac:

macnab

Reset your Max to the maximum you have ever achieved. The 220 minus your age is a loose guide line. I am 46 and have pushed my heart rate up to 204 on the turbo, which as far as i know is the best way to achieve your max.

12 sprocket

aidanor wrote: »

Hi, when i bought a garmin 500 last yr i set the heart rate as 220 minus age which is 183, so ive been trainin for months and everything seemed ok but i recently went on holiday for 2 wks and just after i returned i went on a spin and a small gradiant hill, N81 from tallaght towards blessington, which before I max'd at 176 bhp this time max'd at 187bhp now my question is should i change my max HR to 187 or will i just put it down to the 2 wk break in training? now while my HR was 187 I didn feel under pressure while climbing, still at similar speed, I hope I explained it ok

looks like you were constantly tired when training before the holiday, hence lowered heart rates and rested when getting the new max. it probably is a genuine max, but a few weeks of training too hard (if that's what you have been doing) will make it very difficult to get the 187 max until rested or your training and recovery is in balance .

aidanor

12 sprocket, yeah I'd say I was tired most of my training before the holiday as I'd train before and after work and only get around 6 and hours sleep.
macnab, I will try get my max on the turbo and see what it reads.

Thanks for the replies lads, I will change my max HR on my garmin 500 and 910.

TheBlaaMan

Apart from the good advice above regarding the importance of accurately setting your HRmax, I would tend to ignore one-off exceptional readings, either high or low, and especially so on a unit such as the Edge500 because their HR figures can be a bit flaky. I've seen figures of 240bpm over extended periods on mine. .... and clearly that isn't right. The usual checks about good contact with the skin etc are important - poor contact doesn't always result in lower than expected readings. My advice would be to make those checks and then go out and try again...

fixie fox

"while my HR was 187 I didn feel under pressure while climbing" - sounds like an error in the reading.

gordongekko

fixie fox wrote: »

"while my HR was 187 I didn feel under pressure while climbing" - sounds like an error in the reading.

Exactly what I thought

12 sprocket

gordongekko wrote: »

Exactly what I thought

I doubt it was an error, i.ve seen this lots of times because of the circumstances i mentioned in my first reply

bren_mc

TheBlaaMan wrote: »

I've seen figures of 240bpm over extended periods on mine. .... and clearly that isn't right.

I've had a bit of that happening lately. I changed the battery on the heart rate monitor (assuming that was the cause) and haven't had it happen since. Though maybe that's just coincidence.

Beasty

Perhaps if you look at the detailed recording you should be able to check if this was a short term spike (which is known to happen sometimes with Garmins - I've had a few typically early in the ride), or if there was a gradual increase and subsequent decline. If the latter you should certainly be able to rely on the reading

My own experience is it's a lot easier to get the HR up towards the max when I've been off the bike for a while