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Heart Rate Question - 50 yr old male (Read 145 times)

Bandit_09


    I workout regularly with weights and biking/running (3 miles run generally).    I weigh 153 at 5'7".   I played sports in HS and won three bench press contests in college.  Anyway, I read that the max heart rate is estimated at 220 - my age.    And my target heart rate should be 55 to 85% of my max heart rate.  So, when I run my heart gets to 144 150 bpm pretty quickly once I start running at a moderate pace.   Is this a problem?  I had a stress test done recently and I achieved a max heart rate of 173 and went 13 min. They scored the test "excellent fitness for age".  Now I am obsessed with my heart rate.  LOL.   When I reach 144 I don't feel like I am pushing that hard, but I am nervous now to exceed that rate.   Thanks!

    wcrunner2


    Are we there, yet?

      The formula is not accurate and was never intended for that application anyway. As explained to me by the cardiologist supervising my stress test, it gives them an easy to determine HR target that gets them the info they need from the stress test. If you reached 173 during a stress test, then that or something close to that, is your max HR. I'm 71 and by the formula my maxHR would be 149., 85% then is 126. I regularly get into the mid-130s on easy runs and exceed 150 when running intervals with no adverse effects.

       

      Edited: Got my HR up to 164 on a hard progression run. That's 15 beats above calculated max HR and I think its still short of my actual maximum.

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      Seattle prattle


        Tools are only as good as you are able to appropriately apply them. HR is the same way if not more so.

        I would advise you to google heart rate zone training and read up. There's a lot. And there's even more on the running messageboards.

        If that angle fascinates you, run with it. But do the research. I've seen many times when they've done as much to set a runner back as it's done to inform them.

        FWIW, i still use one but largely ignore it for the most part - it doesn't tell me anything i don't already know at this point.

        gsaun039


        Caffeine-fueled Runner

          I've done almost all my training via HR, though at the beginning I didn't really know how to use the data.  However, testing is the way to go to determine max and the inflection point that usually reflects your  LTHR, which loosely means the point where you transition from aerobic to anaerobic.  After that, the zones drop into place.

           

          It depends upon what you are trying to accomplish.  In my training for marathons, it prevents me from training too hard/too fast while doing my 18-week run-up and subsequent taper to a marathon.  Most people discover that they push too hard in training.  What I've discovered is that the range of each zone don't really change all that much over the short-term.  But I've gotten faster in each zone as my training progresses.

           

          YMMV!

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          Maniac #11112, Fanatic #14276, Double Agent #2335

            Yeah, don't get too obsessed with HR. You've established your max at 173 instead of the one size fits all 220-age. Some people ramp up very quick and operate at a higher HR percentage. And they may also drop down really fast once they stop running and stand there or walk. I go from 145-155 down to 85-95 in less than a minute after I stop running. Like wcrunner2, I exceed my "maximum" on hard workouts. Most of my regular runs are in the 85% range according to charts.

             

            How you feel is more important than HR numbers. If you pass out from exertion, then you're running too hard.

            60-64 age group  -  University of Oregon alumni  -  Irreverent and Annoying

            T Hound


            Slower but happier

              My max hr is 200 and age 47, you can see right there that formulary is not individualized.  I would not be allowed to run on my easy days.

               

              I have used HR strap and now wrist hr.  Only really to constrain going moderate when it should be easy like the other poster said.  I think that’s a good application for relatively new runners like myself (5 yrs running races).  But effort overrides all that.  In fact when effort and HR are not matching up the hr is clearly wonky so I ignore it.  Since effort and hr match up pretty solid I am basically looking at in going oh well there’s my hr were it usually is.  It also depends if u like analyzing data etc. maybe that’s something u enjoy.  A lot more stupid ways to spend your time (for example. Social media /s)

               

              Caffeine fueled runner how do you adjust for coffees affect on the HR?  

              2020 goal:  couch to 5K, currently working on the couch block

               

              Bandit_09


                Thanks everyone.  I was just nervous.  I have never  thought it about my HR before.  The stress test freaked me out.  I don’t think173 is my max heart rate.  I was nervous doing the test so I didn’t push myself to my max effort.

                 

                Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

                  I've exceeded my max HR several times recently and I'm still alive. In college, I used to get hand-timed rates up to 260-270+. And I believe that I lived through those as well. I could be wrong.

                  60-64 age group  -  University of Oregon alumni  -  Irreverent and Annoying

                  Jawihan


                    In my experience over the last couple of years both the formulas and the stress test that I had done by a cardiologist were wrong. The cardiologist wouldn't let my HR go above 150 ( which happened to be 220-my age)!!!. In the 5K races that I have done in the past 2 years during the final sprint I registered anywhere from 194 to 203 crossed the finish line with a smile and able to do more. IMHO that's an accurate way of finding my MHR not some one size fits all formula.

                    Cheers

                    Jim

                    GinnyinPA


                      I'm 61 and a fairly fit regular runner. My HR goes over 140 when I'm walking fast and over 185 when I'm running hills. I don't worry about it. Like others, I look at my HR only when I want to slow down and keep the pace at a recovery level.

                      pedaling fool


                        This is the best article I've read on explaining the 220-age max HR formula and why it's not even based in science.

                         

                        BTW, most doctors think it's more important to track how quickly your HR drops after stopping.

                         

                         

                        https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/24/health/maximum-heart-rate-theory-is-challenged.html

                         

                        Excerpt:

                         

                        ''The heart rate is probably the least important variable in comparing athletes,'' Dr. Hagerman said.

                         

                        Heart rate is an indicator of heart disease, said Dr. Michael Lauer, a cardiologist and the director of clinical research in cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. But, he added, it is not the maximum that matters: it is how quickly the heart rate falls when exercise is stopped.

                         

                        An average healthy person's heart rate drops about 20 beats in a minute and the rates of athletes ''nose dive by 50 beats in a minute,'' Dr. Lauer said.

                         

                        In three recent studies, Dr. Lauer and his colleagues found that people whose rates fell less than 12 beats within a minute after they stopped exercising vigorously had a fourfold increased risk of dying in the next six years compared with those whose heart rates dropped by 13 or more beats.

                         

                        Dr. Lauer pays no attention to the standard formula when he gives treadmill tests. More than 40 percent of patients, he said, can get their heart rates to more than 100 percent of their predicted maximum. ''That tells you that that wasn't their maximum heart rate,'' Dr. Lauer said.

                          thanks for that.

                          60-64 age group  -  University of Oregon alumni  -  Irreverent and Annoying