RunningAHEAD - Topic: Heart Rate through the roof!!

Giant

posted: 4/21/2008 at 2:12 PM

I've been running for 3 years. Not very fast (5K @30min). For the first 10 min, my HR is around 170! My max is 184. Is this normal. I find it extremely high. My Monitor is working fine.

chrimbler

posted: 4/21/2008 at 3:07 PM

This is normal, everybody's HR will start out high and then will settle down as your body responds to the 'shock' of physical activity

Run like you stole it!

jEfFgObLuE

I've got a fever...

posted: 4/21/2008 at 3:13 PM
modified: 4/21/2008 at 3:13 PM

That's about 92% of max (assuming your max really is 184 -- if you're using 220-age to for your max, good chance it's wrong.) Was 170 your peak, or your average for the race? As you run more and race more and learn to increase your intensity, peaking out at 97~98% in at the end of a 5k is not unusual.

On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

Figbash

posted: 4/21/2008 at 3:32 PM

It is doubtful that your HR max is 184 because the formulae are notoriously inaccurate. Try doing progressively faster repeats and see what your HR actually gets up to. Once you get to the point of puking, collapsing or any combination of the two, you'll be at your true max heart rate. Tom

Marcus L S

The Greatest of All Time

posted: 4/21/2008 at 3:45 PM

Quote from Figbash on 4/21/2008 at 3:32 PM:

It is doubtful that your HR max is 184 because the formulae are notoriously inaccurate. Try doing progressively faster repeats and see what your HR actually gets up to. Once you get to the point of puking, collapsing or any combination of the two, you'll be at your true max heart rate. Tom

Exactly. Go to a track. Warm up. Run a mile as fast as you can and sprint the last 200m. That will be close to your max HR. I have been operating under the assumption my max was 195 because it previously had peaked around 193 during a 5k. On Saturday it hit 201 and it wasn't a fluke or glitch. Using the generic calculation my max should be 183, which is obviously incorrect.

all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be

Obesity is a disease. Yes, a disease where nothing tastes bad...except salads.

Dustin

posted: 4/22/2008 at 9:38 AM
modified: 4/22/2008 at 11:17 AM

You're fine. I'm 27, averaged around 197 and maxed out at 213 during my last race. My true max is probably around 215. My resting is in the low 40s. I've had an EKG test done in the last year and everything came back fine. My doctor said some people just have high max heart rates, it's mostly genetic. I also saw a post from Dr. Jack Daniels the other day on letsrun.com, he recorded max heart rates of elite athletes 20-30 years ago and tested them again recently. Most of their max heart rates hadn't changed much.

Nev

posted: 4/22/2008 at 10:09 AM

My max heart rate should be 180 but I have twice recorded 218 bpm and I regularly hit 200. Should I be worried? who knows. I generally run in the 170's which feel comfortable to me and I recently ran a half and averaged 186BPM so it is obviously sustainable. I am not proud of hitting the high numbers and I suspect it may be due to many years of smoking! I hope that it will continue to reduce as I run longer. Take care Nev

jEfFgObLuE

I've got a fever...

posted: 4/22/2008 at 10:17 AM

Quote from Nev on 4/22/2008 at 10:09 AM:

My max heart rate should be 180 but I have twice recorded 218 bpm and I regularly hit 200. Should I be worried? who knows. I generally run in the 170's which feel comfortable to me and I recently ran a half and averaged 186BPM so it is obviously sustainable. I am not proud of hitting the high numbers and I suspect it may be due to many years of smoking! I hope that it will continue to reduce as I run longer.

I can't speak the 218 (although you may want to check in with a cardiologist on that), but there's no such thing as should be. The 220-Age is simply a ballpark figure for the median value of the public at large. Most athletic individuals tend to be above this average, based on what I've read on the boards here. Marcus71 recently ran a race where he hit 201, and he's 37. I don't think that having a high maxHR is a bad thing. It does go down for all of us as we age, but I don't think that training causes it to go down. I would look into that 218 -- was it a spike, or did it stay up there for a little while? Like I said, you may want to talk to a cardiologist about that. It's also possible it was a glitch with your HRM. Mine tends to start reading elevated numbers when the contact on my chest isn't very good.

On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

Dakota RR

Right on Hereford...

posted: 4/22/2008 at 10:53 AM

Quote from Nev on 4/22/2008 at 10:09 AM:

My max heart rate should be 180 but I have twice recorded 218 bpm and I regularly hit 200. Should I be worried? who knows. I generally run in the 170's which feel comfortable to me and I recently ran a half and averaged 186BPM so it is obviously sustainable. I am not proud of hitting the high numbers and I suspect it may be due to many years of smoking! I hope that it will continue to reduce as I run longer.

Lance Armstrong reportedly had a max heart rate of 210. Of course, his resting heart rate was 33. Smile

It is true that as you get fitter, both your maximum heart rate and resting heart rate should drop. But I don't think a max of 200 is anything to be concerned about.

Marcus L S

The Greatest of All Time

posted: 4/22/2008 at 10:58 AM

Quote from Dakota RR on 4/22/2008 at 10:53 AM:

It is true that as you get fitter, both your maximum heart rate and resting heart rate should drop.

Huh?

all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be

Obesity is a disease. Yes, a disease where nothing tastes bad...except salads.

jEfFgObLuE

I've got a fever...

posted: 4/22/2008 at 10:59 AM

Quote from Dakota RR on 4/22/2008 at 10:53 AM:

It is true that as you get fitter, both your maximum heart rate and resting heart rate should drop. But I don't think a max of 200 is anything to be concerned about.

Well, I know resting HR goes down with exercise/fitness, but max goes down as well?

On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.

Marcus L S

The Greatest of All Time

posted: 4/22/2008 at 11:00 AM

Quote from jEfFgObLuE on 4/22/2008 at 10:59 AM:

but max goes down as well?

I am thinking no.

all you touch and all you see, is all your life will ever be

Obesity is a disease. Yes, a disease where nothing tastes bad...except salads.

Dustin

posted: 4/22/2008 at 11:08 AM
modified: 4/22/2008 at 11:16 AM

Quote from jEfFgObLuE on 4/22/2008 at 10:59 AM:

Well, I know resting HR goes down with exercise/fitness, but max goes down as well?

Like I said, according to Dr. Jack Daniels (from a post on letsrun.com) it does not go down that much if at all. He did a max HR test on elite athletes (which may or may not apply to us common folk) around 25 years ago, and repeated the test recently. Their max heart rate hadn't changed that much, some had dropped a little, some hadn't changed at all, and some had actually gone up. Trying to find the link to that post right now.

Figbash

posted: 4/22/2008 at 1:15 PM

Quote from Dakota RR on 4/22/2008 at 10:53 AM:

It is true that as you get fitter, both your maximum heart rate and resting heart rate should drop. But I don't think a max of 200 is anything to be concerned about.

No. Your max heart rate is genetic and falls roughly one beat per minute per year. Your resting heart rate falls as your conditioning improves. Tom

MichiganFlyer

posted: 4/22/2008 at 1:55 PM

Why is 170 considered high for the 1st mile of a 5k? My max HR is 185 but I run my easy runs around 135 bpm (9:00 per mile pace). In a 5k I am under 7:00 per mile pace so after a mile I would assume my HR is around 170.

Heart Rate through the roof!! (Read 1095 times)