Forums >Health and Nutrition>Calculating HR and Max HR, etc.
ultramarathon/triathlete
I know the general formula for subtracting your age from 220 to get your Max HR but I assume that's not going to take into consideration a person's fitness level.
I'm curious about what my Max HR is, mostly because I just had a run, wearing my HR monitor (something I don't run with enough) and Strava gave me a great suffer score of 128 with 176 "points in the red" (meaning, apparently, I was hammering it the entire time).
Strava has my Max HR listed at 182 and it calculated the Suffer Score off that. I'm about to turn 40 (gasp! but hey new AG!) in 2 days, so I guess that's about right (220 - 40 = 180).
But is Strava giving me too much credit? I ran what felt like a solid 8 miles at a 6:44 pace just now. A year ago I'd have said that was quite a bit easier than it was today (since I've put on 5-8 lbs I think over the last year!!) but that pace wasn't impossible feeling today.
Is there a better way to calculate my Max HR? And does anyone else use Strava Premium and look at those Suffer Scores? What's your thought there?
HTFU? Why not!
USATF Coach
Empire Tri Club CoachGatorade Endurance Team
And not sure if this adds anything, but looking at my miles just now I was around mid 160s each mile.
134, 160, 167, 166, 166, 163, 169, 170
But is Strava giving me too much credit?
Probably. Try this calculator instead. It's still just an estimate, but for me it's closer than the 220-age BS.
Only 26.2 miles more to go.
MoBramExam
Balls-to-the-wall two miles.
Don't use a formula. Just field test it. There are more than a few recommended ways to find it (or as close an approximation as is needed) - my two favorites are blasting the end of a 5k about twice as far from the finish as I normally would or hill repeats.
When I was 40, the formula you mentioned would have put me at 180 - but my Garmin confirmed on multiple occasions that it was somewhere north of 204-205. Now that I'm 50, the formula would put me at 170, but a recent slog on a slight hill put me at 190. So I call it 190 for now, until I get around to testing it.
My guess is that your Max HR is higher than 182.
When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
Options,Account, Forums
Have someone video you in case you break 8.
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
Don't use a formula. Just field test it. There are more than a few recommended ways to find it (or as close an approximation as is needed) - my two favorites are blasting the end of a 5k about twice as far from the finish as I normally would or hill repeats. When I was 40, the formula you mentioned would have put me at 180 - but my Garmin confirmed on multiple occasions that it was somewhere north of 204-205. Now that I'm 50, the formula would put me at 170, but a recent slog on a slight hill put me at 190. So I call it 190 for now, until I get around to testing it. My guess is that your Max HR is higher than 182.
I agree, don't use any formulas and your max HR is probably higher than 182, mine is and I'm 52. Here's an outstanding article on why max HR formulas are not real science.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/24/health/maximum-heart-rate-theory-is-challenged.html?_r=0
Go to the track or treadmill and test your max HR http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/how-to-find-your-max-heart-rate
However, be careful of which HR monitor you use, this is a good comparison of many types against an actual EKG machine, it seems like the old fashion chest strap is the best way to go. Good video>> https://www.cnet.com/news/how-accurate-are-wristband-heart-rate-monitors/
Unless there's some training purpose to this data, it just seems like some ego stroking exercise to score points on some made up social media sharing scale against others putting in equally questionable data.
you had a nice run. It felt good, and not impossibly hard. You know how in shape you are, you're not new to this. Sounds good to me. No need to make up weird shit to measure to compare it to other people's good runs.
Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and roguesWe're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes