Low HR Training

1

Static Electricity on the HRM (Read 323 times)

kfmfe04


    I see from googling that some people use Static Guard on synthetic tops to lower the chances of interference from static electricity due to the shirt rubbing on a HRM.

     

    I plan to try that soon, but I was wondering, what do people do during the run when the HRM goes crazy due to static electricity?

     

    I've become so dependent on the HRM readings that I've recently had to abort two runs due to a HRM going out of control.

    It's very humid here, yet the interference tends to happen to me 60-80 minutes into a session (maybe my strap has gone dry?  I'm definitely sweating!).

     

    - Ken

    Age:42, MAF:138, 168cm/5'6", 62.2kg/137lb (from 73kg/161lb), BF: 14.9%

    Goals:  MAF10k@56:50, 59kg/130lb (32 days to go)

    Stage: Trying to get back to MAF Base Building after muscle strain injury

    My Training Log

     

    Shondek


      You could try spitting on both sides of the strap,but if mine goes haywire I just walk, or whistle while I'm moving which probably means I'm burning majority fat.I usually feel fresher after a couple of days with a wonky transmitter.It's still training,at worst it's a recovery run.I wouldnt get hung up about it

      npaden


        What material is your shirt?  The only shirt I have had problems with is my only "running" shirt that I own.  It is 100% polyester on the area where my chest strap goes and and combination polyester/spandex in some other areas.

         

        My other shirts that I have never had issues with are polyester/spandex over the entire shirt. 

         

        Just curious if the shirt you are wearing could be the issue rather than your chest strap.

        Age: 50 Weight: 224 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)

        Current PR's:  Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)

          I see from googling that some people use Static Guard on synthetic tops to lower the chances of interference from static electricity due to the shirt rubbing on a HRM.

           

          I plan to try that soon, but I was wondering, what do people do during the run when the HRM goes crazy due to static electricity?

           

          I've become so dependent on the HRM readings that I've recently had to abort two runs due to a HRM going out of control.

          It's very humid here, yet the interference tends to happen to me 60-80 minutes into a session (maybe my strap has gone dry?  I'm definitely sweating!).

           

          - Ken

           

          Maybe your battery is weak. Are you running past any high voltage pedestals, lines etc.?

           

          The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

           

          2014 Goals:

           

          Stay healthy

          Enjoy life

           

          kfmfe04


            I'm running in an NB Singlet (label says Shell 1: 100% Polyester, Shell 2: 95% Polyester, 5% X-Static Silver Nylon).

             

            For the last three days, I have wogged 1h, 1h, 90min in shods.

            Durin the shod run, fluctuations will be normal.

             

            After the shod run, I would take a 1 min break by drinking water and taking off my shoes.

            While going barefoot, the HRM would fluctuate like crazy, sometimes giving me nonsense numbers like 200+ bpm.

            The only way I could get it down is to walk a bit, but once I jog again, within seconds, it would go nuts.

             

            The nine days previous to the last three days, my BF run would went fine.

             

            As for external power-lines, etc... ...there are none - I run at a local HS track.

             

            A weak battery could be a possibility (combined with static from the shirt) - I use a Polar HRM and the very first 3 days, I didn't know that I should remove the HRM from the strap to really turn it off (rather than letting it dry to turn it off).  My run this morning will be Day 26.

             

            A possible explanation is, during the 1 min break when I take off my shoes, the sweat dries from my singlet so that when I go BF, the static effect is more pronounced.  I will try rewetting the straps again this morning before the BF run and report back.

             

            Thx Shondek, for the just walk it suggestion - I will definitely do that for my training runs.  Just the mucked up training logs is a bit annoying.

             

            What is more worrisome is what to do (lick it?) during a race when my pacing is 99% dependent on the HRM!!!  I've paid attention to "feel", but I have nowhere near experienced enough to use feel to effectively gauge my effort - for example, breathing doesn't always seem to be a great proxy for effort.

             

            - Ken

            Age:42, MAF:138, 168cm/5'6", 62.2kg/137lb (from 73kg/161lb), BF: 14.9%

            Goals:  MAF10k@56:50, 59kg/130lb (32 days to go)

            Stage: Trying to get back to MAF Base Building after muscle strain injury

            My Training Log

             

            Shondek


              wear a cotton vest while racing

                Is the strap loose? My garmin behaves like that when its loose. And a cotton top causes less issues. Try wetting the top around where the strap goes. Also, just my opinion but maybe when racing you need to be less dependant on hr numbers, takes practice though.
                kfmfe04


                  ok, 2 km into my shodded wog this morning, the HRM went crazy...

                   

                  what did I do this time?  I went shirt-less (not a pretty sight), and the problem just went away.

                   

                  Funny, thing is, with less weight (light rain adding to the shirt) and better heat dissipation, I actually wogged faster than usual.

                  Makes me wonder if it's ok to run most races shirt-less!  If sunburn is not a possibility, I would definitely consider this, if I can get into better shape and if it's allowed.  If not, I will have to devise something that works - cotton shirts are not a bad idea - unfortunately, they get much heavier as they soak up sweat (I think to 3-4x the weight of the shirt).

                   

                  After 12km of shodding, I started my barefoot run, but only got in 1km before the HS students started to come in.  No problems this time with the HRM, as I was still shirtless and shoeless - maybe I should just do it all nekkid - just wear the watch and the HRM - lol

                   

                  It would be nice if, one day, way out, I could be less dependent on the HRM, but as today was only my 26th day on Maffetone, I think that's quite a bit ways off...

                   

                  I read on a cycling board that someone actually tied a piece of an innertube around his HRM - a ugly hack, but it might be worth a try, I guess...

                   

                  - Ken

                  Age:42, MAF:138, 168cm/5'6", 62.2kg/137lb (from 73kg/161lb), BF: 14.9%

                  Goals:  MAF10k@56:50, 59kg/130lb (32 days to go)

                  Stage: Trying to get back to MAF Base Building after muscle strain injury

                  My Training Log

                   

                    Another thing people do is after wetting the shirt, wear the strap outside the shirt - maybe see if that works for you.

                    I know in triathlons going shirtless apart from the swim is not allowed, suspect most races would be the same.

                    Defo agree you need the monitor for maffing, but racing its probably less important as you will be well over maf anyway (unless you are doing ultras) I do wear one racing, I dont pay that much attention on shorter racers.

                    kfmfe04


                      Another thing people do is after wetting the shirt, wear the strap outside the shirt - maybe see if that works for you.

                      I know in triathlons going shirtless apart from the swim is not allowed, suspect most races would be the same.

                      Defo agree you need the monitor for maffing, but racing its probably less important as you will be well over maf anyway (unless you are doing ultras) I do wear one racing, I dont pay that much attention on shorter racers.

                       

                      Wow - did a bunch of tri's like a decade ago and I could swear I saw shirtless guys during the Vineman or the Santa Barbara tri's.  I think I read somewhere that barefoot's not allowed in many tri's either - really lame, imho.  When I started doing tri's, I wore a wetsuit, but after swimming with the South-End Rowing Club in SF for a year every morning, I threw away my wetsuit.

                       

                      I can understand the argument of "leveling the playing field" for professional athletes, but for most of us who are just trying to enjoy an event, it's just too restrictive.

                       

                      Hopefully, in 5 months or so, I will know my pace well enough to be able to pull back.  In the excitement of a race, it's really easy to go out too fast, though, especially for a long race.

                       

                      - Ken

                      Age:42, MAF:138, 168cm/5'6", 62.2kg/137lb (from 73kg/161lb), BF: 14.9%

                      Goals:  MAF10k@56:50, 59kg/130lb (32 days to go)

                      Stage: Trying to get back to MAF Base Building after muscle strain injury

                      My Training Log

                       

                      kfmfe04


                        I got myself a large tube of Spectra 360 Electrode Gel this morning.

                         

                        It was working perfectly until km 9.2 when static electricity reared its ugly head and I had to go bare-chested again.

                         

                        Looking over my records, I think I understand what happened now.  Over the last few days, it has rained a bit during the run.  Rather than add to the conductivity of the HRM electrodes as I would expect, too much water actually loosens the contact between the electrodes and the skin.  I saw this clearly by using the Electrode Gel this morning.  The big advantage, besides conductivity, is that it adheres the electrode to your skin giving a solid reading.  That means that the range of motion is smaller when the synthetic shirt rubs against the HRM.  

                         

                        With just water/rain, the HRM also slides against the skin making the range of motion greater when the shirt rubs against the HRM, causing static electricity failure earlier in the run.

                         

                        Anyhow, I highly recommend the use of Electrode Gel - although it doesn't solve the static electricity problem, it lessons its accumulation, and it provides a steadier HR reading.  Very nice.

                         

                        From what I read on the Internet, maybe the next thing I need to try is to degauss the shirt with a fabric softener sheet...

                         

                        - Ken

                        Age:42, MAF:138, 168cm/5'6", 62.2kg/137lb (from 73kg/161lb), BF: 14.9%

                        Goals:  MAF10k@56:50, 59kg/130lb (32 days to go)

                        Stage: Trying to get back to MAF Base Building after muscle strain injury

                        My Training Log