Heart Rate: Should I Be Worried?

On yesterday evening’s run, I was wearing my cheep & cheerful HRM. And I’m worried about what it was telling me.

My calculated HRmax is either 183 (220- age) or 184 (the formula that also uses resting HR). For much of the run, I was in the high 150s, or about 80%. But every time I had to slow my breathing to eat or drink, it spiked upward, and on two occasions it reached 188bpm - about 104%.

Now obviously I’m not really run fit at the moment - I used my bike fitness to blag the run at Stratford last weekend. But even so, this has still got me a bit concerned.

Should I worry, or is it the case that calculated HRmax is like so many other statistics that’re based on the general population (one size actually fits no-one), so I’d be better off doing a treadmill test from hell to measure my own number?

Filed under: Fitness, Running

6 Responses to “ Heart Rate: Should I Be Worried? ”

  1. Bill on May 22, 2007 at 1:34 pm

    Karl,

    That calculation doesn’t mean a thing; if it ain’t got that swing (sorry, got carried away with some Duke Ellington there). As you said, one size fits no one. And, in reality, knowing your HRmax by itself won’t help you much either. You’ll need to know your Lactate Threshold HR (LTHR) for both your bike and run.

    For bike and run (you’ll have to do them separately) - 30 minute time trial. Start, pick up the pace to what you can sustain for 30 minutes. Ten minutes into the bike/run, press the lap button on your HRM. Continue to push the pace as hard as you can through the 30 minute time. Cool down appropriately.

    Afterwards, look at your HRM log and determine your average HR for the last 20 minutes. Say the average comes out to 188 (as it did on your run). That means that your LTHR (and the beginning of HR Zone 5) is 188. You can build your zones from that.

    Some links, just so you know I’m not pulling this out of my arse:

    http://www.cruciblefitness.com/etips/training-zones.htm
    http://www.performancetrainingsystems.com/newstips/tips_lttp.html

    A Google search will bring up a gazillion more.

    And the key is to test often (i.e., once a month during the last few days of your recovery week so that you go into the test well-rested).

    HTH,
    Bill

  2. Bill on May 22, 2007 at 1:36 pm

    Ignore my comment about 188 being your average on your run. Just use that as an example. -bill

  3. mcgheetraining on May 22, 2007 at 3:36 pm

    Hello, good morning I hope you are well and having a great Tuesday thus far. With regard to your question, there is a standard deviation of error of +/- 20, therefore if you have concerns it would be best to have an actual GXT done to ascertain your current level of conditioning.

  4. Richard Hyett on May 22, 2007 at 4:02 pm

    I just listened to the latest ‘Phedippidations’. It’s all about Heart Rate Monitors. I bought one a few years ago, but haven’t used it much, I didn’t like what it was telling me. At the top of King Eddies and Tanners Bank this morning I felt fine, level of exertion about 6.5 (see Steve Runners levels of exertion), feeling fine is the main thing.

  5. lsabin on May 29, 2007 at 11:01 pm

    220 minus your age is an outdated formula. Your true max is probably closer to 200. I test people using the Heartzones methodology. It’s rare to find someone who fits the 220-Age(Karvonen Formula)

    In fact I tested a 45 year old woman who reached 195 on the track. Another woman in her mid 30’s tested was able to reach 205 on the treadmill.

    Read these 2 articles: http://lsabin.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/how-can-using-a-heart-rate-monitor-and-training-zones-help-me-lose-weight-or-improve-my-performance/

    http://lsabin.wordpress.com/2007/04/09/90/

  6. Karl McCracken on May 31, 2007 at 12:49 pm

    Hi Lisa -
    Thanks for these. I’ve been posting (mostly) from my Treo for the last fortnight, and was struggling to put links & stuff into posts. So I was kinda hoping you’d drop by and add a contribution to make up for my technical ineptitude ;-) Karl.