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Heart Rates / Advice
hi all really looking for some advice
for the last year or so i have trained / ridden with a heart rate monitor and its been massively benficial for working on endurance / speed and fitness overall.
my concern is max heart rates and that based on 220 minus your age i have a max heart rate of 184.
Yesterday evening i did some interval work over 20 miles and finished on a sprint and basically topped a max HR of 195 bpm. i felt fine, a bit knackered actually but not in any pain, but as i made my way home i could only think of if and what level would i have a heart attack???
i know this might sound dramatic but it really has 'got' inside my head and i also wondered i) is there a more accurate way of assessing your max heart rate? ii) is 184 my actual max and i was foolish / dangerous to push as hard as i did? iii) if my max is wrong then surely all my zones must also be incorrect is there a way of recalibrating these more accurately? iv) are all HRM different currently i use a Garmin 705 and i know the calorie count is ridiculous but i thought they are accurrate HRM. On an average ride 40 - 80 miles at 17.5mph i average around 118bpm. I am fit but certainly not "as a butchers dog"
as i said I know the above might seem a touch trivial however i have never recieved any coaching, guidance and like alot of people am a 'self taught' enthusiast who if anyone has advice would be much apprieciated.
for the last year or so i have trained / ridden with a heart rate monitor and its been massively benficial for working on endurance / speed and fitness overall.
my concern is max heart rates and that based on 220 minus your age i have a max heart rate of 184.
Yesterday evening i did some interval work over 20 miles and finished on a sprint and basically topped a max HR of 195 bpm. i felt fine, a bit knackered actually but not in any pain, but as i made my way home i could only think of if and what level would i have a heart attack???
i know this might sound dramatic but it really has 'got' inside my head and i also wondered i) is there a more accurate way of assessing your max heart rate? ii) is 184 my actual max and i was foolish / dangerous to push as hard as i did? iii) if my max is wrong then surely all my zones must also be incorrect is there a way of recalibrating these more accurately? iv) are all HRM different currently i use a Garmin 705 and i know the calorie count is ridiculous but i thought they are accurrate HRM. On an average ride 40 - 80 miles at 17.5mph i average around 118bpm. I am fit but certainly not "as a butchers dog"
as i said I know the above might seem a touch trivial however i have never recieved any coaching, guidance and like alot of people am a 'self taught' enthusiast who if anyone has advice would be much apprieciated.
Comments
Another alternative is to jump on the back of the CCA Nasties and at the point your eyeballs pop-out on stalks you won't be far off
I am one of the club coaches and although not a physiologist know a bit about heart rates. 220 minus your age has long been discredited as a way of finding anything more than an approximation for your max heart rate. 195 sounds feasible as a maximum for you. Hitting your maximum is only going to cause a problem if you have an underlying heart or circulation problem anyway. If you are worried about this possibility then you need to talk to your GP and perhaps check your family history. Otherwise the body tends to be self limiting and will avoid you causing yourself damage unless you are in extreme peril. (This is an interesting current area of study in physiology and you may have heard of major feats of strength by people saving themselves or rescuing family members).
I would take 195 as your current max heart rate and do your calculations from there. Even if it is slightly higher it will only be a matter of one or two beats.
However if you want to test it there are a couple of ways foc or cheaply:
1. Choose a hill that takes about 2 minutes to ride up. Once you are well warmed up, ride into it fairly hard and then gradually ramp up the effort and sprint over the top. You should find your max then.
2. Come and ride a cyclo-cross race this winter and you definitely will find your max then!
I hope this is useful,
Mark.
Like you a few years ago i sought some advice and as times were good i went to Dr Gary Palmer - see http://sportstest.co.uk/
Skelders has been to UCL in London for a couple of tests and he should be able to post details of this facility.
Its not cheap but gives you a lot of other information such as body fat %, nutritional advice and a training programme to suit your goals.
To test my max HR i was put on a King Cycle and after a 15 minute warm up did a ramp test. The test does what it says and gradually ramps up the resistance over 1-2 minute intervals until you are unable to keep with the pace. A big hill will do this if you are prepared to push yourself to the max. My max HR when i was 36 was 203bpm. Gary told me he tested a young football player who had a max HR of 235. The 220 minus your age isnt very helpful at all.
The other thing to check your 1 minute and 2 minute recovery heart rate as this is a good indication of how fit you are.
i havent ditched it yet, but i think he might be on to something!
Everyone is different and the max heart rate varies for a number of reasons. Some people have a naturally faster rate than others anyway. it is important to know whether your heart is basically sound and can never hurt to have an ecg test and blood pressure check. If you have a family history of heart conditions then check it out.
Otherwise the only real benefit of a heart rate monitor is for very disciplined training to ride within zones.
For racing they are a hindrance. To time trial you need to ride at just under your threshold until end when you get it all out. If you've got any left in the tank then you weren't going hard enough.
Recovery should see you drop about 60 beats in a minute from peak.
Remember to put bike into an easy gear when finished and warm down easy as you need to keep pedalling until that heart rate gets down otherwise you can have problems.
ride on how you feel and you won't go far wrong.