General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Heart rate questions Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply
2005-04-11 2:07 PM

User image

Veteran
509
500
Oak Park, IL
Subject: Heart rate questions
before i get into my question, i know is should do a test to determine my heart rate max, but I have not had the time and/or money yet. Anyhow, a few weeks back I bought a heart rate monitor from polar at an expo and have been using it during my training just to see what my HR is based on my age determined max (196). Anyhow, when I am biking and swimming all seems to be ok. When I am swimming/biking hard I am in my zone 2 and when not as hard, I am in zone 1. However, when I run, even a slow recovery jog, my heart rate is way above my zone 2 max. For example, my zone 2 is 140ish to the mid-160s, and on saturday during a slow 6 mile run, my average HR was about 178. I felt great, i was breathing fine and as many say "i could eaily hold a converstation". any idea why my running HR is so high?

thanks!!
deanna


2005-04-11 2:26 PM
in reply to: #141105

User image

Not a Coach
11473
5000500010001001001001002525
Media, PA
Subject: RE: Heart rate questions

Probably can't answer your question directly, but you will have different zones and maxHR for each sport.  Typically HRswim<HRbike<HRrun.  So, your biking and swimming may also be out of zone 2 too.  Or, your zones may be off based on the formula and estimate you are using.  The only real way to know is to test for each sport.  As far as maxHR, it is not a very expensive process (though can be a bit painful) as basically all you are going to do is increase effort as high as you can and see where you max out at.

Most people will advocate lactate threshold (LT) testing as a better way to measure your sport-specific zones, but testing for these is a bit more challenging and/or expensive.

For your run, how "slow" was this relative to how you would normally run?  Are you sure you could hold a conversation?  Did you try?  The reason I ask is that I know before using an HR monitor I was running at a pace I thought might be "conversational", but after slowing way down due to what the HR said I discovered what a real conversational pace is.  But is also quite possible that you were in that zone and your predicted maxHR is just off.

2005-04-11 4:20 PM
in reply to: #141105

User image

Pro
3870
200010005001001001002525
Virginia Beach, VA
Subject: RE: Heart rate questions
I suggest you go and test your running HRmax.  It's cheap and easy.  Go to a local college/high school with a track.  Run one mile very easy warm-up then begin to increase your pace each lap for another mile.  The last 200m of that mile push as hard as you possibly can.  Let your HRM log data but don't bother to look at it during the test.  You should get to within 2-3 bpm of your HRmax during that sprint.  You night be one of those people with unusuallu high HRmax.  It also depends on how you calculated yout zones...there are a bunch of different methods floating around out there.  My Z2 upper limit for running is 132-149bpm (based on 189 HRmax, 46 HRresting and a 60-72% HR reserve zone).
New Thread
General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Heart rate questions Rss Feed