General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout? Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply
2006-02-16 1:23 AM

User image

Member
18

Singapore
Subject: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?
Anyone who is knowledgeable in Ex. Physiology may be able to answer my question. I recently did a fartlek session on the track which consists of a 90m jog and 110m sprint (hence 2 sprints, 2 jogs per round). I did 20 sprints (10 rounds the track).
I was wearing Polar HRM S625X and found out at the end that my HR during the recovery phase is higher than the sprint phase. I wonder what's the reason and explanation behind that? Below are my times (in seconds) and HR readings. Wonder if anyone can help me.

MHR/AHR
01)17.7 s - 60.0s
147/143 - 167/161
02)17.0 - 49.6
154/153 - 173/162
03)18.3 - 49.9
168/162 - 170/168
04)17.1 - 50.6
161/161 - 173/168
05)17.1 - 50.6
161/161 - 175/168
06)16.9 - 55.3
167/167 - 175/169
07)17.8 - 49.9
164/163 - 178/172
08)16.2 - 53.0
168/168 - 181/173
09)17.7 - 48.9
167/? - 177/?
10)16.7 - 54.2
173/172 - 179/176
11)17.5 - 48.1
174/172 - 179/175
12)17.4 - 50.5
172/172 - 179/174
13)16.9 - 41.7
172/? - 182/?
14)16.4 - 54.7
180/? - 184/?
15)18.8 - 51.3
174/174 - 182/176
16)18.2 - 53.7
171/171 - 180/174
17)17.9 - 47.0
180/174 - 180/178
18)17.6 - 54.3
178/177 - 181/177
19)18.2 - 45.1
176/171 - 180/178
20)16.2 - 14.0
?/185 - ?/?

AHR: 170
Ave time: 16.5s
Ave rest: 51.0s


2006-02-16 1:43 AM
in reply to: #346981

User image

Extreme Veteran
760
5001001002525
Provo, UT (my heart is in Seattle)
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?
I'm not too well versed in exercise phys so this is just speculation and what little knowledge I have about exercising, but I seems to me that that would make sense because you are only doing 110m sprints so your body does not have much time to respond to the new stimulation, and to got from a sprint immediately to a recovery, that seems like it would have a natural ramping effect on the heart rate initially. Maybe that is why they stress recovery time in all types of fitness in order to receive the most benefit possible, so that your body has time to react to the new stimulus. I don't know. Remember, that's my opinion, no formal education was used in the creation of this post. Ok, I covered my butt for later posts from people that actually know.
2006-02-16 6:22 AM
in reply to: #346981

User image

Expert
1070
10002525
North Carolina
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?
To tell you the truth, I really could not follow your workout but I think I might know what you are saying. If I do a fartlek for a short period of time like you did then my heart rate will still climb a couple of beats after slowing my pace, get stationary, and then start to drop/recover. I think that is normal and the better shape you are in the faster your heart rate starts to lower. So if you only take a short break/recovery then your avg. heart rate could be higher during the recovery.
2006-02-16 6:52 AM
in reply to: #346981

User image

Pro
4675
20002000500100252525
Wisconsin near the Twin Cities metro
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?


Edited by Birkierunner 2006-02-16 7:02 AM
2006-02-16 7:12 AM
in reply to: #346981

User image

Pro
3870
200010005001001001002525
Virginia Beach, VA
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?
Not sure what the technical explinarion is but I know that my HR usually spikes immediately after a hard interval and then drops as I recover.  Your intervals were so short that a 90m recovery jog probably only takes 15-20sec so your heart is still trying to catch up with the demand that your muscles just required.  Also, your HRM actually averages the HR data over certain blocks of time...it's one of those things that I really don't like about most HRMs.  The longer your workout gets, the bigger the blocks of time that are averaged.  Something else to consider is that you might be doing your intervals too hard.  In most cases, even when doing shorter "sprints", you shouldn't be going all out.  What distance are your training to race?  Your tempo and interval sessions shouls be based on your goal race pace.

Edited by TH3_FRB 2006-02-16 7:15 AM
2006-02-16 7:26 AM
in reply to: #346981

User image

Coach
10487
50005000100100100100252525
Boston, MA
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?
HR usually lags behind the effort that you are producing. If you have your HR on while sitting down you will have "x" HR. Proceed to stand up and sprint for a few seconds and sit down again. You will notice that your HR takes sometime to catch up! I am sure some else can give you a better or more scientific explanation but in a simple way that’s why. I also have the polar S625x and what I like to do for my interval workouts either at Tempo, LT or higher is to go by pace/speed rather than HR for that reason. Plus HR can be affected by others factors limiting the intensity of my workout. Anyway, if doing this on a track is easier as you can define what time you should shoot for every rep (i.e. 100s, 200s, 400s, 800s, etc) and you can monitor this by pace or speed on your polar and by your rate of perceived effort (RPE). Use your HR just as a way to interpret how hard you are working but pace/speed and RPE will work better when doing this type of sessions…

 



2006-02-16 7:54 AM
in reply to: #346981

User image

Member
18

Singapore
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?
Hi all,

Thanks for all your responses. If you could not understand the numbers above I can explain it. For example,
17.7 - 60.0
147/143 - 167/161

I took 17.7s to sprint the 110m and 60s to recover over 90m. 147 is my MHR in the sprint and 143 the AHR. Similarly, 167 is the MHR during the 60s jog and 161 is the AHR.


I think it makes some sense to me now. When we sprint, our HR naturally goes up. And when we stop and recover, our HR may still be going up to catch up on the recovery. Furthermore, I set my sample rate on my S625X as 5sec, so that could also explain the discrepancy???
2006-02-16 7:58 AM
in reply to: #346981

User image

Elite
4344
2000200010010010025
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?

The recovery period of 50 seconds or so is long enough that your heart rate should be dropping very rapidly.  Mine does.  Could you post a plot of HR vs time from the Polar software program?

 

I am going to try your test to see what I do if the track is available today.  I am basically median man.

 

TW

 

 

2006-02-16 8:08 AM
in reply to: #346981

User image

Coach
10487
50005000100100100100252525
Boston, MA
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?

This varies from person to person (I ignore the physiological reasons though). I know that my HR responds pretty fast either when running fast or jogging always my HR seems to catch up pretty quickly. As for one of my athletes, it takes him a while! At first I thought his HR wasn’t working properly but he borrowed mine obtaining the same results. We both have similar fitness level and similar speed. The only difference that I can think of is our age…

2006-02-16 8:14 AM
in reply to: #347059

User image

Member
18

Singapore
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?
The interesting thing is that the HR for the recovery is higher than during the sprint for ALL sets.

During recovery, HR has to go up as I just underwent a high intensity sprint.

I will try to generate the graph and see if I can upload it. Never try to upload a graph before.

If you do the same workout, I would like to see your HR readings and see if we experience the same pattern.

Thanks.
2006-02-16 10:07 AM
in reply to: #347083

Elite
3650
200010005001002525
Laurium, MI
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?
how long have you been training?  WHen I first started, mine would do this.  Now it's not so bad.  You HR response time will get better the more you train.  Combined with that 5sec lag time on the monitor, I wouldn't be concerned at all


2006-02-16 6:39 PM
in reply to: #346981

User image

Elite
4344
2000200010010010025
Subject: RE: Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout?

Hey ReakMeyers,

I tried your interval workout and, guess what, I got the same sort of heart rate response.   The following graph show my heart rate.  There is a 1 mile warmup, then (10) 110 yd sprints with a 1 minute walk with 1 minute walk in between.  I ran the straights and walked the turns.  My heart rate hardly increased at all while sprinting.  It even went down in many of the intervals.  It spiked up rapidly when I slowed to a walk.  I had never done this before but I suppose that since sprinting anaerobically requires no oxygen and produces less CO2 initially, then the response should have been expected.  Very interesting.

 

TW



Edited by tech_geezer 2006-02-16 6:40 PM




(intervals.jpg)



Attachments
----------------
intervals.jpg (22KB - 31 downloads)
New Thread
General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Heart Rate @ recovery higher than during Workout? Rss Feed