Heart rate monitor help.

[Mick F]

I had one for some years and there was no way on God's Earth that I was going to go to the effort and stress of finding out my Max HR.
220 minus age is stupid (for me).

I found out pretty damned quickly that 180 or 190 bpm were enough for me. I can climb any of the Cornish hills without going above that, and I found it interesting how my HR varied with respect to effort. Unless I was hitting 180bpm climbing a hill, I wasn't trying hard enough.

I found that using a HR monitor, I was riding harder trying to keep the HR high. This may be a Good Thing if that's what you want, but for me, it became a Pointless Thing, because I knew what figure I was going to see in the data field.

I no longer have one now - I sold it - and TBH, I'm enjoying my cycling more. I don't worry one iota about my HR. I don't obsess about it and can forget about it completely.

If you want one, that's fine, but my advice is to use it for a few months and get used to the figures it shows you. Try and see what numbers it gets up to when you go for it up a long hill. By having the experience with it, you will KNOW what you want from it.

Good luck.

[Mick F]

PS:
Here is a trace from a few years back taken from a hilly 30mile ride.
See how my HR (red) varies with the hills.

[Dave W]

Interesting, I take Beta Blockers for an irregular heart beat too so I don't know if that would artificialy lower it or simply steady it.
Off for a ride later so I'll have some idea what my range is - might not go for the max just yet.

[Mick F]

Good on yer!
I don't know how you record and display your ride data, but it helps if you can upload it into something to see the graphs and stats.
Don't rely on just looking at the data on the device. Get it uploaded and analyse it properly.

[andrewjoseph]

i use mine for turbo training, general rides, events. etc. i can go for hours at 80-85% max and find i drift there automatically anyway. when riding with family i generally ignore it. for sportives i have to make sure i don't go off too hard at first so it's useful for that. for 24 hr mtb events where my team does laps. i know i can go harder for my lap so i try not to go under 85%.

in events on hills i don't know i can pace myself with the hrm so i don't blow half way up.

i find them very useful.

[andrewjoseph]

Interesting, I take Beta Blockers for an irregular heart beat too so I don't know if that would artificialy lower it or simply steady it.
Off for a ride later so I'll have some idea what my range is - might not go for the max just yet.

see your doctor before trying to get your max.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

Interesting, I take Beta Blockers for an irregular heart beat too so I don't know if that would artificialy lower it or simply steady it.
Off for a ride later so I'll have some idea what my range is - might not go for the max just yet.

Do you take multiple Hypertension meds
Beta blockers do lower HR.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-cond ... q-20058369

"My doctor recently prescribed a beta blocker to lower my blood pressure. Now, when I exercise, I have trouble getting my heart rate higher than 135. Is this normal?
Answers from Sheldon G. Sheps, M.D.
Beta blockers slow your heart rate, which can prevent the increase in heart rate that typically occurs with exercise. This means that it might not be possible for you to reach your target heart rate — the number of heartbeats per minute you aim for to ensure you're exercising hard enough."

I actually gave up cycling on the road for ten years because of them...............................

[Dave W]

Never taken much notice of what I take to be honest. Just had a look and it's Sotalol Hydrochloride - which slows the heart beat and relaxes the blood vessels. I usually forget to take the night-time dose too.
I've had an irregular beat for as long as I can remember - generally it tends to miss beats and beat unevenly (arrhythmia). I used to mention it to doctors on every visit and was told to "push your eyeballs in" and "splash cold water on your face". I carried on for years then cycled up a volcano in Mexico where some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to take everyone's pulse ....... when mine stopped everyone around me got rather worried (except me). After more doctors visits they put me on beta blockers to shut me up I think.

Todays ride was a disaster where mates just wanted to stop and chat all day and mend punctures so my profile was pretty up and down with little effort expended.

[Audax67]

Thanks for the reminder: I have to book my annual visit to the cardiologist tomorrow. PITA.

[Dave W]

had another 25mile solo blast this afternoon and maxed out at 175bpm which is 12bpm higher than the 220 - your age formula. I now have five zones on my Garmin I believe.
Just got to work out what to do with them.

[Tangled Metal]

I thought above 80% of max hr means anaerobic so if you're maintaining 80-85% for hours then you've got your max hr too low. My understanding of the anaerobic zone as being the point you've switched to burning fuel without sufficient oxygen from your blood due to the fact you can not get enough oxygen through your lungs and to where it's needed. This means your muscles are using the fuel in such a way to release toxic chemicals such as lactose into your muscles (IIRC something to do with incomplete conversion of fuel to energy).

Basically it is not possible to run anatomically for hours. Perhaps recheck your max hr if you are getting to +80% of max hr fit hours.

If I'm wrong please explain why as I'm always happy to learn more about this topic.

BTW anyone tried to find their VO2 max? I read about the Rockport walking test for estimating the VO2 max so tried it out and got a high figure. Possible at the time because I'd had about 5 years building up my endurance for long distance challenge walks and I was actually fit. Well I could push it until my heart pulse beats into my head so loud it's deafening then when I collapsed I'd be up and ready to go again in minutes. A fast recovery rate.

[Dave W]

My max heart rate was achieved flat out at the top of a long hill. There's no way I can hold that. It was the figure I got after nearly throwing up.

[Paulatic]

I' found my max by wearing the monitor during a game of squash. Maxed at 142 but can never get above 130 on the bike

[NATURAL ANKLING]

HI,

Its not so simple as a switch but more overlapping.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_exercise

"activity lasting longer than about two minutes has a large aerobic metabolic component"

http://www.discount-supplements.co.uk/b ... -training/

"Overlap of energy systems

Different types of exercise or sporting activities vary according to their duration and intensity of activity, consequently there is rarely a time when just one energy system is used. As a result the body depletes certain energy sources during exercise based on the type of exercise performed, and therefore in most occasions the body will overlap between aerobic and anaerobic energy pathways. So except for very short duration activities such as a 100m sprint, the body will use both energy pathways. It is possible for a coach to establish what energy pathways an athlete is using based on the level of lactic acid in the blood. There is a threshold of 4 millimoles of lactic acid which indicates that the anaerobic and aerobic systems both contributed to the resynthesis of ATP in equal amounts. Should there be higher levels of lactic acid in the blood, then this indicates that the anaerobic energy pathway predominated. Conversely, lower levels of lactic acid means that the aerobic pathway predominated. Similarly, higher heart rates during activity also indicate that the anaerobic pathway was the main energy source, whereas lower heart rates indicate aerobic energy."

http://livehealthy.chron.com/difference ... -2021.html

"Considerations

Aerobic and anaerobic metabolism do not happen separately, but rather they overlap and work together to allow you to accomplish your exercise goals. How much each one contributes is primarily dependent on the intensity of your activity and secondly on the duration. How your body chooses to produce energy is not set in stone -- it's actually possible to train your body to rely more on aerobic metabolism while performing high-intensity exercise. This type of training allows elite runners to run a five-minute mile pace for over an hour, a pace most people are not able to maintain for even 10 minutes."

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Jlv ... ng&f=false

[andrewjoseph]

I thought above 80% of max hr means anaerobic so if you're maintaining 80-85% for hours then you've got your max hr too low. My understanding of the anaerobic zone as being the point you've switched to burning fuel without sufficient oxygen from your blood due to the fact you can not get enough oxygen through your lungs and to where it's needed. This means your muscles are using the fuel in such a way to release toxic chemicals such as lactose into your muscles (IIRC something to do with incomplete conversion of fuel to energy).

Basically it is not possible to run anatomically for hours. Perhaps recheck your max hr if you are getting to +80% of max hr fit hours.

If I'm wrong please explain why as I'm always happy to learn more about this topic.
...

a couple of things about your post.

I don't know where you have got your figures from but in all the info i've read it's usually once over 90% max hr that you start to get anaerobic.

Lactic acid is not toxic, it is due to incomplete breakdown but is itself fuel and can be used for longer than once thought.

Lactic acid is not the sole reason for muscle burn/fatigue. i have read that you usually only use about 1/3 of the muscle fibres at any one time, so you can work the muscle physically for much longer before exhaustion and for quite some time once muscle burn starts. it's the brain that tells the muscle to stop well before damage occurs.

in my case, maybe due to back injury or maybe just the way i am built, it's my breathing that forces me to stop before muscle burn is an issue.

i can go for hours at 85% but once i start getting into the 88-90% that drops down to about 15-20 mins. once i go into the red 90%+, it's only minutes. 95% and it's seconds. it's incredibly difficult to get near to 100% and most times i try i can't get near it.