Heart Rate

[kinesisrider]

Hi everyone,

I recently bought myself a HR monitor and I am a bit concerned about the values that I am getting out. I am currently 18 years old and recently got back on the bike in April/May. I never really did any physical exercise for about 3 years.

I would say I am at OK fitness right now and the other day I did a 37 mile ride averaging 180w, pretty easy pace. I could talk to my mate the whole way round with no issues and averaged 165bpm. He on the other hand averaged 138bpm. We were both going the exact same pace and also were talking the whole way round and both seem very similar fitness.

I also did a 83 mile ride at similar pace on the weekend and averaged 174bpm.

I am quite concerned because this seems really high.

Anyone think it is something to be concerned about?

To mention as well, I am healthy, normal weight, no health issues

 

[screenman]

What is your mhr?

 

[kinesisrider]

What is your mhr?

Haven't really done a test yet for MHR. Got any recommendations on how to find out what it is @screenman ?

 

[screenman]

Haven't really done a test yet for MHR. Got any recommendations on how to find out what it is @screenman ?

Google is your friend, without a coach it will be higher than you achieve, it is a very unpleasant experience, I have done a good few and baked out of more than I have finished.

 

[Dan77]

Any decent length ride I average over 150bpm. I'm 43 and my only fitness is from what I've achieved riding since May. I presume there is a better way of checking MHR but I read that it should be 220bpm less your age....so 177bpm for me. My uncle is in his 60s though and averages more like 100-110bpm somehow.

Does your heart rate return to normal reasonably quickly? Mine does and I haven't really given it much thought as I think it's ok and may improve as my fitness does.

 

[Ajax Bay]

If you are concerned - ring the doctor's. However:
Everyone is different and the HR two cyclists (or runners) riding together will each average for a given length of time or over a ride/distance will be different. Doesn't mean one is physically superior to the other: races are for deciding who's fastest (over a pre-determined distance).
Averaging 174bpm for 5 hours say (see OP - how long did 83 miles take you?) suggests you have a relatively high HRmax and is not usual. My daughter, who is a very highly trained athlete, will plan to ride (race-time trial at (say) 210w on power meter) at that sort of HRave (175bpm) for 4+ hours, and like me (when I was 20-40+) her HRmax is over 200. Most of her direct competitors (domestic and international) ride almost as fast but do so with a lower HR. Are they fitter - maybe, maybe not? Does it matter - probably 'no'.
HRmax - find it out - easiest is running. Run/train lightly or not at all the day before. Wear HR strap. Warm up well so HR at 150 after 5-10+ minutes heading for the bottom of a mile long hill which steepens near the top. Run up it progressively increasing pace and when you think you're nearly 'done'; sprint to failure. Warm down well.
Review HR record.
Also worth determining your HRrest - take this on waking, ideally still supine (with watch and finger on pulse, 15 secionds and x 4), and repeat several days running to get a sense of your actual resting (minimum) HR.
To @Dan77 The 220 - age is WRONG (but has been pushed for decades by Polar and other HRM manufacturers because the maths is easy): it is a very poor match for HRmax for the physically fit (it was based on unfit patient data). To one significant figure, a reasonable match is 207 – 0.7 x Age - but this is the straight line, either side of which is significant variation - up to 25 beats.

 

[si_c]

There is no point comparing your heart rate to anyone elses - the whole point of training with HR is to compare to your own physiological response. You need to know what your heart rate zones are to use it properly though so an MHR test is pretty useful as well as understanding what your threshold HR is.

You mention as well a power figure in your OP - are you actually using a power meter or using an estimate from Strava or something similar? If the latter, then don't it's useless.

 

[fossyant]

Everybody is different so only judge the rates against yourself. One of my club mates was like a diesel, similar fitness to me, but his HR never went over 150, when mine might be 180.

 

[Ridgeway]

Can you validate the sensor ? simply swapping it with your riding pal would be and easy way of doing this. Worth ruling that out.

As said if your average is 174bpm over say 5hrs then i guess your max to have been quite a bit higher, i assume your device should also show max HR if it shows average.

 

[Ajax Bay]

The device will only show the max achieved on each ride and merely notes whether the rider went WFO (or other expression as appropriate) nearing the top of a decent hill. This is not the same as HRmax which I've described a protocol to determine (and that can be adapted to carry out cycling). An athlete/cyclist knowing their max and min (resting) allows a coach to set the same training session for two people eg 30 minutes at HRrest + 80% of HRrange (max - min) which can then be used by both (indeed as many as you like) athletes. Say the range is 50bpm to 170bpm, 80% would be 146bpm.

 

[stephec]

It might be a little difficult at the moment but, get in touch with your local university's sports science department.

A lot of the students need guinea pigs to practice on and you may find top quality physiology testing at a very cheap rate.

I got mine free years ago as a club mate was a student. 😊

 

[PaulSB]

As others have said we are all different. I'm 66 and regularly ride with three others of a similar age and standard. Our HR can vary by as much as 30/40bpm under any given circumstances. Mine happens to be the lowest.

Knowing what is the norm for oneself is key as this allows one to monitor health and performance. I have a resting HR of 48 and max of 177 but rarely hit this. I can drop my HR by 20/30bpm a minute depending on the level of exertion. The speed your HR drops is important, it should be fast.

My averages are:

Easy ride - 50 miles/1400 feet/14.3 avg - 105bpm

Medium - 55 miles/3500 feet/15.0avg - 110bpm

Hard - 90 miles/8500 feet/14.3avg - 120-125bpm

So long as my rides come in at somewhere around these figures I'm happy. For me the numbers confirm I'm fit but not fitter than others necessarily. You may be vastly different. If you're really worried see a doctor.

 

[coldash]

I’ve got a “proper” HR chest strap linked to my Garmin head unit and also a wrist HR monitor similarly linked (but not at the same time). The wrist-based unit, over the same cycling jaunts consistently records around +15 bpm compared to the chest strap. I’ve compared them to other HR monitors in the gym and the chest strap appears to be correct reading. Apart from that, I don’t bother too much as long as my recovery remains greater than a 20 bpm per min reduction

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If you want to get an estimate of your max heart rate then find a hill at least a mile long. Ensure you’ve warmed up with at least 20 mins or so of riding before you hit the bottom of the hill. Then go up the hill working as hard as you can sustain and keep going for as long as you think you can. If after each minute you think you can work harder, then up your effort etc. Don’t have the HR showing whilst doing it, as that may artificially alter your effort. Then review your peak HR when you look at your data later.

In terms of hills they don’t need to be that steep to reach a max, as long as they are long enough. I’ve hit my max on a 3% hill and come within a couple of beats on a 10% hill. In laboratory conditions you may be able to push out an extra 5bpm or so. But don’t worry about that, the idea is to find out a ball park max. Then you can work out some HR zones and just how hard you are working on rides.

Heart rate rest. Sit on a sofa and measure your HR over a couple of mins, whilst not moving and breathing normally.

HR Reserve = HR max - HR min

% HR you are working at = (BPM - HR Min) / HR reserve

 

[matticus]

Using a Max Heart rate formula is like checking your height against the average for your age/gender/nationality.

What if I'm an inch taller? Can I fix it?? Maybe the formula is wrong! Should I see a doctor? Or Ask on Facebook??