Low HR today - please advise
Kléber
Posts: 6,842
Hi, I would like some advice but please keep the comments serious.
For some unknown reason, I slept badly last night, got 4 hours sleep instead of the usual 7-8 hours. Today I rode for 2 hours, a hilly route. But instead of my HR being 150-170 on the climbs, I was lucky to hit 140 bpm. I averaged 130bpm for the 2 hr ride. Normally the lower HR would be a sign of taking it easy but I clocked above 20mph average for the ride, a decent pace for me.
In other words, my usual ride saw my HR off by 30bpm. I found this odd during the ride and stopped to do a manual check of my pulse and the HRM was reading correctly. For what it's worth, I felt like I had cold sweats during the ride but that could just be because I worse perhaps a layer less than usual and used an undervest grabbed of the drying rack before it was totally dry.
Any suggestions as to this big change in my HR? Lack of sleep, a virus coming or something else? Normally I'd celebrate being able to ride faster for a lower HR but something doesn't feel right...
For some unknown reason, I slept badly last night, got 4 hours sleep instead of the usual 7-8 hours. Today I rode for 2 hours, a hilly route. But instead of my HR being 150-170 on the climbs, I was lucky to hit 140 bpm. I averaged 130bpm for the 2 hr ride. Normally the lower HR would be a sign of taking it easy but I clocked above 20mph average for the ride, a decent pace for me.
In other words, my usual ride saw my HR off by 30bpm. I found this odd during the ride and stopped to do a manual check of my pulse and the HRM was reading correctly. For what it's worth, I felt like I had cold sweats during the ride but that could just be because I worse perhaps a layer less than usual and used an undervest grabbed of the drying rack before it was totally dry.
Any suggestions as to this big change in my HR? Lack of sleep, a virus coming or something else? Normally I'd celebrate being able to ride faster for a lower HR but something doesn't feel right...
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Comments
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Odd as it sounds your instincts are right. Having difficulty in raising your heart rate does indicate something is wrong. It is usually just tiredness, either due to overtraining, or as is likely in your case just a bad nights sleep therefore recovery was poor.
Morning resting heart rate is a good indicator of this before you even get on the bike. If it is above by 10-15% your normal level then its time to take it easy or just take the day off and is usually an excellent indicator of colds or other illness.0 -
my guess would be you are sickening. or seriously overdoing things.0
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Suppressed exercise HR when tired is not uncommon.0
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I had this today. Its been interesting watching it drop considerably each day as the week as progressed. Despite riding at high tempos (for me) for the 20m in to work and pushing big gears and sprints for the 15m on the way home my HR has struggled to get abouve 140! Today at one point it even dipped to below 100bmp.
The added downside to this is that despite pushing and feeling like I'm working hard the calorie burn is super low - 523 today for 20m when usually above 600.
Gats0 -
The calorie burn is calculated on heartbeat I would guess. Low heartbeat would lead to low calorie readouts, most likely concealing the real wear and tear on your body. Eat more than you think you need, take things easier and watch the HR rise?0
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I'll never understand I don't think. My instinct is low calorie burn means being able to eat less cos I'm not burning as much.
Have a rest day tomorrow so we'll see. Wish this dizzines would go though...
Gats0 -
Unless you use a power meter, forget the calorie number from a HRM. You'll get better fiction from Mills & Boon.
Eat well and train well. Don't eat enough and your training and power output will suffer.0
