True maxHR, or a spike?

dieselengine

The background - in Oct 2005, aged 37, I did a RAMP maxHR test on the turbo. Topped out at 191bpm. It was pretty unpleasant, with nausea and loss of peripheral vision for about an hour afterwards, so I reckoned it was a reliable result.

Didn't repeat it until July 2008 (aged 40), and got to 187bpm. Did seem quite as unpleasant so not sure if I really did take it to my absolute limit, but not too far away from the result in 2005 so not too concerned.

Tonight, I did my first clubrun/chaingang for the "steady" group. It was seriously tough (more to do with lack of fitness on my part than anything else), but my Polar CS300 recorded a maxHR of 202 bpm.

I have to admit that I have never worked as hard on a bike as I had to tonight to keep up -I had nothing more to give, so is this likely to be close to my true maxHR, or is it possibly a spike?

Can't do the ride next week, but will do it the following week and see what the result is then, but what do you reckon? maxHR, or spike?

Cheers

diesel

PS, the ride was bl***y great! Shame can't get there next week.

deal

does your heart rate meter have the ability to upload the data to your computer so you can see a chart?

The reason i ask - i have seen some dodgy readings from herat rate meters, my cateye once told me 292 if you can see the chart you will be able to see if it was a weird spike due to power cable or something or if your heart rate climbed up to 202 and then back down.

damage36

Agree with the above. But it could be real, you might just not be able to push yourself on a trainer like you can in a group, which wouldn't be unrealistic.
The recorded one isn't THAT much higher than you've gone before, and doing the ramp up thing, you can get too tired to max your HR if you're not fit enough. Of course, it could be a couple of bpm out aswell.

jamespiggot

When you ride in groups or in races you will often register a very high (but false) heart rate, that is why heart rate monitoring is not so useful when you're competing.

My max rate as tested in the sportstest lab with a V02 max test is always within a few beats of 170bpm (aged 52 so 220-52=168) yet heart rate monitors from more than one manufacturer have often reported a max rate betwen 180-280.

Max HR is not all that important, why not settle for 190bpm and calculate your zones from that?

cougie

I think more likely to be a spike - you clearly worked your legs off on the Ramp test - and you say the club run was tough - but not losing your vision tough ! ;-)

Old Tuggo

Does anybody know if it is medically possible for a healthy heart to have a spike of say 10 bpm over normal MHR?

damage36

From my two years of medical study I would say no. Heart rate increases gradually not in jumps so I would suggest that it is a fault with the device that causes the spike, not a sudden quick few beats.

Alex_Simmons/RST

I could never attain same HR in ramp tests to exhaustion in the same way I could in a race. Others can/do.

HRMs can pick up signals from other riders' straps, or other interference.

HR data can often appear to register many false spikes. Some software actually have a function to remove such spikes (since it is relatively common).

None of the above may have happened to you though.

A false spike is really only obvious when viewed in context of the other data surrounding it. hence I would treat an HRM which shows a max reading without showing the complete data context as susceptible to false readings.

Banned again

When I used my HRM on the bikes in the gym it regularly used to pick up the readings from the person riding next to me.

popette

damage36 wrote:

From my two years of medical study I would say no. Heart rate increases gradually not in jumps so I would suggest that it is a fault with the device that causes the spike, not a sudden quick few beats.

unless you have a heart problem - my HR used to go from 140 to 250 within a few seconds. I put it down to interference or faulty HRM for a number of months, but it was actually my heart that was the problem.

Of course, this isn't the case for the vast majority but rarely, those spikes can be real.

I'm all fixed now and what an amazing difference it is.

damage36

popette wrote:

damage36 wrote:

From my two years of medical study I would say no. Heart rate increases gradually not in jumps so I would suggest that it is a fault with the device that causes the spike, not a sudden quick few beats.

unless you have a heart problem - my HR used to go from 140 to 250 within a few seconds. I put it down to interference or faulty HRM for a number of months, but it was actually my heart that was the problem.

Of course, this isn't the case for the vast majority but rarely, those spikes can be real.

I'm all fixed now and what an amazing difference it is.

Glad you're all better! My quote above was in reference to a healthy heart of course. If anyone finds their HR is jumping around and its not the HRM, get it checked out. There are some dreadful stories of people w/ undiagnosed heart conditions who push themselves over the brink on a bike.

Old Tuggo

Thank for your responses, I will treat myself to a new HRM as my present Polar is at least 5 years old. Also when the spike occurs there is no corresponding adverse affects.

Bronzie

popette wrote:

I'm all fixed now and what an amazing difference it is.

Hey Popette - great to hear you are all sorted. Can't get out of the Etape 2009 now!

Just out of interest, what differences have you noticed since you had the treatment? Do you feel better in yourself? I'd always assumed these heart rythym defects whilst being potentially dangerous didn't actually make you feel ill.

deal

popette wrote:

damage36 wrote:

From my two years of medical study I would say no. Heart rate increases gradually not in jumps so I would suggest that it is a fault with the device that causes the spike, not a sudden quick few beats.

unless you have a heart problem - my HR used to go from 140 to 250 within a few seconds. I put it down to interference or faulty HRM for a number of months, but it was actually my heart that was the problem.

Of course, this isn't the case for the vast majority but rarely, those spikes can be real.

I'm all fixed now and what an amazing difference it is.

hmmm you got me worried now my heart rate often gives dodgy readings on my bike, I have a family history of a heart problem, had some ECG tests last year where they pumped some funky drugs into me, adrenaline and ajmaline (this second one was cool, made me all tingly!). Also had a 24 hr holter test which showed nothing unusual, they mentioned something about an exercise test but they didnt bother doing one in the end. Any experts on Long QT hanging around ?

doyler78

CRY (cardiac risk in the young) do cardiac screening all round the country because of the number of young sportsmen and women you have dropped dead due to undiagnosed heart conditions. Took a few minutes and came back normal.. Was worried because like so many in the Britain and Ireland there is a history of heart disease and diabetes in my family. If anyone is worried why not book a session:

http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/

popette

Bronzie wrote:

popette wrote:

I'm all fixed now and what an amazing difference it is.

Hey Popette - great to hear you are all sorted. Can't get out of the Etape 2009 now!

Just out of interest, what differences have you noticed since you had the treatment? Do you feel better in yourself? I'd always assumed these heart rythym defects whilst being potentially dangerous didn't actually make you feel ill.

Hey Bronzie! Can't wait for Etape 2009 and its looking like Ventoux if the rumours are to be believed.

If I hadn't exercised, I probably wouldn't have noticed there was a problem as I didn't feel ill in the slightest. However, I definitely did notice a difference when on the bike. On hills, I sometimes felt I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. I often had to stop, shaking, about to be sick etc. Hills that I had climbed without any problem when I first started cycling (& 2stone heavier) suddenly became a real issue for me and I started to think that all my training had been in vain. When I had the ECG it was immediately apparent that all wasn't right.
Now my rhythm is normal again, it is amazing. My HR goes up and down just as you might expect when you put more or less effort in. I went for a 45 mile ride on Wednesday, climbed 3000ft and was just laughing as I could get over hills breathing normally and feeling great. It is a truly wonderful thing to give it some welly again.

Bronzie

popette wrote:

It is a truly wonderful thing to give it some welly again.

Fantastic - Made up for you! 8)

kettrinboy

i have a Garmin edge 305 and a while back while going quite hard saw my HR at 235 bpm which being 45 yrs old would obviously mean imminent death ,after getting back with it buggering about all through the ride i had a close look at the HR chest strap and found that sweat was getting past the thin o ring in the cap that seals the battery compartment, after drying it out and putting a thin bead of araldite glue around the edge of the battery cover ive had no problems since, plus you can get the araldite off with a sharp knife to replace the battery now my HR max is back to a more realistic 180 bpm