Heart Rate Shock!

silverpegleg

I've used a heart rate monitor in the gym a few times, and generally work around 130ish for cardio. The thing records your maximum heart rate during the workout. Mine is never above 166 - my calculated HRmax is 174 (for my age) i.e. the maxium your heart is physically capable of - supposedly.

Tonight I wore the monitor for the first time on the bike and went for a 15 mile ride. I did race one guy for about mile - before the guy stonked past me and immediately turned off left.

When I checked the monitor during the ride it was usually over 150 - so a fairly strenuous workout for me.

Checked the maximum when I got home and it was 219 !! I should be dead. Average was 145 - way more work than the average gym session, and much more enjoyable.

How accurate are these things anyway - can they get glitched.

StanwaySteve62

I'm 48 and my max is 204
My avg HR is around 155-60 over the last few thousand miles.
Feel fine but does seem high

danowat

silverpegleg wrote:

my calculated HRmax is 174 (for my age).

And I stopped reading there.......

Calculated MHR is notoriously wrong for many people, however.......

Very high, erronous readings can be the result of poor conductivity, low battery, or the presence of things like overhead power lines etc etc

meanredspider

yes - they often glitch

Kona21

Yes they give a false reading sometimes. Mine was 239 the other day ! Don't think that's right somehow!
I think yours of 219 was a glitch

PostieJohn

Ha, I laugh in the face of your lowly max figures.

I regularly spike to 244-245, within the first 10 mins of my rides.

Can't say I'm paying to much attention to it.

oscar-j

PostieJohn wrote:

Ha, I laugh in the face of your lowly max figures.

I regularly spike to 244-245, within the first 10 mins of my rides.

Can't say I'm paying to much attention to it.

That's cos you're carrying half a ton of letters,12 parcels and 1 cat!

meanredspider

There's a theory that it's shirt static. Often at the beginning of a ride

PostieJohn

oscar-j wrote:

PostieJohn wrote:

Ha, I laugh in the face of your lowly max figures.

I regularly spike to 244-245, within the first 10 mins of my rides.

Can't say I'm paying to much attention to it.

That's cos you're carrying half a ton of letters,12 parcels and 1 cat!

Not any more, we've ditched our bikes for more cost effective vans!.

nmcgann

silverpegleg wrote:

.....

How accurate are these things anyway - can they get glitched.

Yes, you can't trust a HRM unless you can download the time history and check the readings are consistent and not just a crazy spike.

Lakesman

Had this too with the Garmin. Up to 230 when setting off, or strangely it's gone right up to 190 /200 when tucked in tight to coast down a long hill. Disconcerting enough at first to make me stop and check I'm OK with fingers on the wrist; now just annoying as it skews the stats on the Garmin graph.

ai_1

My garmin is typically very consistent but I have in the past gotten a spike on one or two occassions. Static may be an issue as mentioned above. I think there can be errors by the software when pattern matching the electrical signals to determine the HR. The couple of errors I saw seemed to give 1/3 more than the expected heart rate so I wonder if it was reading 4 beats for every 3 for a short period? If the same applied in your case that would equate to an actual HR of 164. Anyway, this happens VERY rarely for me and I'm now confident it's not my heart that's at fault!
I'm not long cycling, only started a couple of months ago. My average for moderately intense cycles initially was about 165, that's dropped to low 150s already for what seems like a little less effort plus I'm going faster.

Garz

StanwaySteve62 wrote:

I'm 48 and my max is 204

Wow that's pretty high.

andrewjoseph

max HR is very personal and depends on many factors.

I'm 50 and my max hr (when I'm greying out) is 190, my wife has a max of 203, my daughter has a max of 207.

I don't always get up to the max, even when trying hard. Intense hill climbing yesterday only took my max to 181.

You need to work so hard that you are totally spent, then you are at your max. The calculation of age + footsize - car reg doesn't really give YOUR max hr, it's just a guess.

Pigtail

I have a fairly basic Polar and have only once had a glitch. I was wearing my thin windproof jacket at the time, and you apparently get something called windflap.

My readings are very consistent - the highest I have ever seen is 172, in the gym or on the bike. My one only stores one record and the most recent one is the Etape Caledonia average of 147, maximum of 171. That is fairly typical for me, though I'm generally looking at 30-40 mile rides rather than 80.

I got my monitor in February and a surprise for me was that my average was higher on the bike than in the gym. I was seeing 30 mile runs averaging 160 + Since then my speed has increased slightly, but my heartrate has come down. I rarely get above 160 now at all unless its climbing a hill.

kettrinboy

Garz wrote:

StanwaySteve62 wrote:

I'm 48 and my max is 204

Wow that's pretty high.

I,m also 48 and never had above 180, just shows how much HR varies for people of the same age.

silverpegleg

Pigtail wrote:

I have a fairly basic Polar and have only once had a glitch. I was wearing my thin windproof jacket at the time, and you apparently get something called windflap.

That must be it. I was wearing such at the time - both Polar and windproof jacket.

Herbsman

How many espressos had you necked before the ride?

StanwaySteve62

Typical ride for me, never felt tired during or after the ride although the data may suggest I was really pushing myself
As I said previous, 48 and17stone.
Background was a start point of over 19stone jan 2010 with no fitness.
3400 miles later I feel great and see improvements on weekly basis

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/85484593

Avezius

My max HR (so far) is 210. I'm 34 & gradually getting fitter (although I understand max HR isnt an indication of fitness).

I can cruise at 160-175.
Working "hard" is 175 - 190.
Working "really hard" is 190+.
Sprinting is 200+

The various published equations for max HR all state in the smallprint that they don't apply to 100% of the population.

I was slightly concerned about my over-revving but now tend to use it an an example that my friend's are slacking in comparison!

Nerrep

Try doing the strap up a bit tighter. As I've lost weight I've found I've needed to do it up a bit more to prevent chunks of (erroneous) 240bpm+ appearing. I suspect that if you'd actually hit 219bpm you'd have known about it.