Heart Rate

Soni

Hi Guys, would be grateful for some advise here please regarding training.

I have always assumed (although i realised it wasn't very accurate) that my max heart rate would be around 180bmp, due to my age being nearly 40 and 220-40 (age) = 180bmp.

However, i wanted to ride the other day and didn't have long, so thought i would hit some hills in the short time i had to ride.

I rode 4 x steepish hills around to where i live, these being Birling Hill, Vigo Hill, Lockyers Hill (25%), and Exedown Road.

1. My max heart rate according to my Garmin was 193 - is this bad?
2. Should i use 193 as my max heart rate to work out my training zones instead of 180?
3. How can i get the Garmin Connect Website to display the hills in Gradient? I know Lockyers Hill is 25% as there is a big sign at the bottom of it and i noticed on the Garmin that it said 24% on one of the points, however the other hills i didn't look at the Garmin whilst climbing - weird that the Garmin records the gradient % on the unit whilst riding but doesn't display it on the website chart??

Here is the ride:- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/121631789

Pseudonym

Soni wrote:

1. My max heart rate according to my Garmin was 193 - is this bad?

your max HR is your max HR - it is neither good, nor bad. It is what it is.

Herbsman

220 - age = bollocks. I wish people would give it a fucking rest

principia2000

As Pseudonym said, your actual heart rate doesn't matter.

If you believe the maximum that you saw (i.e. the 193), and don't think it was a spurious result, then definitely use this value in all your calculations. Ignore the 220-age rubbish. If you ever push yourself so hard that you getter an even higher result, then use that.

I think the only way to be sure of your maximum heart rate is to do a proper test (google it), which will hurt. A lot. I just use the rate I got at the end of a sprint at the end of a shortish duathlon once.

I must admit that I never bother with gradient - just the total ascent during a ride. So I can't help there.

Richard

Soni

Thanks for the replies guys.

Prinipia, i've had 192 a few times recorded over my rides, so 193 is still in the rough ball park, so yeah might use this as the max heart rate, i felt like my lungs were about to explode, it was the hardest hill i've ever climbed (Vigo Hill), not the longest, but certainly the hardest, harder than the 25% Lockyers Hill that i climbed just beforehand, and that is 25% so would like to know and find out what Vigo Hill is, but as i said Garmin doesn't show it on the website/garmin connect, you've got to clock it on the device whilst riding to be able to see that, which seems a bit stupid....

doyler78

Very steep climbs are not good for finding maxHR because often the legs will be as much as, or more of a concern more, challenged as the heart and lungs. What you are trying to is kill the heart and lungs but not legs, though of course they will be challenged too, as killing the legs stops you getting to the point where you can kill the heart and lungs. Yes you will see very high heart rate numbers but you aren't trying to find a high number but your highest number so the approach will not necessarily be the same.

So the point of all that is to say I would guess your maxHR is north of what you have so far seen. Probably not a whole lot if your efforts were truly hard. Probably within 5bpm.

220 - age is not bollocks. It's context is in the medical arena and not the sports arena. It is the "sports industry" which has misappropriated it and it is hardly now surprising that there is so much confusion over it.

The-beast

Herbsman wrote:

220 - age = bollocks. I wish people would give it a ******* rest

term1te

My Garmin told me my max heart rate was 254 today, so they do get it wrong sometimes. Probably interferience from something, or a poor sensor skin connection?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/121737555#

193 doesn't sound unrealistic, especially on those hills. I know the area well, used to live near Sevenoaks and had much fun on the North Downs.

kettrinboy

If you want to see the gradient of individual hills on a ride, try using something like SportTracks, or even Garmin Training Centre can show grade, although from my experience of 25,000 miles recorded on Edge 305 and 800 devices the grade reading is pretty variable from day to day, ie you get a slightly different reading every time you do the same hill, but its good enough.

CYCLESPORT1

Good advice so far - (my was was 200 when I was racing at 40)

simon_e

The 220 calculation has been rubbished so often yet it persists. I did have the details of a test written down somewhere, it goes something like this: once warmed up, ride up a long, steady gradient in slightly too high a gear (i.e. use low cadence), increase speed by 2mph every minute, changing up the gears so you don't pedal too fast, until you just can't go any further. By this point your ticker should be running at the maximum it can reach. Cog down and ride gently for a few minutes while your heart recovers - don't just suddenly stop pedalling.

I would seriously urge anyone who has the slightest doubt about their health to consult a doctor before doing the test.

As has been said, use 193 as your max until you get a higher reading, but bear in mind that can be inaccurate occasionally - my colleague told me he had apparently managed 250 bpm on an easy ride to work the other morning and hardly got out of breath! I tried a HRM on my first turbo session and got up to 185 bpm in the final all-out sprint, which I'd think is fairly close to my maximum. I'm 45 (but don't look a day over 30).

Lookyhere

Wouldnt you be better off using Threshold heart rate for your training zones?

Your max HR is achieved after being chased down the road by a pack of hungry nasty Dobermans

ozzzyosborn206

just putting it out there, i wouldn't do a max heart rate test on the road, as imo to really hit your max you need to be on the turbo, i would find it very hard to push hard enough safely on my own on the road, then after that kind of effort i would be in no state to have to suddenly stop for a car pulling out on me or something, also if you do it on the road you could get halfway through your test and something disrupt it and then it would have messed up the whole purpose of the session