Trying to explain elevated heart rate

YellaBelly

Hi,

just finished a roller session this morning, and my heart rate was high compared to the speed, and to my perceived exertion.

I was riding in HR zone 3, and compared to a HR zone 2 workout I did late last week, I had a 2.5mph slower average speed than the "easier" zone 2 ride. The only real variation I can find is this morning was cold. 5 degrees compared to last weeks 12degrees.

I'm trying to explain it, and coming down with an illness isn't the answer I want! I was badly over new year, it's not fair to get me again Does temperature have an effect on a rollers resistance? I only got them at christmas and have no experience with them. Do lower temps cause elevated heart rate? It just seems like a massive swing in stats and I'm at a loss to explain it.

mpatts

When this happens to me I am always sick.

ai_1

Don't suppose you had any alcohol the night before?
That will always raise your HR

gotwood25

I have found that having a fan has had a dramatic effect on my HR during turbo sessions. I found my heart rate was very high even for relatively easy workouts and that I was sweating buckets.

Guessing this was all down to trying to cool my core temperature down (my turbo is in the garage which is freezing but its amazing how much heat you generate yourself) and since installing the fan my HR has lowered to what I would consider 'normal' for the power range and also recovery time between intervals has reduced massively as well... oh and I don't sweat as much either which can only be a good thing.

cougie

Eating differently before a workout can affect HR - the body is busy digesting.
Time of day makes a big difference too. My legs arent awake first thing in the morning.
Also tyre pressure - your gearing - you need to keep all of this the same if you want any meaningful comparisons.

marcusjb

I wouldn't stress for just one workout - it's the trends you are trying to track.

As others have said, there's so many variables affecting heart-rate that it could be anything and nothing.

dw300

Details of nutrition and other training in the days before?

sloppyschleckonds

V A R I A B L E S

YellaBelly

It was a different time of day, now I look a bit closer. Pre-work rather than post-work. Prior training - it was my first session after the weekend off (no partying, just work). Nutrition - I don't keep track of exactly what I eat and when in relation to training sessions. I just try to eat healthy and don't worry too much about it.

I know there are plenty of variables which can tweak things up and down a bit, but it was just the SIZE of the variation in this one particular workout that made it really stand out. I've been back on the rollers since and the figures are looking normal again, which is good. No horrible illness struck me down! Thanks for the input fellas, it's always appreciated.

ai_1

YellaBelly wrote:

It was a different time of day, now I look a bit closer. Pre-work rather than post-work. Prior training - it was my first session after the weekend off (no partying, just work). Nutrition - I don't keep track of exactly what I eat and when in relation to training sessions. I just try to eat healthy and don't worry too much about it.

I know there are plenty of variables which can tweak things up and down a bit, but it was just the SIZE of the variation in this one particular workout that made it really stand out. I've been back on the rollers since and the figures are looking normal again, which is good. No horrible illness struck me down! Thanks for the input fellas, it's always appreciated.

There is of course one other possibility worth considering - especially if it was a very big HR reading variation.
Your heart monitor may have been wrong. It does happen.
My HR readings are typically pretty consistent and my watch and HR strap are almost always reliable but I have had a couple of instances over the past 6 years when I've gotten incorrect values. In both cases the measured value was 4/3 times what I would have expected. One instance was on high intensity session where I would have expected my peak HR to be around 180 (about 90% of my actual max HR) but instead I got a reading of about 240. That gave me a bit of a fright until I realised it couldn't possibly be right. HR monitors use pattern recognition algorithms to determine your HR. They aren't infallible.
If it happens again - check your HR manually and compare to the monitor value.