My heart rate..

[DirtyHippieUTE]

Ok you medical/training gurus... Help me out with this one...

I can NOT keep my HR down when I'm on any bike other than a stationary spin bike. I've been trying to do the long slow distance thing but it doesn't seem to matter how slow I go or how easy I try to take it my ticker goes nuts whenever I'm in the saddle...

The Trek roadie was in the shop for a couple of days so I took to the hills on the Stumpy FSR. I figured an easy spin up a pretty mellow trail in granny gear would be just thing for my "LSD" training.

No matter how slow I rode, no matter how low the gear, I couldn't keep my heart rate out of the 160 - 180 range. There I am creeping along in granny gear trying to relax, breathe and feeling like I'm doing a fairly good job of working toward some LSD. I fight any urge to "push it" and just stay in the saddle taking it easy.

Within 15-20 minutes I can feel my heart trying to jump out of my chest so I stop, cool off, and let my hr drop down into the 120 range. Then I start off again keeping in mind that I'm not trying to race I'm just trying to get long slow distance. I'm breathing fine and going about as slow as possible without falling over and then... I look at the HRM and I'm at 169. It's like I'm having a panic attack or something...

I know there is a stability aspect to MTB that adds to the exertion and the fact that my Stumpy is about 4x as heavy as my road bike can't help either but a slow cadence in granny gear is about as dificult as watching television.

So I switch back to the road bike today...

I rode about 20 miles. The only way I could keep my HR under 155 was to roll along like I had nowhere to be. If I even spun at a low cadence in an easy gear I'd feel my heart jump immediately.

Even when I was coasting down hills my hr never got below 144.

Is it possible that there is something wrong with me (insert obvious jokes here)? I wouldn't think this is a problem but I don't want to be riding along some day and just drop dead.

I've been training for over a year now... I've checked my HRM against other HRMs to make sure it wasn't just the monitor.

Do some people just have an abnormally high HR when they exercise?

[creekster]

Have you ever determined your max heart rate as opposed to relying on an assumed Max based on a formula?

[Archaea]

Sometimes you will need to work through this, but you should also consult your physician. It is possible your heart has contracted a virus.

[SteelBlue]

My advice? Ditch the monitor for a while and ride easy. Stay on the flats for a while (yeah I know you're in Utah) and just go by perceived exertion. I wonder if you're not psyching yourself out with the monitor at this point.

My friends could tell you that I'm pretty cheap. I went more than a year without buying a monitor. One thing I used to do to make sure I was in LSD mode was to talk out loud to myself once in a while. If you can talk normally you're in the right zone. You may look psychotic to passers by, but who cares!

[Quisqueyano]

The first thing I would do is follow Archeas advice. See a doctor and make sure you are healthy. Then, I would follow steelblues advice and ditch the monitor. Then I would train my heart. Take half of the weekly rodes you do and start doing intervals and tempo rides. Ride 10 miles instead of 20. But do it at a hard pace. The next day, go back to LSD. The next day, ride 10 miles of intervals. Warm up for 3 or 4 miles, then sprint til the lactate forces you to slow down. Spin til you can breathe again and repeat.
LSD will help you lose weight. But it won't do a lot for you cardio contitioning. At some point, you need to bite the bullet and aim for a higher level.
But make sure you are healthy first.

[bluegoose]

Hippie, Isn't your wife a PA? Have her hook you up on an EKG or an ultrasound to make sure there is no noteable organic heart disease. That being said, I find it highly unlikely from what I've read. In the absence of other symptoms, I also doubt that you would have a virus, such as endocarditis. They are often accompanied by generalized viral symptoms, including fever, sweats, malaise, excessive fatigue, etc. The EKG could also help in this regard, as abnormal rhythms are often also present.

Have you noticed any kind of arrhythmias, such as palpitations or rapid resting HR?

Did you experience the same symptoms up in Idaho, or is it only noticeabe in UT? Obviously you've got to account for the altitude effect.

160-180 really isn't that high, and is probably not something to be worried about. Sure, its probably higher than you would like to do those long, slow miles, but really, its not too bad. Where are you at when you do those time trials, like a couple of weeks ago when you did the 14 miles all out?

I'm no doctor, I only play one on the internet, but it sounds like nothing to be worried about. There are certain rapid rates that could be considered worrisome, but often those rates are much higher than 160ish.

[DirtyHippieUTE]

The Mrs just came into town. I showed her some of the stuff that's been going on and she thinks that there may be a couple of things.

1st, I should probably state that Mrs. Hippie's other masters degree is in Exercise Physiology. She wrote some crap about normative tables for the Windgate Anarobic Stress test... that's all I know... Anyway... She's got mad smarts, too many degrees, a lot of student loan debt, and now I'll move on...

She says the ranges may be off. Some people have a much higher Max than what the calculations suggest should be your max. I think my max is supposed to be something like 190. However, I've regularly seen my HR go up to almost 200 when I'm intentionally going as hard as possible. I've never been able to keep that up more than about the time it takes to look down at the HRM but it has been done.

She thinks it's a combination of a higher max rate and the altitude. She also thinks that the switch to worse roads and riding the mtb has created more "work" for my body because I'm not used to having to put as much effort into balance and control.

I'm going to go ahead and assume she's right. I'll sleep better and it will soothe my hypochondria.

[creekster]

The Mrs just came into town. I showed her some of the stuff that's been going on and she thinks that there may be a couple of things.

1st, I should probably state that Mrs. Hippie's other masters degree is in Exercise Physiology. She wrote some crap about normative tables for the Windgate Anarobic Stress test... that's all I know... Anyway... She's got mad smarts, too many degrees, a lot of student loan debt, and now I'll move on...

She says the ranges may be off. Some people have a much higher Max than what the calculations suggest should be your max. I think my max is supposed to be something like 190. However, I've regularly seen my HR go up to almost 200 when I'm intentionally going as hard as possible. I've never been able to keep that up more than about the time it takes to look down at the HRM but it has been done.

She thinks it's a combination of a higher max rate and the altitude. She also thinks that the switch to worse roads and riding the mtb has created more "work" for my body because I'm not used to having to put as much effort into balance and control.

I'm going to go ahead and assume she's right. I'll sleep better and it will soothe my hypochondria.

I don't want to say I told you so, but when I first read your original post I wiondered if your estimated max heart rate was wrong (see my earlier post in this thread, which you never answered, I might add). Max heart rates (and the ranges related thereto) can vary SIGNIFICANTLY between indivduals. If you have insurance I suggest you go to the doctor, tell him your sad tale, mention that you are in LS, mention your wife's mad smarts in physiology, then tell him you really think you should have a stress test and that your madly smart wife agrees. A stress test is really the best way to find out what your max heart rate is (it will also put your mind at ease about whether you have nay other heart issues). If you don't have iunsurance, go to the doctor and ditch the monitor, as others have suggested.

[DirtyHippieUTE]

I don't want to say I told you so, but when I first read your original post I wiondered if your estimated max heart rate was wrong (see my earlier post in this thread, which you never answered, I might add). Max heart rates (and the ranges related thereto) can vary SIGNIFICANTLY between indivduals. If you have insurance I suggest you go to the doctor, tell him your sad tale, mention that you are in LS, mention your wife's mad smarts in physiology, then tell him you really think you should have a stress test and that your madly smart wife agrees. A stress test is really the best way to find out what your max heart rate is (it will also put your mind at ease about whether you have nay other heart issues). If you don't have iunsurance, go to the doctor and ditch the monitor, as others have suggested.

I think we're going to try that... We've got a couple of options...
1- Wait until I get back to school and try to go thru my dr
2- Wait until I get back to school and see if I can con somebody in the sports dept to let me be a test subject
3- See if Mrs. Hippie's prof at Utah State will let us come up and play with their toys.

So... If I have a higher max heart rate than I'm "supposed" to have... What does that mean? Is that good for me? Bad for me? Is it like a motorcycle where I just run at higer RPMs to get the power output?

In case you're wondering why I don't ask Mrs. Hippie all of these questions, it's because I always get one of two responses...
1- Technical info that sounds like latin
2- "I don't know... I haven't read up on that stuff for years."

[creekster]

I am not a dr or a physiologist or anybody that even likes most people, so take this with a grain of salt, but as I understand it, there is no "supposed to have" max heart rate. All the formulas are based on averages and probabilities but can vary a lot from person to person. Typically, a 10% variance is not unsual but greater variances can happen as well. Unless there is some physiological or chemical or electrical probelm, which your doctor whould be able to find, btw, a higher max heart rate is neither bad nor good, just somethign you need to know and then use to calcualte the other training ranges you are interested in.

My guess is that Archaea or BlueGoose may be more tuned into this than me, but I understand that having a higher max heart rate is not necessarily an advantage or a disadvantage.

[Archaea]

Heart rate is just a measuring stick for work. Some hearts work at a higher than usually observed, some do not.

Mine has a regular range between 150 to 190 when working hard. A sprinter on our cycling team has a heartrate above 200.

You have portrayed yourself as a sprinter, but some simple bloodtests would show abnormalities which might be present. Spend the 100 bucks to confirm this.