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Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 10 Sep 2012, 10:58
by marc2131
Haven't measured my Heart Rate during the weekly Waterfall runs since early February this year. For several months after, due to unfortunate circumstances, I laid off Waterfall for a few months, but started back on it from about June. Been pushing hard/training since then but no idea of my progress.
At this weekends Waterfall run, I wore my Heart Rate Monitor for the first time since February and was surprised by the increased levels especially over the first 35mins of the ride. After the first 35mins of the ride the heart rate appeared to drop about 10bpm down and stayed there pretty much for the remainder of the ride - didnt check closer into city traffic areas.
My question is this - What can one guage from knowing one's HR? Should I be working towards pushing the numbers higher? Particularly interested to know how 'older' riders use this info.

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 10 Sep 2012, 11:30
by Tod511
I wore a heart rate monitor for the first time yesterday as I received a Garmin bike computer for fathers day. I have not uploaded my data from yesterday yet but a quick look revealed that my average was within an acceptable range. Below is a short article which may help you understand how heart rate, fat burning and efficiency work together.

http://au.healthinsite.net/ContentViewe ... tentType=1

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 10 Sep 2012, 12:00
by Dougie
I have been told by my Doctor that if your heart stops beating then that is very bad......

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 10 Sep 2012, 16:33
by Philip
The most useful thing about a heart rate monitor and a Premium Strava membership is that when you put in a really big effort you get a really cool "suffer" score. Still trying to top the 352 I earned when Mike and Todd tried to kill me riding all the way to Picton and beyond on the queens birthday adventure ride. The "suffer" number is also accompanied by great adjectives like "epic", or "extreme".
Don't underestimate how cool it feels to be told by an algorithm that your effort was 'EPIC'!!

As to that max heart rate calculation, it can be very dodgy. Best to test it for real. The calculation puts my max at 169 (I'm 51 years old), whereas my actual tested Max heart rate is 186. Mind you if I entered 169 in my strava profile i'd get a lot more "Epics". mmmm that's a thought.

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 11 Sep 2012, 18:26
by AndrewBurns
I really don't know about maximum heart rate. I'm 25 so by the formula my max should be 195 and my target range should be 98-150 or there-abouts.

My resting heart rate is about 60-65 bpm but if I even think about getting on the bike it's up to 100, my averages for my commute are around 175-180. In the 155km 6 hour ride I did a while ago my average was 158. During races I often peak about 200-205.

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 12 Sep 2012, 14:34
by timyone
What is it you want to achieve Andrew? Weight loss is more those heart rates

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 13 Sep 2012, 18:59
by AndrewBurns
I don't really need to lose weight, I'm 64-65kg and about 170cm tall and don't have much spare fat. I guess if I had to pick a goal it would be increasing my continuous and sprint power outputs but I don't think there's a specific heart rate range for that :P

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 13 Sep 2012, 20:10
by rhys
I have found perceived exertion far more useful than a heart rate monitor.

This is a basic link to what perceived exertion is about, use the googles to find more if you're interested.
http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstoo ... edexer.htm

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 16 Sep 2012, 15:13
by weiyun
Might disappoint some to know that knowing your HR (without additional reference) is as useful as knowing you are still alive and have been making some exertions. To make HR data meaningful, you need to know your HRmax, one that's directly measured, not by an equation. Then, your HR should be expressed as a percentage of HRmax to be meaningful.

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 16 Sep 2012, 15:53
by christian
I find I train much harder not wearing a HR monitor. You don't look down and say to yourself, "I'm dying" just because you are above your lactic threshold (~85% max HR) or when you look down and it's a little too close to 100%. I stopped using it at the track, now on the road. My suggestion, unless you are good at pushing yourself is to not display your HR on your computer but just record it for post ride analysis.

I still use mine for targeted rollers training like threshold training where you actually need to know what it is.

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 17 Sep 2012, 06:18
by AndrewBurns
Here's my garmin chart from fasties to waterfall yesterday:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/223104427

Average 175, max 199, I was pushing very hard to hold onto the group most of the time.

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 17 Sep 2012, 10:11
by weiyun
Average 175, max 199, I was pushing very hard to hold onto the group most of the time.
All depends on what your HRmax is. There's a significant difference in the interpretation if your HRmax was 199 vs 210.

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 25 Sep 2012, 11:10
by weiyun
I have been told by my Doctor that if your heart stops beating then that is very bad......
Good for the society if one is an organ donor.

Re: Waterfall runs and sustained Heart Rate levels

Posted: 04 Oct 2012, 08:43
by timyone
If you are planning on being an organ donor, please try and do the actual dying under more controlled conditions, so unconsciousness is ok at the scene, but I hear that they can use a lot more if it actually stops ticking in a controlled environment.