High Heart Rate While Running

robinsonjiv
robinsonjiv Posts: 1 Member
edited July 2021 in Fitness and Exercise
TL;DR
  • Getting back to running after years
  • Worried about Heart Rate, which is around 186ish while running (age:34, weight: 217)
  • (The Screenshot says 163, but that's averaging my two 5 minute walks at start and finish. It's in the 180s while running)
  • Trying C25K to get it down but seems to be too high for too long

Is this normal when starting out again?
Are their any good ways to lower this?

Just looking for other's experiences and points of reference.

Hi folks. Been getting back to working out regularly after 6 years or so. I haven't run serioulsy since then (Some start/stop attempts but nothing serious.

Now I've been back to running for about 2 weeks. It is HARD... and I'm going what I thought was a pretty simple pace. However, because I'm serious about actually getting back in shape now, I've been tracking calories and using a Samsung Gear. That's when Something I never thought about before, dawned on me.

Heart Rate.

Using Samsung Health along with My Fitness Pal puts me in the Maximum (and above Heart rate for nearly the entire run. Doing some research I see this is... bad. While I max out at about 200, I'm constantly at 186ish. According to some quick maths based on an article from Mayo Clinic I should be shooting for 153-170 on a TOUGH workout.

More research got me to toss out allusions about how fast I should be running and the C25K walk to run 5k program. Running for a minute with a minute and half breaks in between.

Average Heart Rate is 154 but that's with my warm up/Cool Down walks factored in. For 16 minutes (out of 30) I'm STILL in the max heart rate zone.

Some other sources online say doing this walk to run program should eventually bring my heart rate down but now I'm a little worried, as I have no reference source for this. I've never tracked heart rate before, but everything says being at your max too long is major strain on the heart, even if I don't think I 'feel' it.

So my question is where should my heart rate be? Is it normal to be this high starting off? What surefire ways will help lower this? Thanks.

Some facts

Age:34
Weight: 217
Height: 5'11"
Running Conditions: Hot afternoons, several hills.
Heart Rate: 186 while running
Target Heart Rate: 152-170ish

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Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,018 Member
    How are you feeling when your heart rate is that high? (Like, are you panting? Can you talk in whole phrases or not at all? Etc.)

    One possibility, which your numbers suggest - possible unless you know otherwise from your history - is that you're comparing your results to age-estimated max HRs, and those formulas are inaccurate for a surprisingly large fraction of people.

    In general, your max heart rate isn't some abstract number you *shouldn't* go above, it's a number you *can't* go above (absent some truly unusual health situation, like maybe certain weird adrenaline spikes or something). If you go to or very near your actual HRmax and stay there, your body will literally stop performing at that intensity after quite a short period of time, as in, it will not respond to your will to keep going. It will also feel pretty terrible, and extremely difficult.

    The implication is that if you're doing a large block of a workout at what some device or calculation claims is your max heart rate, and you don't feel pretty terrible while doing it (especially as time goes on . . . ), then you're not at your actual HRmax.

    This isn't some thing where your HRmax increases as you get fitter, generally. IMU, it's primarily genetic, though across people it does tend to be higher when younger, lower when older, but decline more slowly in aging athletes with a continuing good cardiac fitness routine as compared with rate of decline in average inactive people.

    Personal example: I'm now 65. I was inactive/sedentary/fat until I was in my mid-40s, then stayed fat (but got active) until I was 59-60, so not a lifelong athlete. By the most common 220-age estimating formula, my HRmax would be 155. After appropriate warm-up, I can work at 155 for quite a few minutes - I don't know how long at maximum, because I haven't tried lately. 😆 But it's a HR I see routinely during workouts, and I don't feel terrible when I get there. I'm past being able to sing, but still able to talk in short phrases, not gasping or anything. I can go way past 155, in short bursts, for sure. A few years back, I did a sports test to estimate actual HRmax, in which one goes harder (faster pace) in successive workout intervals, until the body won't/can't go that next increment harder. (Don't try this at home, if newly resuming being active.) Based on analysis of the HR response curve, my actual HR max is around 180.

    If I stuck with recommended workout intensities based on assuming my HRmax was 155, I'd rarely get any kind of decent workout, and I wouldn't make very good fitness progress. 155 is more like at the border of aerobic/UT1 and anaerobic, for me, about 80% heart rate reserve, or 86% of max as a raw percent. I need to work at and above that intensity sometimes, if I'm training. (Not competing any more, so realistically I ditz around more than really train, these days.)

    Look into "RPE (rate of perceived exertion)" scales, as a reality check on these formulas, and maybe as a better guide for training if you don't have a valid HRmax number.

    I don't love this article in other respects, but it has an RPE scale with some physiological benchmarks beyond just "feels hard". It should be close enough to give you a reasonable idea of whether you're feeling at a high RPE, when at the number you think is close to HR max, or whatever threshold below that you're looking for.

    https://www.verywellfit.com/perceived-exertion-scale-1231117

    Another decent-ish description IMO is in the RPE section of this article:

    https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/staying-active/

    Be sure to expand the section where the Borg scale is explained (there's a click-arrow to expand it). That table includes some comparative activities you can consider.

    There are various tests you can use to estimate HRmax from observed performance, but I wouldn't recommend using them until you get your base fitness back in place, so in quite a few weeks to a few months at least. Until then, RPE should be a decent guide to workout intensity.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,676 Member
    I agree with the above. 1) You don't know what your actual maximum is, since many of us don't fit the standard. You can test it, but at this point that isn't necessary. Running by perceived exertion is fine. I am 64 and my maximum is something above 185. When I run, I average 165 for my normal easy runs. I run 5 days a week and have for several years, so I'm in pretty good shape. 2) Your watch is probably not accurate. Most wrist sensors are much less accurate than a chest strap. When I've used a chest strap HRM, it was 5-10 beats per minute lower than my wrist HR monitor. 3) You are not fit at the moment, so your body is working harder than it will be working when you get back in shape. The solution there is simply to slow down. It doesn't matter that you think you're slower than you should be, slow down more. You should be able to carry on a conversation while running. Some new runners walk faster than they run. That's okay. Just run at a pace that feels easy. 4) You are running in the heat. That means your body is working hard to offload heat. Your HR is going to be much higher than running at a similar pace on a day that is cooler, shadier, and/or less humid. 5) Don't worry about it. If you can finish your workouts, you're doing all right. Try to do your runs as easy as you can, but don't stress about the HR being high. As Ann said, if you were really running at your maximum, you wouldn't be able to run for more than a minute or two.
  • Djproulx
    Djproulx Posts: 3,084 Member
    You've received some great guidance from others above. I'll add my two cents regarding your HR questions:

    1. Is it normal when starting out? YES! And conditions such as heat/humidity, hills and lingering fatigue can cause this even among seasoned runners.
    2. Are there ways to lower HR? Also YES! I agree with the comments about running slower - at a pace that allows you to speak in full sentences while running. If that means you're nearing a walking pace, so be it.

    My suggestion is to really focus on staying within yourself as you begin the C25k program. There is no reason to rush the process, since that only brings increased fatigue and higher risk of injury. A good way to do this is to follow the run/walk approach whenever you need it. The walk breaks deliver two benefits 1) allows your heart rate to come down, preparing you for the next run interval and 2) Allows you to continue longer, which helps all your body systems(muscles, joints as well as cardiovascular) develop ability to cope with the demands of running as you extend time under the load of running.

    Finally, don't think of the run/walk approach as a tool just for beginners. It is a very popular approach for distance runners, especially during long runs. My preferred approach is to use a 4 minute run/1 minute walk on my long runs when the run follows a hard workout done on the previous day.

    Good luck with your running.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,107 Member
    What pace are you actually running at? Your printscreen shows a pace of up to 5minutes/mile, which is 'insane' for a starting runner. So if that graph shows your pace accurately: slow down, and then slow down some more :wink:

    I started out at 15min/mile (I was still obese then), to give you an indication. You may not need to go that slow, but certainly a lot slower than what you're currently doing, if the printscreen is correct.
  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,002 Member
    I am relatively fit and EVERY run puts me at what websites would say is the absolute highest heart rate that would be safe for me.
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,449 Member
    I'm guessing that since you mention Samsung that you are using your watches HRM? If so, it could be wildly inaccurate. Watch based HRM's are notoriously bad for some people. Unless you are using a chest strap, your results could be way off.

    An example of how ridiculous it can be is my new Garmin 6x pro. My old 5x pretty closely matched my chest HRM but my new 6x sometimes inflates my HR by 20+ beats per minute. I sometimes go for a very easy run and my watch shows my heart beating faster than it is physically capable.

    I suggest run by feel. If you can sing/talk while running, you're fine. If you can't, slow down until you can.

    Good luck.
  • mthwbrwn
    mthwbrwn Posts: 104 Member
    Another thing too, which I don't believe has been touched on in the above posts aside from 'run slower', is that you could incorporate Zone 2 (60%-70%) runs into your training. Zone 2 would be the "Weight control" on your watch.
    It seems ridiculously slow (especially when first incorporating zone 2 into your running schedule).
    As you run in zone 2, over time, you will increase your speed you can go while not exceeding your zone 2 limit (still slow). What you would need to take on faith is that work in zone 2 also increases your speeds in zone 3 and zone 4-5 and at the lower intensity breathing, gait, and footfall can be practiced in better form. There are some good coaches on Youtube who explain the process well.

    If you are running 3 times a week, say, you would do well to have one day in zone 2 (long run) one day in zone 3 (with warm up and cooldown on the bookends) and one day of intervals where zone 4-5 are run.
    A typical week of zone 2 training (measured in time) would have 70% zone 2; 20% zone 3 and 10% zones 4&5.

    Anyway Polar has a running plan on their site. It works best with one of their watches, but can also work with any good HR reader. The link is https://www.polar.com/blog/polar-running-program/

    I'm a big fan of this program. I've been using the running program since January and have seen an improvement in my running times as well as an increase to my resting fitness test. Historically, I've not been much of a runner, but have been commuting by bike for over 20 years so I had a decent baseline in January.

    Also, if you constantly MAX out at 200, your maximum should be set at 200 not 187 which is likely just derived from your age. your zone 3 would be topped at 160 and your zone 2 would be 140.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 873 Member
    My personal experience:

    1. When I 'got back into running' and was just walking and then adding in a minute or two running --- my heart rate would get to 180 like...within 30 seconds of jogging. LOL. It probably just means you need to get your cardiovascular/respiratory system in shape --- and that will happen fairly quickly. Keep going and being consistent and I think you will find your heart rate doesn't get so high so quickly. Mine now stays at about 160-65 if I'm running ~5-6 mph.

    2. If you are dehydrated or running in the heat....I find my heart rate is ALWAYS higher under those conditions. So first...make sure you a properly hydrated...and not just on the days you're running. The day before and every day in between. It can actually take your body a long time to properly rehydrate after being dehydrated.

    3. As others have said...there's not a way to really know if you should even be worried about your heart rate being that high. That's a question for your doctor.

    4. Try running slower....Not sure what your current pace it - but faster doesn't always mean better - especially when running. Being consistent is best. Run as slow as you need to so that you can run the entire time you're supposed to. Stop and walk to get your heart rate back down if you think it's too high --- do intervals like that until you're stronger.

    Happy runningggggggg

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