Heart Rate Too High

JulieF11

Would love to get some advice from trainers or people with trainers who have the same issue... I'm 44 and I exercise a lot, so I thought I was in pretty good shape. Finished a Sprint Triathlon and felt fine. However, I recently purchased a Heart Rate Monitor (Polar 4) to track my efforts. I noticed that my heart rate goes up quickly, and if I put any effort into my workout will go up past 170, even close to 180. I'd like to train for a 1/2 ironman, but I don't want to have a heart attack. Is my high heart rate going to get down as I get in better shape? Am I okay to train? Any advice? BTW- My cholesterol is fine.

ChelseaRW

Check out your heart rate on a normal walk...I had a heart rate of 120 just strolling through a mall when I was 21.(checked at one of those blood pressure machines. Two weeks later at walmart...same thing. Two months later had surgery for an aneurism. It could be just your normal thing, or could be something you should check out. Do you have a normal resting heart rate for an active person?

lizsmith1976

Mine does the same thing, especially when I switch to a new exercise - about 6 weeks ago I started doing spin classes, and my heart rate would immediately get to 170 and hover between 160-180 most of the class except for during recovery. I was told that the true measure of health is how quickly you recover (rate back down to resting), not how high your rate gets or doesn't get. There are lots of articles online about anaerobic exercise (exercise outside of target heart rate) being beneficial to heart and lungs, much more so than aerobic exercise. Unless you are exhausted quickly when your rate is that high, then that may be fine. FYI - I am no doctor or expert, just my persnoal experience I'm 35 FYI.

xxthoroughbred

That's too high? I'm 22, had a "textbook EKG," and mine is at an average of 176 when I'm running. I'd talk to your doctor if you're really concerned.

yeroc39

Hi Everyone. My name is Corey and I work for Polar heart rate monitors. First, heart rate is a very individual thing. Yours might be 175 and your friends might be 162 and you are under the same amount of exercise stress. Many people use the 220-your age formula but that is not a great reference point to use. Like Chelsea says, it could be very normal or it could be an issue. But I have seen people in their 50s and 60s get their heart rates up to over 170 on a regular basis.

Some checks to use. Of course, if you think there is a problem then go have a stress test. Other things. Check your resting heart rate sitting down, but also check it before you get out of bed in the morning. If its excessively high in the morning, you could have an issue. But I would get it checked out, but I bet it will be more just the way your heart rate is. FYI your morning resting heart rate is the best thing you can do. Take it over 4 days and take an average. And use that as a reference guide. Elevated heart rate in the morning might tell you that you are not recovered from the previous day, or even that you have an illness like a cold coming on. Its invaluable.

Now as you train, your heart gets stronger and pumps out more blood. Which typically means that it will not have to work as hard. But many people train too hard all the time and their heart rate stays high all the time when training. When you train for the half ironman, you will do some easy, endurance building workouts and you need to makes sure you do those at around 60-70% of your max heart rate. That will build the endurance and heart rate efficiency so when you start doing your harder training, your heart will not work that hard and you will see lower heart rates for similar efforts.

Liz is also right. Its key to see how quickly you recover. If you see your heart rate go down 20 beats in 45-60 seconds during a hard workout, you are pretty fit, or the effort is not really taxing you too much. And that's a good thing.

So if you are concerend, get it checked out just to be safe.

Silverkittycat

I'm not the original poster, but thank you Corey. Excellent advice!

JulieF11

Thank you!!

FitCoachJen

I found this spreadsheet on a running website and use it in tangent with my Polar HRM.
Website: http://mymarathonpace.com/Running_Calculators.html
Download the one titled "Training and Racing Heart Rate Zones - Download (Greg Maclin)"

You type in your max HR (one that you've actually achieved), your resting HR and it spits out different %'s advising your what your HR should be depending on the input data.

I have an FT60 and you can change the zone settings manually, if you think it's worth it. I tend to ignore the zone training guidelines because I can easily go above zone 3 and still be able to talk.