Heart Rate Question.

firesoforion

I just got a HRM a couple of weeks ago, and I've been using it as I exercise and been interested in the results. I was just wondering how to interpret those results, and maybe how other people's HR changes during exercise.

My resting HR is about 60-70 BPM (I'd say 63 is about average). When I start walking at a normal pace, it goes to about 100.

It stays around 180 (I know that's high, part of my question) when I'm doing most cardiovascular activities, like the elliptical and stationary bicycle (well that's around 170), and it stays perfectly in my target heart rate zone when I'm walking as exercise.

But when I'm running, it goes up really high pretty fast. Like today when I was jogging with the specific aim of monitoring my heart rate, I would start (slow) jogging when my heart rate went down to about 146, and it wouldn't take very long at all (I'm talking about around 20 seconds) for it to go up to 190. Then I would walk, and it would go back down to 146 over the course of about a minute and a half.

Thing is once it reached 190 (which wasn't really my intention to get that high), I started to have a specific feeling in my throat (like when you run when it's cold), which I've always associated with running, because I have gotten that pretty much since I was a little kid, through when I was growing up (even when I did track in middle school), in high school, and now. So I was jogging a lot earlier this year, and judging from my HRM readings, I can only imagine how high my heart rate must have been going.

The thing is that this only happens with running/jogging. I was just wondering why that might be, and if there's anything I should do to be a better runner?

firesoforion

Bump: More succinctly, I'd like to know why my heart rate goes up disproportionately high when running, both in general, and compared to MY doing other cardio. What all can you learn from your HRM readings?

scottb81

It means that your heart has to work very hard to pump enough oxygenated blood to the working leg muscles. That indicates that your aerobic fitness for running is low.

firesoforion

That's sort of what I thought but I didn't know there were different types of aerobic activity (like, "for running," "for walking" "for biking") and wondered if there was something more complicated, like which muscles are working (if they're different to the ones used in biking, elliptical, etcetera), or perhaps something else (not something "wrong," just different aspects of fitness I'd overlooked). Also why it's still so low after having done a lot of running (and made progress in my abilities) earlier this year, like does going over your max HRM (which I won't be doing anymore), actually cause harm?

Is running harder than biking/elliptical? Sorry if these are dumb questions.

SierraElegance

You will probably find as you get lighter and build up your endurance, that will change and improve. You might want to check with your doctor about it though, and make sure it's not due to anemia or a heart problem. When I had anemia, I got out of breath just walking up a flight of stairs!

firesoforion

Well I do tend to be low on iron! Nice thought!

scottb81

It's not really that running is harder. It is just different. Some of the cardiovascular adaptations of aerobic fitness are specific to the muscles being worked. These include increased mitochondrial density in the muscle cells for energy conversion, increased capillarization to increase blood flow and oxygen transport to the working muscle, and increased glycogen storage to provide energy.

mathen2

So here is what you use to find out what your highest HR should reach to.
Max HR= 85% ( 220-age);
The range of HR doing normal activity for adults is from 60-100 bpm. So if its stays in that range, that's totally fine.

Your heart rate is controlled by the Sinus Node which is the engine that keeps your heart beating and controls the electrical system. The engine is regulated by the parasympathetic and sympathetic system which causes your HR to increase or decrease according to your activity, stress etc..
Now just because your HR jumps drastically doesnt mean the HR is accurate the entire time. Even the pulse ox or home HR monitors are inaccurate most of the time.
If you have questions or concerns, ask your primary physician to do an EKG (electrocardiogram) and maybe do a treadmill test to see if its an abrupt change or a gradual normal function and hence explain what happens if your HR gets up to the 190's.
When you feel cold, do you feel cold in your hands and feet? I would mention it to your doc.
Hope this helps shed some medical light..

scottb81

If you were running earlier but stopped for more than about a week the cardiovascular adaptations begin to revert back to what they were before exercising. Depending on how much running you were doing before, most of the adaptations are gone in just a few months and you have to start over again.

firesoforion

Awesome answers, thanks everyone!

Ruger2506

Funny thing about the heart. When you are exercising the physiologic effect is basically the same as hypertensive heart disease. When we look at a heart under load (exercise) it appears the same as a diseased heart at rest.

When you achieve a heart rate of 190 BPM (that's not good and way to high) that means the diastolic phase of the cardiac cycle is severely shortened and you are increasing the after-load in the heart. This in turn acts as a road block to the blood in the venous system and does not allow it to return to the heart. That means the pressure (and actual blood volume) is backing up. A symptom of chronic Left Atrial Dilation is coughing and a horseness in the throat. These may be some of the symptoms you are experiencing as your jugular venous system suffers from volume overload and expands.

Use this Target Heart Rate Calculator http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm to see where your exercising rate should be.

To be honest what you are describing is concerning to me and I would recommend seeing a doctor and tell them all this. You may be suffering from a conduction abnormality where you heart goes into Supraventricular Tachycardia. That is not a good thing and should be addressed.

195 BPM is your maximal heart rate (100%). A person really should shoot for nothing more than 85% of your maximal heart rate.

Ruger2506

I was seeing you commented on having these same symptoms in high school. In screening athletes (especially high school athletes) we are discovering a staggering number of kids who are out there putting themselves at serious risk of death due to the fact that they have underlying heart conditions.

That's why we are such huge proponents of cardiac screening of high school athletes. Unfortunately in my home town we suffered two high school athlete fatality on the field due to cardiac conditions. After that I saw EVERY kid in town who complained of anything that could be considered cardiac related. I did discover a couple conditions that were ticking time bombs.

There are a number of journal articles written on this subject but I cannot remember the number of athletes that were discovered to have significant cardiac conditions yet were still out there playing. It was a significant number that was surprising.

firesoforion

Wow, that's a bit scary. I'm going to be getting a check up in a couple weeks anyway, so I'll slow down and definitely ask about it if it doesn't change. :-/