Heart rate when exercising

[carrie74]

Thanks to the wonders of my Apple Watch , I get the dubious pleasure of tracking all sorts of stats around exercise.

I do a PT session fortnightly, and a Circuits session weekly, as well as yoga, walking, a bit of running. So I'm not crazy fit but I'm doing ok.

I've recently started a bit more running (I've done a bit of plodding off and on for 20 years, so I'm not a total newbie), and did a Parkrun a couple of weeks ago. I'm quite a slow runner - I finished the (flat) Parkrun in 34 mins, a hilly 5k would take me about 36 mins. On the Parkrun, my average heart rate was 185bpm, quite high I'd say (I'm 44, so my max heart rate should be 176). I do recover very quickly though.

I find running REALLY hard, presumably this is why? Could it be I'm just not physiologically suited to it? Or do I just need to do more to get my body used to it?

My heart rate goes quite high with running too. I have a myzone hr monitor and they use a slightly different formula for max hr than the simple 220 minus age. Mine, at the age of 49, is 179. My max zone is 162 - 179.

I'm not doing a lot of running at the mo, but lots of circuit training and hiit classes and in the 6 weeks that I've had the monitor I can now see that my heart rate is a bit lower when I run (I do the odd 10 - 15 mins here and there after a class). To get into the max zone I now have to up the speed on the treadmill.

You'll probably find that if you run regularly it'll come down.

OP..... go slower on your Parkrun. Your average heart rate should not be above your max. You are putting yourself at greater risk of some kind of heart damage. It's not worth it.

Get yourself a 5k training programme and do some weights in the gym, and you'll soon be able to run faster and at a lower heart rate. Good luck!

Have you been checked for hypertension? AHR during exercise can be influenced by lots of things, including your size.

How different is it from your circuits heart rate?

Have you double checked pulse yourself/on a different device?

The 220 minus your age is only a guide. If you feel alright, then don't worry. Recovering fast is a good sign of fitness. You are not risking heart damage, that is wrong.

How would you rate your effort on the RPE scale?

(Google “rpe scale”)

My heart rate decreased quite dramatically with regular running. I was very unfit to start with, now after a year I am, according to Fitbit, in the 'excellent' range for cardio fitness. My resting heart rate and my peak while exercising. I think like the poster above said, the speed you return to normal is also a good indicator of your overall fitness.

You can improve it, train yourself to be fitter, if that makes sense. Running at a 'comfortably hard' pace, for a set length of time, (tempo running) will increase the mitochondria in your cells, meaning you process oxygen more effectively- so your heart doesn't need to beat so fast and you don't need to breathe so fast- that's effectively what 'fitness' is. Look up threshold running or tempo running on Runners world (or similar) and it will give you some guides for how to incorporate a tempo run into your training.

I do a circuits class too, and unless I run a few laps first to raise my heart rate, my Fitbit doesn't even register it as exercise clearly I'm not working hard enough!

I don't much trust wrist (optical wrist worn) heart monitors. There are reviews about them online saying how inaccurate they can be at high exertion. I have a cheap activity monitor that refuses to believe my heart rate ever goes above 90bpm. Charge2 fitbit over-estimates my steps by about 20% so I don't trust it's heart monitor either.

Get a monitor with chest strap if you want reliable numbers... and even that isn't reliable. My Polar used to flake out with (temporary) crazy high numbers sometimes. After many dozens of sessions with the Polar, I got an idea what were my normal sort of heart rate numbers just from how I felt.

My wrist mounted Garmin has measured my max hr at 200bpm and I’m 42!!!
I’ve been told what matters is recovery and mine drops down to 70 again in a few mins and is 59 resting in the morning so I’m choosing not to worry. But I’m not a natural runner even though I enjoy it.

My series 4 Apple Watch seems to be spot on in tracking heart rate and steps.

I’m 42 and run regularly - my max working heart rate is 185. So at the end of a long run it’ll be up there, or much sooner if I do intervals. My resting heart rate is pretty low, and Vo2 max is in the ‘excellent’ category. So HR is just one way of measuring fitness.

Everyone is different and I agree that the wrist ones aren’t brilliant - I have an Apple Watch now and I’d say that’s less accurate than a Garmin.

Going on how you feel is the most important. What is your goal with the running? If you want to improve your park run time, then best thing would be to do some intervals (with a good long warm up). However if you’re doing it for the headspace and general participation, take the watch of and enjoy!

I thought the thing about your max HR at 44 being 176 had been debunked? They're now saying that your max hr is your max hr, so whatever it goes up to.

When I started doing parkrun my hr would be up at the sort of 180 average with highs over 200. It doesn't get up that high now as I guess I've got fitter.

Thanks All, sorry I went a bit AWOL, life got in the way .

Some great responses here. I've not been checked for hypertension, as my blood pressure is quite low (to the point where I need to make sure I take on enough liquid each day to stop myself going dizzy / black when standing up too quickly), so I'm not worried about that.

My circuits average HR is about 140-150, but of course there's quite a lot of stopping and starting, so less of that working at a consistent level you get with jogging.

I've not tried a different device - I've had my Apple Watch for over a year, so I guess I'm just comparing like against like, I don't NEED it to be particularly accurate - I'm not a profesisonal athlete (or anywhere near it ), it's just interesting for my own uses.

I'm going to look into RPE scale, never heard of that.

I've looked back over a few other runs where I was on my own, or going at a much slower pace with the kids or whatever, and it drops down to the 165-175 levels. But I run really slowly I think, compared to what I perceive my fitness level to be (I'm not super-fit, but I do exercise at quite a high intensity 2-3 times a week, and will do something, even if just a fast walk, every day).

Running has always been my bete noire, I just never seem to "get" it, and always end up over-analysing and berating myself - every other exercise I do I congratulate myself for getting through it. Perhaps the answer is just stop trying to run . I think in the 20-odd years I've been running, I've managed a sub 30 minute 5 k twice - once was when I was in a 10k race and got swept along in the first half (and really paid for it in the second half, meaning my overall 10k time was 73 mins). My usual time, when I'm running once a week or so, stubbornly remains at 34ish minutes.

Hey ho, I was just interested if anyone else found that running never really clicked for them - everyone in my life who takes up running (from scratch) seems to improve so quickly, going from C25k with no issues and running 30 min 5ks easily. As we know, comparison is the thief of joy, so I'll just keep my head down and plod on .

I don't think running has ever really clicked for me even though I enjoy it. My PT cheerfully told me I haven't got the physique for being a good runner and that I'm built for weightlifting. 🤨😂

I've run sub 30mins 5k years ago but now I'm about 32/33 min mark and ready to puke when finished