Heart Rate

[10k2couch]

Bit of background... 37 you Male. 5ft 6. Currently weighing in at 17st.

Massive weight swings in my life. Went from 20 st down to under 11st Back up to 22St in 5 years. Previously ran 5k and 10k plenty of times but last decent 5k i was about 14st. Competitive at squash although not much game time this year. Hence the weight gain.

I've just finished week 5 run 2. Up to now it's been a breeze. Baring the burning in my calves which I presume is down to me carrying so much weight. I haven't got out of breath in any run and my heart rate doesn't budge. Resting it's less than 80bpm. Not sure how accurate the treadmill monitor is but it doesn't seem to get above 90bpm. I'm walking at 6km/hrs and running at 7.5km/hr Until tonight..... about 3 minutes from the end of the second run I had a weird fluttering feeling in my cheast. My heart rate shot up to 160 and didn't go down till after I'd finished the warm down.

3 questions....

Is the hrm on the treadmill accurate?

If so, why isn't my heart rate going up much when I run??

And more imporattly what was the spike all about and is it dangerous. I was a little out of breath. But not exactly panting

[ArthurJG Graduate]

The fact that you felt a flutter might be worth mentioning to your doc just to be safe. Wouldn’t read too much in to the treadmill readings on their own (not my field of expertise though!) but if your body is telling you something, listen to it.

[MarkyD Graduate]

Please don't run again until you've spoken with both your GP (first) and then your trainer at the gym. No way we can tell you what's going on. But you know that a weird fluttery feeling in your chest whilst exercising is your body telling you to see a GP, tomorrow.

Ignore the heart-rate monitor on the treadmill. These are often accurate, but clearly it is not working for you. I assume that you hold onto two metal handles for the heart-rate to be measured across your chest.

With the fluttery feeling, once your GP gives you the go-ahead to run, next you need to discuss it with the trainer at the gym. Ask for a chest-worn heart-rate monitor and the trainer to accompany you when you next go on the treadmill. You need to be supervised when you next run, just in case.

Heart-rate at 160 bpm at the end of W5r2 sounds in the right zone, and it will take 5-10 minutes to recover back to normal (depends upon your level of fitness). So that's all OK. I'd say that the 'spike' was the heart-rate monitor working for the first time. These handles do require an electrical connection, and if your hands are not damp, then it may not work properly. If you're not raising a sweat, that could do it. But you may be damp enough at the end of the second 10 minute run for it to work properly.

But weird fluttery feeling: that's an alarm bell.

[Daftclare]

Definitely worth a GP check up - sooner rather than later, but don’t be alarmed it’s probably nothing, but too important to ignore x