So I bought myself a fitness watch a month ago as a birthday present to me and I've been using it track my running distance, speed, heart rate, pace etc. Since then I found out that when I'm running, my heart rate is consistently in the 180s or around 190 bpm, which is scary high. I didn't give it much though in the beginning but the bright red line in the graph was starting to freak me out a little so this week I researched if it was dangerous to have such a high heart rate.
While I am, of course, not a physician and I don't think my knowledge is flawless - it turns out it's not necessarily dangerous unless you start getting nauseous, dizzy or otherwise sick. I had none of those complaints, but several of these sources also mentioned that extreme bpms such as mine don't actually contribute much to aerobic fitness, it just makes it ridiculously hard to keep up your exercise/pace/motivation/EVERYTHING. So I decided to try a technique that reportedly worked well - slowing down.
IannodaTruffe & Oldfloss yes I can hear you thinking, "THAT'S WHAT WE'VE BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG" - but dear reader, it is actually true. Take it from a cynic who thought she was already running at snail pace and couldn't possibly go any slower - guess what: YOU CAN. My running today was just about as fast as my brisk walk, and my distance decreased by about 1km, but my heart rate averaged 155, my breathing evened out (4 steps:1 inhale/exhale, whereas before 2 steps:1 inhale/exhale) and I even managed some nose breathing, and after 30 mins I felt like I could have done another 30. I'll stick with this pace now, however slow I may be - I don't have to prove to myself that I can go faster, because I know I can, but I do need to stay in the aerobic zone if I want to improve my fitness "in the long run".
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That's great news, but just bear in mind that some wrist-based heart-rate devices (using an optical technique) can often 'lock' onto your cadence (foot strikes per minute) instead of your heart rate... so when it's reading 180-190 bpm, it;s actually measuring your cadence. Unless you're around 30 years of age and running at your absolute maximum (think a sprint finish at a parkrun but for the entire length of your run) then it's unlikely your heart rate was actually 180-190 bpm. IF you can take a picture of a typical heart rate graph and post it, I'd be very interested.
But the slowing down ? You've done EXACTLY the right thing. How did your runs feel previously, irrespective of the 180-190 heart rate? Were you out of breath?
Hi John_W , thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'm happy to share the screenshots I took but I don't have an iphone and so can't download the app and so can't actually paste them here, but maybe I can send them you in a PM? Don't know if that's even possible ^_^
As for how my runs felt, a lot more tolerable and a lot less out of breath! And towards the end I actually speed up a little bit without needing to change the way I breathe so I think that's a good thing?
Well done on the run and also on the research...............nothing beats your own investigation!
The other thing to bear in mind is that unless you have entered your actual maximum heart rate into your device, it is showing you averages, while actual ranges are quite wide.
Your best bet is to see how your heart rate matches to an easy conversational pace, at which you can talk ungaspingly, then you will have a reference for future runs and be able to identify progress.
People do get fixated by speed........... well done for seeing the truth!
Hi IannodaTruffe , thank you for your kind words! I did set my max heart rate in the app, but my new speed actually lets me have an easy conversational pace as you say, whereas before I could just get out three words before gasping for breath again...!
What you have done is entered an average for someone of your age. As I said previously, your actual maximum heart rate may be quite different and can only be established by specific testing.
For instance, when I was 60 I could run perfectly happily for an hour with my heart rate in the mid to high 150s, whereas my theoretical max hr, based on the average formula, was 160.......... clearly my true max hr was higher at this time, I suspect nearer 180bpm.
I have never bothered establishing my actual maximum heart rate and so treat all HRM stats as only a very rough guide.
Ah ok, I get you now - sorry! I'm actually seeing my GP on Thursday so I might ask her if she has a way to test this
I had the same alarming problem (185 bpm for periods of time - and I’m 61yo!) and John_W advised me about the cadence issue. As a result I wore my watch a bit tighter (only when running) and my bpm has never gotten above 164 since - the traces now make sense.
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