Many of you know I’m a big fan of low heart rate training and had massive success with it from March through to the summer running at about 140bpm at increasing paces. October, no idea why, all of my runs had a high heart rate - 160+bpm. Poor diet? Stress being back at work? Glute issues? Couldn’t fathom why. This week I’ve tried to eat better, hydrate more and I’ve done some glute exercises. Anyway, today seemed the same. Set off and hr shot up again. Then I remembered, during my research trying to work out what’s wrong with me, I read a few posts saying to turn the watch around so it’s on the back of your arm, and push it up as far as it will go so it’s on the fleshy part which gives a more accurate reading. So at 6.5k, I did that. No change. But at 7.5k it dropped back to normal and stayed like that till the end of my 10 mile run. Like totally back to normal 🤷🏽♀️ Did it take 1k to reset itself? Did the diet and exercises kick in at the 7.5k mark? I have no idea. But psychologically it gave me a massive boost. I’ll see what happens with the rest of the week. Bizarre.
A run of two halves: Many of you know I... - Fun Beyond 10K & ...
A run of two halves
Time to invest in a chest HRM I reckon Tasha. Mine gives me peace of mind, I’d have thought one would be essential if your running focuses as much on hr as yours does. You could at least remove the doubt of a dodgy watch reading.
I’ve tried two different ones and I get massive heart rate spikes with them. I think it must be static as they give me readings sometimes of 195 which are way over my max and they’ve given me those readings when I’ve being going really, really slowly! I might get an arm optical monitor though.
That’s a shame. It might be caused by your running tops. Have you tried using contact gel?
No, what does that do? Would it stop static? I think it is caused by my tops as I wear baggy tops.
The spike can certainly be caused by your running tops. I believe you can get anti static spray but I’m not sure how effective that is and if it would affect the wicking and breathability of your tops.
If you’ve got two HRMs lying around in a drawer I’d definitely try the gel. I’m assuming you already have tried wetting the contact pads and skin. It’s electro conductive gel which will improve conductivity. It can get messy though so try the wetting first.
A few things to try before you spend any more money Tasha 👍
I sent them both back. I think I’ll stick to turning my watch around for now. See if my heart rate stays lower over the next few runs. Hopefully it will. Thank you for your advice. I’ll definitely bear it on mind. I think an arm monitor might be my best bet as that’s away from the loose tops 🤔
Congratulations on 10m because to run this distance as you did is great credit to you with so much going on in the background 😀
Thank you GTFC 😊
Whatever you do, don't doubt your quality because you're exceptional. Technology is brilliant to have but for people like you to run how you have, and run how you do, with big miles, super distances and the stamina... all of that is absolutely incredible. Besides I won't let you forget!
You’re so kind!
Oh by the way, with the new HRR figures, lots of my running was in zone 2!
That's really interesting. Right now I'm focusing a lot on HR and I'm aware my watch isn't wholly accurate. I'd been toying with the idea of a chest strap because I thought they were more accurate, but your experience suggests maybe not 🤫. I may try turning my watch round for a while. I'm sure mine reverts to cadence at times - do you think turning it may help that?
I think chest straps do work for most people but I’m a staticky person 🤣 I also wear loose tops which would cause static. I think turning it could help. I looked at my cadence and heart rate and they aren’t the same so I don’t think that happens to me. I googled it too and it seems to only be an issue with the 235? Have a go at turning it 👍🏽
I just dumped my fitbit in favour of Garmin and can now use a wahoo tikr strap with it. It is a lot more stable. I get the feeling Fitbit sees your rate climbing and assumes that is what is happening so will spike when you start then come down. I found also bright sunlight would effect it also.
Ooooh naughty watch!😂🙄
This is interesting from the viewpoint of someone who does not monitor HR. Do you find a good correlation between low heart rate showing on your watch and how you feel? - (Thinking in the past when it has shown low, rather than during more recent shenanigans.) – e.g. how your breathing is going, how comfortable you feel etc? Can you rely on that as your guide?
Recently I was reading about finding your “easy pace” and one suggestion was using three paces for each breath in and three out - does something like that connect with HR measure?
I know nothing about monitoring HR during running, but I do know that any body monitoring has to go hand-in-hand with the real body signals. - I discovered that all too clearly having the misfortune to have a faulty monitor during labour – you wouldn’t believe the rubbish it was telling the midwives until they realised. 🙄
Yes I’m quite good at running by feel now as I’ve been doing it for so long. I was just so frustrated at why my heart rate kept going so high on my easy runs. Hopefully I’ve found the answer. I’m not as strong as I was in the summer but I’ve got glute issues so I’m working on that. I know that most people don’t run their easy runs slow enough. They think they’re running easy, but actually they’re not. The key to it is that you can run far more miles but because you do it so easily, your body needs little recovery. You get fitter and faster. It’s great. You go slower and therefore enjoy it more and in turn get faster 🤣
It sounds exactly what I need when I hobble off the IC - looking forward to it. xx
Presumably you’ve tried checking your pulse against the HRM at the end of a run to compare?
Not at the end of a run. I have had hr testing over 24 hours due to a low heart rate to rule out anything sinister. It’s totally normal anyway. They measured a low of 37 where my garmin went down to 29. So that’s how accurate they are 🤣 I found them more accurate on runs than when not running. Just recently it’s been oddly high. With the cooler weather, I might have been sweating enough to get proper readings. I’ll keep experimenting.
If you can push your watch up to make it tighter it was probably too loose for accurate readings.
It should be above your wrist bones and a snug fit so it cannot move.
Those sudden jumps up and down on the HR trace cannot be your heart rate. They do look like pictures I’ve seen of cadence lock.
I’m not sure the cadence lock necessarily matches HR reading to cadence reading. More that the movement of the watch corrupts the optical readings obtained by the optical sensor. Is the strap snug enough on your wrist? You shouldn’t be able to move it about.
Interesting! I'm going to try wearing my watch that way and see if it makes a difference.
Not what you're looking for?
You may also like...
Two Runs in One Day
One run, two more PBs
Two shorts runs along the Ridgeway between White Horse Hill & Waylands Smithy & back again
First run at HM distance!
Eliud Kipchoge makes history by running sub two-hour marathon
HM training week8 day5 - long run: 1.5 hours in zones 1&2 (pretty graphs for those who like ‘em)
Not a Fun Run! 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️
