The day after a half or full Ironman, I defy you to get your HR into zone 4... ( I don't suggest you try, because your body needs recovery at that point.

"His reply was that a low heart rate during the warmup meant that his system wasn't ready to supply the energy/oxygen/whatever that he'd need for a hard workout, so he was going to take it easy."
- - True in my experience

"if your HR doesn't come up very much under a light load that means you're ready to do more work, and if your HR spikes under light load you should probably take it easy."
- - I've never had a problem getting my HR to spike by warming up a bit too quickly, which is not good for you because of concomittant cortisol release. If you're on a CT, a given power output should theoretically cause a given HR. Usually, your power output will be down as well (if you're in need of recovery).

"I thought that was the reason why people wore HR monitors for several hours after a hard workout to see how quickly they recovered"
- - That is a good indication, but it shouldn't take hours, unless the workout took hours (like 5 or more).

"the reason we look for a *low* resting HR as an indication of fitness, not a high resting HR."
- - low HR on the CT, at a given output, is usually an indication of good recovery, unless you're in a lot of pain (more than usual) in getting to that output.

"Am I wrong here? Is there anything to indicate that a lack of "responsiveness" in HR is an indication of lack of recovery?"
- - It is a possible indication of overtraining/under-recovery.

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

IF my resting HR is elevated (like it was this AM), and I don't have a fever, I'll suspect I'm not recovered from the previous workouts. If I were to begin doing an aerobic exercise, my HR may not go up as much as usual, because I'm not producing as much power as usual...since I'm not recovered well enough to produce as much power at a perceived exertion. Your heart isn't going to work any harder than it must to supply blood to the exercising muscles...it's lazy....not doing more work than is required to get the job done.

While HR tends to reflect power being produced, it certainly isn't infallible...when really rested well, you may have a lower HR than usual at a given work output...and you may have a higher HR than usual at a given work output when you aren't well rested. It's at least for this reason that many people use Power instead of HR to train.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

His low heart rate is likely a GOOD thing... having an elevated HR is an initial sign of overtaining. The only exception is when you're seriously in the hole and having endocrine system issues, in which case you might have problems getting your heart rate up at a high intensity.



Your training partner is likely incorrect

I look at it this way, if your HR is drastically different from what it usually is, no matter what the activity, then there is a reason for it. The reason is commonly that you need more rest, water, etc.

* If your resting HR is 15 beats higher, then you probably need rest (or for me, my allergies are so bad that I'm having trouble breathing)
* If you are warming up and your HR is very different than normal, look for a reason.
* If you go out for tempo or interval work and can't get your HR out of zone 2-3, then you probably need to rest.