OK, so I realise that max hr should go down over time, but today I recorded my max HR ever and it got me wondering if I should go a bit more steady.
I got into cycling about 7 years ago, and by 2014/15 I was hitting about 100-140 mpw average for the year. My club does competitions on strava segments (just for fun) and back then I remember my max was about 197, although I did do a 30 minute effort at over 190 for the entire effort. I also had a scare back then when the Dr told me I might have an arythmia. After a few weeks of panic I went in for the tests and it turned out I have an ‘athletes heart’, which apparently is a good thing as the name would suggest.
Last couple of years have been steadier, but not totally off the bike. This year I hit 2000 miles by the end of March, but with a baby on the way in May I started to pull back. 4 weeks back into training and I had a bash at this week’s segment, just a 40 second hill sprint, and my HR went gradually up to 200 during the effort. Part of me is stoked to push that hard, but another part of me finds the idea of 200 bpm a bit worrying at 30 years old.
Some of us are built like a high revving Honda engine and others are built like a diesel. I’m over 50, but I can still hit 193 bpm during VO2 max intervals.
Age based max HR is not 100% correct for every person. So if you take 1000 people they will not all have max HR 185 (at specific age), but it might be avg. max HR for that amount of people.
Don’t know how hot it is where you live. But very hot weather can also spike your HR to the point where you did not see it before or for a while.
I’m 35 and I can get it up to 202 towards the end of intervals and down to 37 if I lay down on a couch for a little while. I think a big range is good?
I’ve read both are “normal” enough for athletes so I don’t really think about it much.
Good to know it’s not just me, I have club mates who baulk at the thought of going over 180. Like you say, I imagine everyone’s engine works differently!
Tbf I didn’t throw up today which always means there’s a bit more in the tank!
Last year at age 44 my HR got over 190 multiple times, with a max of 197 for the year. My doctor says he’s not worried about it since my max HR has been consistently high throughout my life as an adult athlete.
OK, so I realise that max hr should go down over time, but today I recorded my max HR ever and it got me wondering if I should go a bit more steady.
I got into cycling about 7 years ago, and by 2014/15 I was hitting about 100-140 mpw average for the year. My club does competitions on strava segments (just for fun) and back then I remember my max was about 197, although I did do a 30 minute effort at over 190 for the entire effort. I also had a scare back then when the Dr told me I might have an arythmia. After a few weeks of panic I went in for the tests and it turned out I have an ‘athletes heart’, which apparently is a good thing as the name would suggest.
Last couple of years have been steadier, but not totally off the bike. This year I hit 2000 miles by the end of March, but with a baby on the way in May I started to pull back. 4 weeks back into training and I had a bash at this week’s segment, just a 40 second hill sprint, and my HR went gradually up to 200 during the effort. Part of me is stoked to push that hard, but another part of me finds the idea of 200 bpm a bit worrying at 30 years old.
Anyone else have a racing heart?
I’m 50.
Om a 20 min Wattbike FTP test I’m peaking at about 180.
I’m 66 and survived “The Widow Maker” about three years ago so heart rate anomalies get me thinking too, especially the ones that look like this: ( ______________________ )
Right now I max out at about 163 but I take the winter off to ski as much as I can and when I get back on the bike in late March my HR is as high as 190. It takes about 6 weeks to reduce the maximum back to the 160’s. I have no idea what is going on but it seems to be a thing with me. BTW my cardiologist says I have no restrictions on physical activity - good thing.
On the flipside of older folks with high HRs, I’m 24 and rarely get up to 180bpm. I’m very condition dependent. In cool dry conditions, even full gas efforts will rarely get me over 170. In humid southern summers, I can get up to 175-180 if I really push hard to follow an attack after I’ve already been riding at threshold.
I’m not sure if it’s related to having a lower ceiling and not being able to push as deep, but one of my biggest advantages is that I can recover from efforts extremely quickly. I did a hammer ride last week with 6 guys taking ~2 min pulls on the front. My HR on the front was ~170, but would drop back in the 130s super quickly once I dropped in line. Others on the ride had a much higher HR the entire team, even when on the front. In my experience riding with different types of cyclists, those with a strong surge/sprint have higher max HRs, whereas those with a steady state power like myself have lower HRs.
I started training and racing with HR in 2007 (age 18/19) and my Max HR those first years was 205. Did a max HR test up a hill in 2017 and reach the same 205 BPM max (age 28). Haven’t done a proper test this year (age 30), but reached 203 during one interval. It really seems like my max HR hasn’t dropped a beat the past 12 years.
I hit 167max. going up a 12% short bike sprint on my normal saturday group ride.
I thought you may be interested in this easy to use spreadsheet. https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Triathlon/News/Blogs/Multisport-Lab/2016/February/22/How-to-Calculate-Your-Training-Zones
The three methods on this sheet uses Karvonen, Tanaka, and Hunt (which looked like it was the highest).
My max worked out to 171 running and 161 biking. Since I hit 167 without trying to hit max, even these methods seem a little off.