# Is my HR too high?



## quikcolin (Aug 31, 2014)

Hi guys,

I'm a relativity new cyclist in the road world (I've been in the saddle of a mtb for.. well my entire life). I live in Ontario Canada, therefore the winter has kept me and my bike locked up in the basement on a trainer. I'm 35 years old.

I've recently purchase a HRM & cadence sensor and have them sync'd with my Garmin 510. My question is this "Is my HR too high?"

I spin every other day for 20-30 mins... at a fairly high intensity (which I'm learning might not be the best idea... rather - do one hard day, one easy day for recovery). I'm posting an image of my spin from yesterday morning. The entire ride was 20 mins, and I have no idea if the follow figures are crazy or not? When I tell my friends I'm averaging 175bpm and hitting a max heart rate of 195, they tell me my heart is going to explode lol. This is from Garmin Connect, showing my cadence and hr.









My resting HR is about 60bpm.

Thanks for taking the time to take a look. Cheers.


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## marquinhos (Nov 22, 2007)

There is nothing wrong with your heart rate. If you are riding every other day for 20-30 minutes, you are getting plenty of recovery and there is no harm in going hard every time you get on the bike. 

If you rode for longer, you'd almost certainly get fitter though. 20-30 minutes is very little.


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## DonBjr (Oct 4, 2014)

Low 160's for me is pace I can maintain a long time. 170's I'm working. 180's is hard. I have hit 197 running. I am 50 year old.


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## Upnorth (Jul 4, 2013)

Your HR is fine for your age. I'm 50 and can hit 185 -190 at extreme effort. My normal on a 32-35km/hr average ride will sit at 148. Couple weeks back I did Mt. Lemmon a 42 km climb and maintained 160-170 for 3 hrs. Your doing fine for 35 keep spinning spring is coming - I'm in Ont also.


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## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

I'm 62 and did a trainer ride a couple of weeks ago where I averaged 171 bpm over 80 minutes. My absolute max is 183. I took a couple of days recovery after that.


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## Doug B (Sep 11, 2009)

For comparison. on the computerized bike at the local gym, I'll ride for an hour, averaging 225 watts and about 160 beats per minute. 

I'm 43 years young, and about 25 pounds over my ideal weight.


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## Pirx (Aug 9, 2009)

Your question, and your friends, do not even begin to make any sense. It's like me asking: "I'm wearing Size 9 shoes, do you think those are too large?"


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

Unless you have a heart condition (i.e. tachycardia) that causes extreme heart rates, you can't have a HR that is "too high". Whatever you can do is fine. The body and brain have numerous governors that keep you from going so hard that you hurt yourself.

If your friend's theories were correct humans would have gone extinct long before they could invent the heart rate monitor.


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## PMC (Jan 29, 2004)

Everyone is different and while you may run higher than most I wouldn't worry about it assuming you have no underlying health issues. As you are new-ish to road cycling if you haven't had a physical recently it probably wouldn't hurt.

I used to ride with a guy who regularly saw 200-205 HR on climbs and he could sit at 170 HR and carry a conversation. On the same rides I'd see 160s on the climbs and 130s on the flats. Both of us have similar perceived efforts he just runs a lot higher and was 8 years younger which probably played into it.


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## tlg (May 11, 2011)

quikcolin said:


> When I tell my friends I'm averaging 175bpm and hitting a max heart rate of 195, they tell me my heart is going to explode lol.


What specific knowledge do your friends have regarding heart rate? Are they doctors or experts in sports fitness in some way?

As mentioned, unless you have a heart condition, your HR isn't too high. Looks pretty normal for your age, maybe even on the low side. 
Your heart isn't going to explode. You'll vomit and/or pass out before that happens.


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## Corenfa (Jun 9, 2014)

Hahaha...
Depending upon time in the season (read: how fit I am at the moment), I've hit peaks at 227 bpm (no tunnel vision and still could talk). My peaks when I'm very fit (Sept/Oct) are 195-200. I regularly ride between 165-185.

When I first started out, I was concerned, so I went and talked to a cardiologist. She said I was just fine. We did a stress test and I walked around with a device hooked up to me for 3 days. She said some people just have higher heart rates and what was most important in my case was how quickly I recovered (which was apparently very quick) and my resting HR (42-47 typically). 

Otherwise, she told me, if I'm not in physical pain in the chest and left shoulder or I don't pass out, I'm okay.

And, if it helps, I'm 38, 155lbs, and only in "okay" shape for a decent rider.


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## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

Corenfa said:


> I've hit peaks at 227 bpm (no tunnel vision and still could talk)...


Then your true max is likely higher.


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## scooterman (Apr 15, 2006)

No your HR is fine. My max HR is very low about 180 at the limit i see 170 on hard efforts. My friend is puts out about 80W less threshold power than me and has a max of 214. Everyone is different, now if i hit 195 yes my HR would probably be in some type of a/v-fib and id be in need of some electrical assistance. Some people run like field mice and others like elephants. 

Now if you hop on a bike pedal for 10 seconds and your HR is 190 well then you may have a problem.


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## jrabenaldt (Mar 3, 2008)

In my non medical opinion it's fine. 

I have been in Mtb races where over 6.5 hrs and 60 miles my avg was 167 and maxed at 194 and I am 47. 

Everyone's built a bit different so you have to listen to your body. It used to concern me when I compared it to guys I ride with but even my docs have confirmed that it's fine.


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## ESTrainSmartBlog (Feb 25, 2013)

In my professional opinion, I think you should investigate your crank length. Through personal experience and research on my athletes and clients, I discovered that crank length can cause drastic changes in heart rate. When the cranks are too long, your natural cadence will fall below the minimum cadence needed to maximize venous return - 90rpm and above. Additionally, you'll experience exaggerated heart rate responses. Regardless of how smoothly/ lightly you increase power to maintain a comfortable tempo, the heart rate always seems to overcompensate.

Below is an image of two of my workouts at different crank lengths. These two workouts were separated by less than two months of light, off-season training. At the 165mm crank length, my heart rate averaged 17 bpm lower. You'll also notice that my HR recovered at a higher magnitude and frequency as opposed to the excessively long crank.

While my situation required me to use a shorter crank, an excessively short crank can cause serious performance decrements also. Finding the optimal crank length can mean going longer or shorter- it depends largely on your flexibility, mobility and motor control.

Feel free to visit my blog for more information: Eat Sleep Train Smart - The Fitness & Cycling Research Blog: How to Determine your Optimal Crank Arm Length


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## Corenfa (Jun 9, 2014)

Heck, if my route profiles looked like that, yeah, I could/would have a max HR of 165. But since I'll do 4,000' of climbing in 40-50 miles easily, it's not going to happen.

Those are some of the flattest graphs I've seen from an elevation perspective as well as speed, cadence, etc. The only way I'm getting that around here is by sitting on the trainer where I can easily keep my HR in check.


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## ESTrainSmartBlog (Feb 25, 2013)

These two rides were both aerobic steady state efforts on a 2.5 mile loop rarely interrupted by traffic. That's how I was able to produce smooth graphs outdoors. Sure beats riding indoors on a trainer! The loop is also surprisingly big, so it's not as monotonous as it appears to be on the map.

The 165bpm was only a peak - that wasn't my max heart rate. At the longer crank, I peaked at 176bpm. The point of my post was to demonstrate that abnormally high heart rates can easily be a symptom of having the wrong crank length.


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