Using a heart rate monitor when cycling

[acr]

Tried this for the first time today, and I have to say it was quite a scary experience. I cycle lots, well did before surgery. I've never had any appreciation of what my heart rate is doing when cycling. I'm just finishing rehab now and if my rate exceeds 110 in rehab its a miracle, its all pretty light stuff, my allocated training range is 90-130.

Anyway, went out for a ride with new heart monitor, felt fine. Was just a bit suprised to see my rate ie. what I perceived was a nice casual ride saw my heart doing 130-ish. At 144 I decided time to slow down. However without the monitor I'd have carried on regardless. Maybe I should be brave and carry on, however in the post-op world I'm a little nervous about pushing it. Anyone else been in the same boat and been pleasently suprised at what their monitor is showing ?

Ade

 

[JeffB]

Hello!

Yes, I was very surprised when I started using my heart rate monitor! I am too comfortable at 70% of my max heart rate, but before the heart rate monitor, I would have never guessed I was using that much capacity

For me, my natural response is to push, and I'm finding it awkward to slow down and stay within range...

 

[ChouDoufu]

are you sure your heart rate monitor is accurate? can you check it against
your combo blood pressure/hr gizmo, or maybe one of the units at the gym?

is the rate consistently higher than you expected? hr monitors are
sometimes affected by external transmissions --- like cycling under
high-voltage electric cables, or next to transformers.

what type monitor do you have? chest strap wireless transmission, or
watch style with sensors you have to touch?

if the chest strap style, you need a good skin contact or you can get
strange readings. do you notice any difference depending on whether
you've worked up a good greasy highly conductive sweat?

 

[Philip B]

Heart Rate Zone

Heart Rate Zone

You might want to visit with your cardiologist and have him define what your maximum heart rate should be. In the first few months following my surgery, my cardiologist didn't want me to exceed 130 bpm during exercise. Eventually, he kept raising the cap and eventually removed the cap. I think my maximum heart rate while exercising is now in the mid-170's range.

I cycle a lot during the spring, summer, and fall. Once I passed my one year post-op anniversery, restrictions were pretty much a thing of the past.

There are a lot of good resources available that will help you figure-out your maximum heart rate and the different rate zones that will define whether you are exercising at different levels. The different levels provide different benefits to your heart and other areas of your body.

Getting some guidelines from your cardiologist will help you set goals and remove some of the worry as you do the recovery & rehab thing.

-Philip

 

[acr]

I should reply to my threads sooner......

I don't think there are issues with accuracy. FYI monitor is strap round chest wireless variety. I've been playing with it a bit, normal walking pace for me (fast) gets me to 90 beats/min, so cycling uphill at 130 is no issue methinks. Regular cycling on the flat is around 110 give or take. Its just interesting to read the numbers as you go, anything uphill sees your heart rate increase massively. All interesting stuff! Mind you that valve ticking annoys me, but hey theres worse things in life.

 

[Philip B]

Accuracy?

Accuracy?

Yeah, I wouldn't think accuracy is an issue. Your numbers sound pretty normal to me, but then again I'm just a cyclist with no medical expertise. It's pretty normal to see an increase when you hit the uphill stuff and start putting some stress on your body.

When I do lengthy climbs up mountain passes here in Colorado, I bump into the 160-170's range pretty quickly. At two years post-op, things inside my chest have probably healed-up pretty well.

If you're riding a multi-speed bicycle, you can play with the gears and actually adjust your gear ratios to lower your heart rate, but you probably already know that. The nice thing with a monitor for folks like us is the ability to adjust how hard we're working to stay in the heartrate zone we want to be in. Fun stuff...

Life is short...ride hard and pedal fast!

-Philip

 

[JeffB]

I agree Philip, it's a great tool to keep you in your targeted zone. Often, I've found that while running, when I hit that second or third... or forth wind, my natural tendency is to pick up the pace. Having the monitor helps me to resist that urge

I don't have a very good bike, but I found that when I'm riding in top gear, I'm in the 130 range. To get up to 160, I've really, really got to push hard and fast and I don't' have the muscle to sustain that type of a workout for very long. Unfortunately, I don't have many hills where I live, but in Colorado, I'll bet you have some excellent hills!

ACR,
When I strap my monitor to my chest (I've got the Ironman), I always make sure that the contact points are wet so I get a good reading from the get go, otherwise it's not that accurate until you really start to sweat.

Happy biking!