What IS maximum heart rate?

[gnat23]

Hah! Like your new toy, huh?

After a particularly hilly climbing day, I downloaded my numbers and freaked out at the 223 max it registered. I thought maybe it was a fluke from it moving around on my skin or something, but I saw the ramp up to 223 and the ramp back down. Nope, I hit it fair and square.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. "I think I should either should be dead or 8 years old!"

-- gnat!

[Mr. Bloom]

Yep...I LOVE that new toy. I no longer have Gadget Envy! The Garmon 305 is uber cool!

[GLC1968]

If you have a small working "window" for heartrate, then you'd benefit from lactate threshold testing (everyone can, actually). That way, you can focus some of your training sessions on pushing that level up to a higher percentage of your maximum work capacity.

Thanks, Andrea!

That is kind of what I thought. I've had some estimates done (using a treadmill) and my lactate threshold came out pretty close to my max already. The trainer I worked with said this was highly unusual except in elite athletes or in those who are genetically gifted for CV capacity. I definitely don't fall into the first category, but I'm going to consider real testing before I feel comfortable actually placing myself in the second group!