heart rate question

[traveller_62]

Have you recently picked up the volume or intensity of your rides recently? A couple of times this season I've been training too much (too long, too hard, too frequently). When this happens I find that I can't get my heart rate up to where I expect it to be even though I'm feeling ok otherwise. For me this situation signals muscle fatigue and a couple of days of complete rest have helped get me back on track.

Have you noticed an elevation in your resting heart rate as well? This is also a good measure of overtraining.

As the others have mentioned it is also a good idea get checked out by your doctor since this change happened relatively quickly.

Hope you get it figured out soon and that all is well.

- traveller

[Veronica]

So have you been to a doctor yet?

Thom's been worried about you since I first read your post.

V.

[smilingcat]

Please go see a cardiologist and do a stress test with EKG. Some offices are now equipped with stationary bikes in addition to the tread mill.

Unless you are uber fit ultra-athlete, low 40's heart rate, doesn't sound quite right. Also have someone else wear your HRM who knows what their HR is and see if it agrees with them. And for you to try theirs out. Compare the result...

And are you drinking lot of herbal tea by any chance? Like hibiscus flower tea? or something else. If you are, check with herbal medicinal books and also tell the cardiologist before the stress test. I sort of remember that the hibiscus flower has an effect on your blood chemistry and heart rate.

smilingcat

[PinkBike]

i would tend to agree with roadraven. the average may be low, maybe you spend a lot of time recovering. do you watch your heart rate when you're exerting yourself? what does the hrm show as your max after the ride?

if you hit a healthy max i would say you're fine, but i would really worry if you just cannot lift your heart rate.

call your brother!!!!

[ChickWithBrains]

Just to reiterate: you're not on meds, right? If you were on a beta-blocker for blood pressure, it prevents reaching your max heart rate as well as lowering pressure.

Don't stress about a stress test; it's unlikely that ischemia (lack of oxygen to your heart because of clogged arteries) are causing this without you getting totally winded or developing chest pain. That's not to say that it may not be something cardiac, but "the big scary one" is sort of unlikely.

When's the last time you had your thyroid checked?

If you haven't already, borrow a friend's HRM and go for a solo ride to MAKE SURE that it's not your monitor and interference with riding buddies!

Max HR with identical effort decreases over time as we age. And as we get fit. It doesn't make sense that your numbers would change dramatically between one day and the next, but you now compared to you 10 years ago would yield different max HR on identical field tests. Just to keep in mind.

[slmdunc]

Something similar happened to me with a heartrate monitor that was on my personal treadmill. All of a sudden, I couldn't go over 115. I didn't get it. I FELT like I was working hard, I was sweating... but it just wouldn't go up. Turns out - it was the monitor. Never worked right again after that. Not sure of the specifics of WHY it broke, or WHAT broke on it... but it wasn't me.

I hope that's what it is for you!