23% Grade - Heart Rate Approaching DEATH - Help???

[Mr. Bloom]

As to the spike/errant reading: The graph is a Distance graph. If I had placed it on the Time oriented axis, it would have shown that it was 5 minutes before my bpm was below 190. So, I suspect this is an accurate reading.

Indysteel: Yes, it was Boltinghouse Road. An article last week in the local paper featured one guy who did it 14 times in one hour last week. Eek

Deanna: No traffic lights...a very rural area.

Interestingly as to my level of exhaustion approaching the hill, I road down the hill before turning around and riding up. The downhill was exhausting and made every muscle ache. The road was rough, so I had to ride the brakes all the way down. I was braking hard the entire way and couldn't slow to less than 15 mph. Now that I know where it is, I'll come at it from the opposite direction next time and see if that helps.

[El Hombre]

As to the spike/errant reading: The graph is a Distance graph. If I had placed it on the Time oriented axis, it would have shown that it was 5 minutes before my bpm was below 190. So, I suspect this is an accurate reading.

Indysteel: Yes, it was Boltinghouse Road. An article last week in the local paper featured one guy who did it 14 times in one hour last week. Eek

Deanna: No traffic lights...a very rural area.

Interestingly as to my level of exhaustion approaching the hill, I road down the hill before turning around and riding up. The downhill was exhausting and made every muscle ache. The road was rough, so I had to ride the brakes all the way down. I was braking hard the entire way and couldn't slow to less than 15 mph. Now that I know where it is, I'll come at it from the opposite direction next time and see if that helps.

I've gotten up around 190 a few times and things start to close in. SWMBO HATES it when I do that. My family has a history of heart attacks I just got my Polar back up and there is a BIG hill nearby. Hmm, what to do today??

[lph]

ok, I really wasn't going to ask this because I know, I should be asking my dr instead, BUT she really hasn't got a clue about cycling or other strenuous exercise, nor does the heart specialist I've gone to see, so bear with me please...

any of you medical types have an opinion on whether I should be avoiding stressing my heart eg. up to max HR, when I have no sign of heart disease at all, but my family all do? My dad has had a 5-double bypass, my mom has had a small heart attack, my brother died at 41 of a heart attack. All of them with very few symptoms in advance, if any.

I don't really worry about it much, but I wonder a bit if I should be more careful than most about riding alone without a cell phone, for example. All opinions welcome, qualified or un-

[Mr. Bloom]

I don't really worry about it much, but I wonder a bit if I should be more careful than most about riding alone without a cell phone, for example. All opinions welcome, qualified or un-

I know Norway is a safe place (my Mercedes mechanic is from Oslo), but IMHO, I personally think everyone should carry a cell phone with them and whether you are alone or not would be dictated by how isolated your route is.

As I was climbing the hill, I honestly pondered "if I have a heart attack, could I actually get my hands on my cell phone?"

[Andrea]

ok, I really wasn't going to ask this because I know, I should be asking my dr instead, BUT she really hasn't got a clue about cycling or other strenuous exercise, nor does the heart specialist I've gone to see, so bear with me please...

any of you medical types have an opinion on whether I should be avoiding stressing my heart eg. up to max HR, when I have no sign of heart disease at all, but my family all do? My dad has had a 5-double bypass, my mom has had a small heart attack, my brother died at 41 of a heart attack. All of them with very few symptoms in advance, if any.

I don't really worry about it much, but I wonder a bit if I should be more careful than most about riding alone without a cell phone, for example. All opinions welcome, qualified or un-

You are right to assume that your docs don't know too much about exercise, because they barely teach exercise physiology in medical school! As for yourself, since you have a family history of heart disease, it's very important that you have regular heart checkups for any abnormalities. If you perform a stress test at the doctor's office, request that he let you exercise until you get very close to your max heart rate (most docs will stop the test at approx. 85% of max). By doing this, you can be assured that everything is working smoothly across your entire heart rate range.
As long as your checkups are clear, then you should have no issues with strenuous exercise. If you start showing early signs of heart disease (plaque buildup/blocking of the coronary arteries), then you'll have to modify your exercise intensity to avoid depriving any areas of the working heart of oxygen. As long as there are no blocked arteries, though, you should have no problem with pushing yourself to the extremes of your abilities.

[lph]

Thanks, Andrea, I really appreciate it I'll be taking stress tests once a year, and next one is coming up soon, and I'll know now to ask him to keep me puffing for a while...

[indysteel]

[QUOTE=Mr. Silver;240197]
Indysteel: Yes, it was Boltinghouse Road. An article last week in the local paper featured one guy who did it 14 times in one hour last week. Eek

I saw that article and immediately broke out into a cold sweat. They looked like they picked the hottest day of the year for the "challenge." Insanity!

When I first started riding last year, I was alarmed at my heartrate and perceived exertion during the Hilly Hundred. I decided to start from stratch over the winter and worked on building a better aerobic base. During spin classes, I kept my heartrate in Zone 2 for a couple of months and then gradually increased my intensity from there. I haven't been all that scientific in trying to figure out whether it worked. I can climb better this year, but I've still had a few bad moments. Luckily, most of the hills are short enough that it's okay, but I've still gotten off the bike a time or two to catch my breath.

[Scarlet]

sometimes when I read the "technology" threads with heart rates and "what should be my max" i just get a bit naffed off. Surely when you cant get enough breath in your lungs and your heart is bursting out of your chest!!!! this should tell you your heart needs a rest!!!!! And if you want to puke .......well why on earth would you make your body work so hard that all it can do is throw up???
I do understand about getting fitter but one can measure this without a heart rate monitor... really
As you get fitter you go the same route faster and without feeling fatigued
also hills become easier to do
For me i dont want to feel ill after a good ride , I like to feel a sense of acheivement and that my body is still ok for example...
51 miles on Sunday in 4 hours ... oh yeh no puking and a good few hills Scarlet x

[ChickWithBrains]

I'm gonna go out on a limb.

I'm in the "your heart rate monitor was EXACTLY RIGHT" camp.

What does a quick spike on a HR chart mean? It means that, for the interval your HRM is set to (1 sec? 2 or 3? 5?), your heart beat really fast. Maybe you somehow got 4 into that one second for whatever reason. It only lasted a second, but your HRM picked up on it and you have a huge spike saying you were at 240 BEATS PER MINUTE!! But you weren't. You were at 4 beats per second, for one second. Before and after, you were likely lower. Who knows? Maybe you even had a PVC (a premature beat we all get from time to time for a huge variety of reasons) during that little window your HRM was listening.

The important thing is that it was not sustained, you had no repercussions from it, and you're listening to your body and your doc. Keep it up and don't worry about the little blips on your graph that don't seem quite right. No one has a smooth graph.

[Mr. Bloom]

well why on earth would you make your body work so hard that all it can do is throw up???

You're right....BUT....

Some of us come from an era where it was expected that one would push BEYOND their limits to excel. Just because there's bad info out there doesn't mean that attitudes change quickly with new revelations...confusion comes first

[lph]

And if you want to puke .......well why on earth would you make your body work so hard that all it can do is throw up???

and, well...sometimes there's somebody ahead that you really *need* to catch up with....

Not that I'm competitive or anything.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Personally, I'm with Scarlet on this whole thing.

[SouthernBelle]

crap, I just lost my post.

Mr. S, I remember you saying you were a masher. I have that tendency too. I'm working on using the whole pedal stroke, the entire circle. In particular, as my foot comes around the back of the circle, I push forward before I get to the mash down part. When I get this right, I think it reduces the effort required in climbs, and thus reduces puking.

I also think it will reduce the effort required in an entire ride. Hopefully somebody more experienced than me will tell me if I am on the right track.

You should have heard inside my head this morning. "Circle, Circle,..." I think that's why I missed a turn.

[Mr. Bloom]

I also think it will reduce the effort required in an entire ride. Hopefully somebody more experienced than me will tell me if I am on the right track.

I think I'm getting better, but I still struggle with IT Band pain at higher cadence. I am averaging a cadence in the mid-70's and still seem to have my most efficient speed for effort at that point...it still confuses me though since it's contrary to conventional wisdom.