High heart rate on hills

[cyclinnewbie]

My response is pretty much the same as everyone else's....1. see doc. Immediately. 2. maybe you need some pulmonary function tests...may have some exercise induced asthma going on. 3. Are you adequately hydrated? Sometimes if you are even a tad dehydrated it will affect your tolerance. 4. DO you have any other medical issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, etc that may be influencing your tolerance?

I think that you absolutely need to find out if you indeed had a heart attack all those years ago, that should be first and foremost! Let us know what's going on, ok?

[Kano]

I know there have been some other posts about heart rates lately, so I'm hoping to get some help with mine too. As soon as I start going up a hill my heart rate and breathing both go out of control even though I don't really feel like I'm putting in a huge effort. This happens when I'm biking or hiking. If I stop to rest it comes back to normal quite quickly.

Kat -- the ladies are likely right. With a heart health history, you probably should see a doctor to be sure things are okay.

Along with that, I could say that exact same thing about what happened to me while climbing hills last year, until one day when I decided to try going up a hill I'd just come down for a second time. I rode from home to that hill -- a little over three miles. Struggled up the hill, stopping three times in that mile and a quarter climb. Then I rode down, and decided what the heck, I'd try it again. (it was that or follow a garbage truck on the way home) AND I MADE IT! You'd think it would be harder the second time, but by then, I'd ridden closer to seven miles. So, the next time I went out, I rode the long way to that same hill, AND I MADE IT AGAIN! My body needs a bit more time to loosen up before I do the tough stuff. Another day, on another hill that I've battled, I happened to have my bike in the granniest granny gear when I started on my way up the hill for some reason. AND I MADE IT UP THIS HILL! Didn't have that nasty, out of control, scary heart rate and breathing thing. Another day, we were riding with a group, stopped for a break -- for too long, it turned out -- we got to a pretty big hill that I should have been able to climb with no problem because it was still smaller than my practice hills, and I couldn't do it: body cooled down, dang it!

So I always make sure I've ridden 5-7 miles on the way to my "favorite" evil hills, and I make sure I'm in that granny gear when I start. Sometimes, I can shift up to a bigger gear on the way up, but it works really well FOR ME to follow this little recipe!

Karen in Boise

[Jolt]

Definitely get checked out to be safe. And try to get clarification on the supposedly having had a small heart attack--occasionally an EKG can show something when that really isn't the case. 22 is awfully young for something like that, especially for a woman--not saying it isn't possible but it does seem improbable. What was the arrhythmia you had? That could be what's going on here. Does the high heart rate start and stop suddenly, or gradually, and is it at all irregular? And some of us just seem to get our heart rates through the roof on hills--I certainly do when running (can hit or exceed 200 at times) so it could just be that as well.