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.

Two relevant points

- I need practice on hills in general. I tend to choose the wrong gear and lose momentum quickly. Obviously figuring that out will help with this but it happens when I'm hiking too, and long before I feel like I've really put in a lot of work.

- I had some heart problems about 10 years ago. When I was 19 I had an arhythmia that seems to have sorted itself out. Then when I was 22 I went to the hospital for an asthma attack and the emergency room staff told me I had damage to my heart that indicated I'd had a recent heart attack. Nothing else was ever said about it so I have no idea if I did have a little one or not. I'm 29 now and hadn't thought about my heart in a long time until I gave up on a hill recently and noticed that my heart rate was well over 200.

Is there anything I can do to help keep my heart rate lower while I go up hills?