I've read that the standard Max HR calculation (220 - age) becomes less accurate for folks over 50. When I used an HRM 6 years ago I found that calculation still to be too low and manually set my max to 187 based on observed readings over time. Ultimately that unit died and I've gone several years w/o any sort of HRM.
I just picked up a new HRM so I could take a stab at doing some HR training again but I'm not sure if I've got dialed in yet. Here are the calculations that have been applied so far:
- 220 - age (53): 167
- Polar built-in based on b-day: 168
- Something I found online (214 - (.8*age): 177
I suspect that even 177 was too low as most of my jogs and bike rides average in the 85% range, with a lot of time (30 to 40%) in the 90+% range.
Last week I ran some intervals during my jog and when I got home I found my HRM had registered 178. So I figured I could bump my max up to 178.
Late this afternoon I took a 22 mile ride on a route I ride regularly. Well...I ended up on the outbound leg riding with some guy who was faster than me. That, of course, didn't stop me from trying to keep up. At one point he started to drope the hamer so I jumped on his wheel and hung on for dear life. He finally droped me but I was able to catch back up and have one more big effort on his wheel before I turned around to head home. I worked pretty hard on the way home but I was watching my HRM and never saw it go above about 96%.
Well...I just took a look at my monitor and it shows that I hit a max hr of 197. I know with my old HRM I once saw a spike of 220 and wrote it off to a bad reading. 197 is still pretty far off so I'm inclined to write it off as an anomaly but I still suspect my max may still be somewhere north of the 178 I've currently got set.
I know everyone's different but what's your experience trying to dial-in a max HR (without going to a professional to get it tested)?
And just so ya know...I had a stress test 2 years ago...I'm adopted so have no family history and just wanted to set a baseline. I got a very clean bill of health (they kept asking "so why are you here?")