andrace

I spent a few minutes warming up on my rollers so i wouldnt have to face the arctic socal air right from the get go (it was about 60 degree's and how you people ride in the cold is beyond me, I FREEZE at 55). I was only a few minutes away from my house when i felt the need to give some effort to warm up. I then looked down and my HRM was off the charts. 249 BPM! i just cant believe it was actually that high. Yes i was short of breath, yes it felt i had a high heart rate, but later in my ride when i was doing some sprint intervals my highest heart rate was 202 BPM.

At what point do you guys look at the data and shake your head? Has anyone else seen this while not fully warmed up?

I attached the graph from sporttracks should you feel the need to see it. 249 just seems unrealistic, esp since 200+ feels like i'm trying to kill myself. What do you guys think, or have experienced similar to this?

f4rrest

Yes. 180+ and it's "yeah, right."

CrossCountry2k7

HRMs often pick up interference from power lines and such, most of the time it is short lived as you ride and you should be able to tell from PE if the HR number is close or not so it is not a big deal. I've also heard some reports of zippers causing problems, but I think that is BS.

entukay

202 is my max also, but i've had random 220 spikes, they only last a second or two though so who cares.

kindablue

OP:
220 - your age is technically your max heart rate, fwiw

andrace

I wouldn't think twice about it if was just a second or two up that high, but it was up there above 200 for minutes. Age based max heart rate is total BS.

pacificaslim

I was getting readings like that from my garmin until I went and bought a bottle of signal enhancing gel. It's basically like the gel they use for ekg electrodes. It worked great. Perfect, accurate signal from the moment I put it on.

agarose2000

That 249 measurement is definitely WAY off. Unless you have a cardiac arrythmia, but then you likely wouldn't be able to tolerate sprints, let alone significant exercise, if you did have one that was going that fast.

I noticed your measurements are most off at the start of your workout. This happens a lot, as the HRM doesn't lock on correctly to your HR due to dry skin. My HRM readings for the first 10-15 minutes of my workout are usually way off (both hi and low), and if it's cold out and I'm going easy, it may take 15+ minutes to build up enough sweat for accurate readings.

andrace

ok, that makes the most sense. I lick the sensor before i put it on, but maybe i will get that gel deal and see if it changes anything.

banerjek

My readings can also get wonky when I've been riding a long time and get into cold sweats.

If you see strange readings, there's this high tech method where you just take your own pulse and just calculate your HR. 249 is possible, but highly unlikely. 202 is quite high unless you're young and strong. I can't get my HR that high no matter how hard I try.

umd

um, no

massive fail

OP, it's interference

WantsAPuppy

you think 55 is cold?!?!?! MAN UP holy crap i am EXCITED when its 40-50 degrees with no wind. 60s would be AWESOME bike weather.

umd

We're spoiled here in socal.

UmneyDurak

You don't say. lol

2C2U

Hi, haven't done any posting here but I've got a bit of personal experience with this one so thought it might be worth chiming in.

It might be a fluky reading, but there's also condition out there called SVT that sounds a bit like what you describe. It doesn't happen to me much but sometimes when I'm out riding sort of hard my heart rate will shoot up quickly to 230-240. My max "normal" heart rate is ~195. If not for the heart rate monitor I wouldn't notice anything weird was happening. Everything feels completely normal. In my case it doesn't happen frequently and my heart rate comes back to normal after a minute or two if I stop or ease up so my doctor concluded that it's not really a big deal, but the moral of the story is don't just say "that's impossible" and ignore it. Your heart can beat faster then 220 - your age if your body tells it to. If it happens again take your pulse and if your heart is really beating that fast error on the side of caution and talk to a doctor.

RacerOne

I think the problem was related to the frigid outside temperatures. The sending unit on your monitor simply froze up, happens all the time.

tadawdy

220 - age is "technically" nothing. There are better regressions (208-0.7*age being one). They often aren't much different until you're looking at predictions for the elderly, which is the main population for predictions of max HR anyway.

Even the better equations are no substitute for measuring, when you can.

andrace

hey thanks guys i appreciate the suggestions.
as far as 55 being cold im just a total wuss in the cold, but i love heat.

that aside
UMD, what sort of interference?
as to the high rate while warming up, i do sometimes notice when i rush to school on my skateboard i can tell my heart is really cranking. as i coast downhill approaching class it drops to normal and i'm fine.
220-your age is right up there with body mass index and you dont have to go very far to find the silliness with that. i watch my 68 year old dad pass that max rate on a regular basis.

umd

Bmi has it's problems but is far less silly than 220-age. That formula is not meant to predict an indivual's HR it is meant to describe a population in general. Anyone who tries to use it to calculate their hr is either misinformed or an idiot.

As for interference, that's a vague term meaning that something is preventing the reception of the proper signal. Either the receiver is picking up stray electrical signals, or the transmitter is "stuck", or picking up stray impulses ans interpreting them as heartbeat. Of course an hrm works by picking up the electrical signals in the body that come from your nervous system to tell your heart to beat, so if the strap is seeing extra signals it may think they are heartbeats.

jrobe

It is common on my HRM to get readings exactly twice the proper reading especially at the start of a ride when you haven't sweated too much yet to get a better electrical connection on your chest. I often see my HRM reading go instantly from 125 to 250 in the first mile or so. Maybe it is picking up the atrial signal from the heart along with the ventricular impulse.

I think the electrical gel would help but it isn't hardly worth the effort.

exRunner

I get a X2 reading when I start once in a while. Not sure what causes it, and it doesn't really matter anyway because HR doesn't count during warm up IMHO.

The only HRM reading that would concern me is 0.

Ex Pres 

Gel? Salesmen must love seeing you come through the door. Just spit on the back of the strap before you put it on. It's free.

Garfield Cat

Next time I see my cardiologist, I'm going to ask him about remote heart rate monitoring. I'm guessing that the "over the top" way is to insert a pacemaker type apparatus inside the chest wall and have that signal transmit to a receiver.

The other way is to get rid of the strap and then paste on the various electrodes as if you're setting up for an EKG treadmill study. This would entail a brand new setup, not a Polar type thing that riders are accustomed to.

These may appear to be extreme measures and besides many riders believe that power meters that measure wattage gives valuable information. But for the aging baby boomers, the heart is at the heart of their longevity issue. A longer quality of life issue.

kensuf

ding ding ding..

I've seen interference from my jersey in the wind on a cold dry day (probably electrostatic) and power lines. Some coded hrms work better than others, the garmin's seem OK, my polar ALWAYS had interference problems..

FWIW, 220-age is BS, just throw it out. I'm 40, will be 41 next month. My lab tested max hr was "theoretically" 204, I hit 206 in a race last year and the lab guys believed it was realistic. My "HR @ LT" is 185 (done via LT testing).

superdex

run the strap under the faucet to get the contacts wet. No need for gel....