Originally Posted by
back4more
I didn't know you could break your max HR - if you see a new HR that is higher than you have ever seen before that becomes your new max. However - I got a stress test to see what or how hard I should push it. if you do it and it doesn't feel good I think your body is telling you something. I use my HR to judge how hard I can push it and still be able to go the sdistance - too hard = too spent too soon for me. I have specific rates for the distances I wish to achieve.
Your real max - probably not. But few people see their real max. I was referring to the max you've seen so far. When I first started I didn't have a hrm, but I would stop and check it after hard efforts and it was usually in the 160 range (probably dropped some before I could check). When I first got the hrm last Dec, my max was 175 and then a few rides later I was up to 182 and then a month later 184. Hit 187 the first time in Feb and then 190 yesterday. So I broke my max seen several times. In other words, the better I get the more I'm able to push closer to my real max - or at least that's my interpretation.