I hope this is the correct forum for this question. I'm 66 and I just got a heart rate monitor to use with my Edge 705. Yesterday and today both I rode my trainer and I rode at my normal pace and at what level of effort I am comfortable with. According to data I've read my max training heart rate should be 145. However today I did 40 minutes at over 150. I didn't feel stressed, just normal.

Is this bad for me? Should I slow waaaayyyy down to keep my heart rate within the normal range?

There are various formulas that estimate your maximum HR, such as 220 - your age, but they are incorrect because everyone is different. If you search the net, you will find several protocols for determining your max HR. In the meantime, as long as you don't feel any ill effects, you're probably ok. If you're concerned, schedule a stress test with your doctor.

The app I have says at 56 I should have a maximum heart rate of 165. I think my legs or lungs will give out before my heart does !

Be honest with yourself. If you feel strange at 150 BPM or more and don't recover in a reasonable amount of time, go visit your Doctor. Better safe than sorry.

None of the formulas really work for individuals because they are based on averages with huge variations. Your max might be 150, someone else 140 and another 180 all at the same age. If you're in good shape, you can find your max, or come pretty close, doing some tests on the road with hills. Otherwise you should be fine unless you feel any difficulties. Since you did 150 without any difficulties and felt fine, I assume your max is above 150.

If your cardio system is fine, there's nothing wrong with high heart rate or even hitting max.

Max HR formulas are just an approximation. On of the better formulas however is MHR = 208 - (0.7 x age). If your 66 that would be 208 - (0.7 x 66) = 162 bpm. Your 150 bpm measured would be 93% of 162, which would be very hard to maintain for 40 minutes, so your actual max HR may be even higher than 162.

I am 61 years old, and have had my heart rate as high as 165 that I've seen, but I don't think I could keep it above 150 for 40 minutes continuous (not even close!). When I was younger it wouldn't have been a problem (remember climbing long hills at 180), but not now. Usually lactate threshold is somewhere in range of 65% to 85% MaxHR (with 85% being highly trained athlete range) so if you can keep HR above 150 for over 40 minutes that might correspond with a max of over 180 (which would be very unusual for a 66 year old guy).

I wouldn't worry about it. Go by your breathing rate.

Can converse easily, zone 1 &2

Feel like my lungs will explode, Zone 5

Zone 3, can talk but sentences are interupted

Zone 4, Can do it for hours, but can't talk

The variation of maximum heart rate is huge and I don't think it's a good indicator of effort.

I'm 65 and can maintain 135-145 for hours at a time, but it's almost impossible for me to get over 150 on a bike for more than a few seconds. Given some altitude and anaerobic work with a little scare induced adrenaline rush and I might hit 200, or sustain 160's for a significant amount of time but that's not happening on a bike.

Maximum heart rate is so individualized that the formulas are all pretty worthless. Again, that's individualized!

I'd use the HRM to kinda calibrate against what you know has worked for you before and not make any rash changes based on what it's telling you.


The best use for an HRM is to give you a method of enforcing going slow enough to stay in Z1 or Z2 if you are solo and don't have anyone to talk to.

The important bit is to not overcook. Back in the day, I was Type A overkill, pride, push 'till you drop. Damn near daily at times. Oddly, I survived that insanity. Heart rate monitors are/can be great fitness aids. I no longer use them, they just tempt me to get stupid. Learned to listen to my body.

Thanks to all who have replied. When the weather is warmer (okay, I admit to being a wuss) I can hold the same perceived effort as today and talk to others who ride with me. So I guess I'm ok.

One more thing. This time of year with cool dry days and low humidity, you can get false readings. This is especially true with synthetic cycling jersey material. Watch the hr periodically for strange jumps that can mess up your average.

If you are tolerating the heart rate you are training at, fine! However, I would contact your physician to see if he would rather you use a different max. I'm 69, and because of the acute hypertension I got in February, my doc changed my max heart rate from 167 to 161. He also doesn't want me at max, or over max, for more than 4-5 minutes at a time. I use my gears a lot more now, in order to keep my speed up and my heart rate in the 150 range.

Those formulas only work if you average large groups of people (like all the members of bike forum). They have little meaning for any one individual.
If an instruction book has a 'thou shalt' like that, I would take the rest of the book with a grain of salt.

Absolutely. I have one base layer shirt that totally whacks out any hr strap.

Certainly sounds like you're fine. T'were me, I'd simply keep on doing what you're doing.

That's wise advice from your doctor.

However just so people understand, what a doctor may tell you about how high you should limit your heart rate and your max are two different things. Someone's maximum heart rate is the absolute highest it can register. In other words it's the limit on how fast the heart muscle can work. Unlike resting heart rate which can drop through training, max isn't affected by how fit we are. It does decrease with age though.

It's difficult to reach your max. For example one test involves a very long hill where you shift to a progressively harder gear one minute at a time. You do this over a five minute or so period after you are thoroughly warmed up and physically stressed. When your cadence starts to drops down and you can't maintain it, you shift again one more time, stand up and sprint all out for 20 seconds or so. You may see spots, have tunnel vision, and be lightheaded. But that's your max. If you measured it properly, no matter what you do it won't be exceeded.

That's a question for your Dr, but more than likely you just happen to have a higher than normal max HR.

Those Max HR charts you find on the interwebs are *completely* useless. I'm 51 and the majority of them indicate that my max should be in low 170's. My threshold HR is 186 and my max is in the low 200's....

Lots of good info in the answers already, but I'll just add a couple of points.

*because MHR is very individualized, and because you just got your HRM, you will need some time to figure out your HR zones. Keep lots of data, on rides of different intensities, figure out your resting HR and your MHR using some of the advice given above.

*There's lots of literature on this stuff. Joe Friel's books are trusted by many.

I'm also 66 years old and I have seen HR's in the low 170's a number of times. It can vary - by a bunch depending on who you are and at what point in your training and life. 20 years ago it was more like 190 for me.

dave

Also, max heart rate is not a function of age. The poster above who correlated breathing patterns with heart rate has what I believe is the best means of establishing zones short of a VO2 test.

Max heart rate does decrease with age though. I think you mean there's not a standard for everyone based on their age. If so, I agree that formulas don't work.

It's not hard to establish your personal training intensities. Chris Carmichael has it all figured out for you:
https://trainright.com/wp-content/upl...scriptions.pdf

On occasion I do HIIT, and I can attest to the effort in takes to actually get to what might be a max HR. It usually takes me 4-5 reps to get up there. And, researching it, that appears to be normal.

I saw my Dr. yesterday and het old me that as long as I can still talk while riding that I should not worry about what the heart rate monitor says. I took my 705 and heart rate monitor with me and it was only 3 beats faster than the EKG we I was hooked up. He, like others have said on here, said the 220- your age is only guide and not gospel.

So, can you talk when you ride for 40 minutes at over 150 beats a minute?

Heart Rate

During nearly all of my 40 cycling years, my training has been by mileage. I never used a heart monitor, and on a rare occasion might check my heart rate just by counting. This year though, I decided to go for speed (intensity), and I use the semi-quantitative, standardized, but personally relavant system of (Borg’s) Relative Perceived Exertion (RPE), with my own particular adaptation; see PS at the end of that long post.

I describe my personal training program using the RPE, as

One benefit of this approach is that I became more satisfied with shorter, less time-consuming rides.

For my purposes, while I don’t monitor HR during exercise, I do focus on resting Heart Rate, measured at a standardized time of day (soon after waking, sitting in a chair). When I’m in “good” shape it's pretty consistently 48 bpm. My best ever was 42 several years ago following a consistent training schedule immediately before a Century (when I was just training with mileage, at age 58). I could plot the gradual decrease in resting HR during that period of training.

To the OP, I would say, read up on heart-rate training in general and try to find ways of setting your zones based on lactate threshold or the various approximations of LT. Use these rather than maxHR. There's not a lot of point in knowing your maxHR, it can be really difficult to find, and I tend to think if it's that hard it might not be safe unless you really know your cardiac state of health. This might be a red herring and I am not an expert, but I like to take a conservative approach.

Also, read up on polarization training, papers and a video by a gent named Seidel. It's a little technical but the gist is that very effective human training can come from riding a high percentage of your time in a strenuous but conversational zone, and a low percentage a little above where you feel like your breathing can't keep up (near or a little above lactate threshold).

There are several threads on it in the Training forum, and there's more about determining your zones. The polarization zones are set up based on first knowing your Friel (Joe Friel's heart rate zone system) zones. It's not hard, just a little measurement and a little easy percentages math.

You can estimate LT based on rules of thumb as well, but the problem is the same as with the 220-age equation: if you are a slow beater, what a rule says is your LT could actually be your max and then "standard zones" would be too aggressive for you. If you are a fast beater, you would find zones that are not aggressive enough for you and not experience effective training.

My view is, that with some understanding, it can nearly all depend on you.