Redbullet

I tested my functional threshold indoor two times this year and it was the same: 156. It was roughly confirmed outdoors as well.
But after one month of very poor training, my average heart rate over 2 hours ride is sometimes as high as 167. That means... 90% of my maximum HR.

Am I going to blow up?

Or… could it be a wrong measurement? During the last period I switched to Garmin 520 – is it possible to have a wrong setting that affects HR counting?

Xherion

I'd say 167 bpm average out of a max HR of 185 is pretty high for a 2 hour average, but some people just beat higher than others. A good gauge is how you feel after the ride. If you're completely exhausted, light headed, etc, it's probably wise to back down a bit on your efforts. FTP will improve with time and riding at your absolute max every ride is seldom a good idea.

Chandne

If I am climbing (I'm 47) I will beat at 160-165 if not pushing too hard. If I climb 4000 ft at 165-180, I will feel it and will need a day or two off. Are your rides hard and are you climbing? I probably need to ease up and get some flatter miles in, before going on those 4,000-5,000 ft climbs. I'm just not in good enough shape yet. It could be the same with you, and you need a bunch of base miles before you attempt too many hard rides.

Maelochs

You are going to asplode like cheap Chinese crabon fiber ... don't stand too close to anyone!

Your maximum heart rate is whatever it is. it is an approximation of a calculation based on a formula which is so generic as to be almost useless.

Maybe you are more fit and have increased your ability to sustain larger loads for longer periods? Maybe you can work harder and do?

I'd say, go by how you feel as much as the numbers. if you feel like something is wrong, see a cardiologist---and don't mess around. I waited a long time, trying to ignore an elevated heart rate, and now even after surgery my heart is not really working right. if you really think something is wrong, better to pay the co-pay and find out.

But ... if it is just a slightly higher number, it could be about anything, including improved fitness and more work.

Your last sentence though, tells me the most probable cause .... make sure the new device is set up properly and calibrated well. Try to test it against another source. if the one big change in your routine was a new heart monitor and the big result was a weird heart rate reading ..... if you still have your old device run them side by side maybe?

gsa103

How did you determine your maximum heart rate? There are formulas but there's enough individual variation that a formula may not be meaningful. I've got a few local climbs that end with 12+% walls, you can be pretty sure you're at redline at the top.

For reference, my max is ~185, I can average about ~160 bpm for an extended period, but if I go above ~170 I'm burning matches. There's no way I could average 167 just because the spikes would push too high, but 162 is a realistic number.

Redbullet

Asplode at the same moment with my carbon bike??? Now I'm really scared!
And what if it is not cheap and not Chinese?

rmfnla

FTFY...

Redbullet

Formula says around 180 or a little lower. But I "cought" myself at 183 max during a critical - maximal effort (to avoid being dropped), so I decided it should be 185.

Redbullet

Nope - nope, I'm watching you! I said "carbon", not "crabon"!

StanSeven

Your max is likely higher than that. When many hit their max for a few seconds, they have blurred vision, see stars, or the like.

rmfnla

Redbullet

Yeap, It looks too much to me as well. Today it happened again. I do ride hard because I ride rarely during the last period (lack of time). My "gauge" for high effort is a feeling of lacking air to breath, together with a slight disconfort within the chest, going down through the liver. That's the moment when I slow down a little, until that feeling goes down.

But I used to use the heart rate for some structural training (threshold, intervals). Now it is useless - the figures return 60-82% training in zone 5, which is stupid. On the other hand, I don't think my FTHR changed so much closer to maximum HR, so I do not adjust it on the bike computer. I simply can't use the HR for training because the results are strange.

Redbullet

Could be, but not too much, I think. I'm not sure I'm capable to see stars, but what I felt was impossibility to sustain that effort, a pressure on the chest, lack of air and a brain that could not keep straight line and could not properly command the hands anymore - close to falling down on the street. That would be close, I think. I added 2 beats to that and I called it "HR max"

jtaylor996

First off, FTP is a power measure, and has nothing to do with heart rate. Your heart rate during the last 20 minutes of a 30 minute all out effort is not your FTP. That is your Lactate Threshold HR.

If you had a LT threshold of 156 bpm during your test but you average 167 for 2 hours on a ride, then you did your test wrong (not going hard enough).

I did a ride 2 weeks ago where I spent 3:00 over 80% (1:30 was at or just over 90%) of my max HR (on a 4 hour ride). Yes, it sucked. But I did not blow up, and I have a heart condition where I'm at significant risk of sudden death above 90% max. Don't tell my doc about that ride...

FWIW, my LT HR is about 93% of my max HR, and from an informal poll in a different thread, this seems to be about normal. However, where this lies in relation to your max HR does vary from person to person, so what you measure during the last 20 minutes of an FTP test will vary from person to person.

Maelochs

Yeah, I certainly know that line ....

deapee

Everyone's hearts are different.

My normal resting (not sleeping) is around 63. When I get up and move around, it's about 80. If I'm climbing stairs, it will be about 110. If I'm easy pedaling about 130 (say 110 watts, 70-80 rpm). As soon as I start putting some power down, I'll get up to 150-160 pretty easily. I've averaged 165 on a 1 hour ride before. My max is 185. I'll hit that on all-out efforts of around 2 minutes or on long climbs.

I'd pay more attention to your heart rate going up on hard efforts and coming back down to a 'happier' rate when you ease up on the pedaling, personally.

Go watch a crit race on youtube from a rider with all their stats displayed. A lot of those guys never go under 170'ish for the hour, hour and a half.

And remember too...the effort that gives you 170 heart rate today might be giving you 162 tomorrow. There are so many factors involved...which is why training with power is an absolute, whereas training with heart rate is always a guess-timation.