KiddSisko

Why would your body increase it's HR like that? Trying to mend the muscles? Still winding down from 170+ BPM?

KiddSisko

Good replies fellas. Resting HR must be a serious issue if it can attract elite 33 racers and mods.

caloso

I don't know why. But a long time ago (Dave Scott's Triathlon Training???) I'd read that elevated RHR was an indication of overtraining. The 10 points is just a personal rule of thumb.

ptle

I ride a decent amount... My resting heart rate isn't very impressive though. It's somewhere in the high 60s I think.

waterrockets 

Yeah, it's the healing. It takes energy to build muscle, repair tissue, digest nutrients, produce hormones, strengthen connective tissue, etc.

Bo-Ridley

Quite right. I did two 110 mile hilly days in a row last summer and my heart rate for the second day was higher (don't remember how much).

Barese Rider

In Nov of 08 I was 216 lbs and had a rhr in the high 60s but once I exercised it would take along time to get below the 90s. I had some cardiac issues and rather that have a stent put in and taking meds for life I opted for strict diet and weight loss. At the time even small hills thru me and I was hesitant to ride with better riders as once we got out of the flats I just couldnt keep up. The cardio docs want to slow your heart rate with beta blockers as they worry when your heart is always racing.

I had another doctor tell me to stop taking them if I wanted to exercise vigorishly and get with with the exercise/ strict diet weight loss program instead. He assured me that with proper diet and steady exercise I would lose weight and my heart rate would come down. I am glad I followed his advice.I was 155.5 this am and Ive riding with better riders since last summer. Last weekend I rode some with the A group and this was a real milestone for me seeing that less than 16 months ago I was being treated like a heart attack survivor even though I didnt have one.

My morning rhr is now normally between 45 and 47 and Im hoping to get it even lower with further weight loss and great diet.. Last year I was hesitant to get my hr above 140 and would slow down whenever I did. At 63 I am now able to maintain a steady hr above 140 on the bike w/o feeling stressed and dont feel that Im redlining it in the 150s, and now during exercise once I slow down my HR drops like a stone. I ve read that when you over do it your morning HR is a sign of fatigue. Sunday after 60 miles with the fast fellows it was 58 so I take truth to it. In any event Ive become a big believer that rhr and the ups and downs of elevated heart rates are a good indicator of cardio fitness and general overall health.

KiddSisko

You make that sound so simple, but we obviously need to be reminded of how simple weight loss can be if you cycle. Most of my daily workout riding is what I call moderate intensity, and I pay close attention to my time on a specific route. I shoot for time marks at various points along the 17 mile course. Today I purposefully held back and found a comfortable even pace, what I call a long distance pace. At the end I was 5 minutes over the moderate intensity time, and I could definitely feel the difference along the way and when finished. It didn't feel as if I put out that much effort. That completion time, btw, would have killed me two years ago.

The tough part is eating less, or just smarter. That's a fact.

nahh

my rhr is in the mid 70s...I don't know why it's so high... I ride and bike a lot, I'd think with all that cardio it should be lower.

my dad can get his down to the high 30s, it's so wrong. Probably because he works out twice as much as I do.

waterrockets 

Very true it took me about 1.5 weeks to get used to my dietary restrictions and embracing the hunger. I went after it with a religious sacrifice sort of approach, threw in some prayer, and got through it.

I partnered with my main training partner/teammate, and he lost 17 lbs in the same time period. He would get home with only 400Cal budget left for dinner, which wasn't enough. So he'd hop on the trainer for 1.5 hours before dinner and blow out another 1000Cal so he could have a nice 1400Cal dinner.

He didn't seem too amused when I told him that he was bulemic (purge on the bike just so he could stuff himself).

At the end, my wife kicked me off the diet. I was planning on going for 6 weeks. When I quit, training partner quit, and we both carried that weight for about 6 months. It got too ridiculous to maintain though, so we both gained back 5 and are feeling quite comfortable there.

QuickityJacks

This is precisely why I took time off last week. My heart rate was way too high for the speed I was going on a relatively flat, windless stretch of road I knew very well. I got out of bed after the third day off and my legs didn't hurt. It'd been so long, I had just stopped noticing it. Basically I slid from fat guy leg pain into over-training leg pain, so I got to reap another reward of drastic weight loss. The vanished pain was so noticeable I actually laughed with relief over the absence of stress I didn't even know I was feeling.

Anyway, sorry for the digression. Good story Kiddsisko. Glad you're feelin' strong, dude.

Prairie Native

In highschool I made a platform bed and have been too lazy to drill the headboard into the bed so i just have been lying it against the wall and on top of the frame of the bed. Its sorta just pinched in position. My heart does the same thing yours does, the headboard visibly moves and is loud enough that I have had girl(s) ask what the hell the noise is. First one I told the truth too looked at me funny so ive lied ever since. It has definitally gotten louder as ive gotten serious about cycling.

My bloodpressure has always been prehypertension (135-140) but I got a sinus infection and went in to get checked out last week and it was 110/70. My pulse was 60 and its usually 85. Also full on hard efforts are way more powerful and sustained, and even better: the recovery is much quicker. (man thats sounds sexual and i didnt mean it to...)

KiddSisko

To coin a phrase: Freaking Awesome! Do you still have heart/cardio issues? Irregularities?

KiddSisko

I don't know how young you are, but perhaps you're still growing, which requires energy. Just being young with a high metabolism burns up a lot of energy. Your heart is just responding to the need. It was said earlier, that HR is not always the determining factor of your health and fitness.

Oh, btw, your Dad probably works out twice as much as you do to keep up with you!

KiddSisko

No worries re digression. You're right in the flow.

KiddSisko

Finally, someone who understands!

Just tell her you have a big throbbing... heart. It's her problem if she doesn't understand.

grwoolf

The eating less is certainly the problem. I ride easy some days, hard on others. I usually ride pretty hard Fri&Sat, Sunday is easier pace, and then do a short run on Sunday nights. On monday, I'm toast and my body wants to eat everything in sight, really strong hunger, carb cravings. It's like my body is really fighting whenever I drop under 180. Monday is a rest day or easy recovery ride, so it's really the worst day for me to be stuffing my face.

learnmedia

I'm encouraged by the success stories. Each of you sharing yours just provides motivation for me to improve. I recently had a colonoscopy, my doctor calling it my 50th birthday present. The pre-op nurse hooked me up to the monitor and immediately asked if I was a runner. RHR was 46. 50 years old and, due to cycling, in the best cardiovascular shape I've ever been in. 5'9" and currently 157 lbs. Definitely enjoying the rides.

Barese Rider

By 08 I was having some angina attacks with physical exertion and shortness of breath. Of course my blood pressure was rising and in the morning it would frequently be in the 140/95 range with meds. My hr worried me as it was higher in the morning than it used to be and would not come down after exertion . I had a choking spell which brought me by ambulance to the emergency room, and some of the tests worried the doctors so they kept me. An angiogram show 50% blockage in my lower left descending artery. This artery has a rather nasty nickname ,its called the "widow maker".

That was enough for me as I knew if I kept it up I was headed for a heart attack. Now after 16 months of very strict nutrient rich diet along with alot of exercise, beside losing 60 lbs , my blood pressure is way down, 118/72 this am[ after a 60 mile bike rode last weekend it was 111/72 , I find this amazing as it used to take along time to come down after exercise, my mhr is way down [45,46] and it drops quickly after exercise, I no longer have any chest pains, Im no longer on any meds, my cholesterol readings have dropped below 125/50 w/o meds and Im waiting another year and another 20 lbs to have my arteries checked to see if I reversed the blockage. From the way I feel I really believe that I have reversed it but my doctor wants to wait another year before ordering the tests.

I post these things for a few reasons first I learned that nearly all Americans above the age of 50 have significant artery disease and that we are killing ourselfs with our knifes and forks. Exercise alone is not going to save us. Meds alone are not going to save us. Second is to give encouragement to others that reversal of cardiac disease with diet and exercise is possible and along with that chances of getting diabeties and cancer are also greatly reduced.

I meant to add in the spirit of the OP that I too frequently can feel an extra strong heart beat when Im resting on the bed and times it can be scary.

daddystheman

I recently had a complete physical in advance of a marathon I'm running this Memorial Day weekend. I've had a couple of uncles die from heart related issues and just wanted to make sure. I went into the doctor's office and he measured my rhr at 39 (I'm 42, 6'1, about 180lbs). He proceeded to prescribe a 24 hour holter monitor because of my family history and confirmed that it is mid to upper 30's. He said he only sees resting heart rates that low in runners, avid cyclists and hockey players. Cool!

Sometimes when I'm laying back in my recliner, I can see my feet jiggle on the footrest with every heartbeat. Kind of annoying when I'm trying to watch TV and see my foot constantly twitching in my peripheral vision!

Grumpy McTrumpy

go toward the light.

mrardo

You got me curious so I slept with my heartrate monitor on. It was kind of cool to see how you sleep. My heartrate hit 100 once I must have been dreaming about riding. My average was 52 with a low of 44. I'm 61 years old just for reference.

ibarunnin

I'll bite!

For some reason my HR is generally much lower than when any friends I'm running or biking with (regardless of whether I'm better than them or they're better than me). I'm a competitive runner and go through stages of being really technical about my training, or just doing all of it by feel. Which means sometimes I'll be waking up every morning and taking my HR, and will run with my HRM for months on end. Then I'll feel like a slave to it and I'll stop using it for months on end and just go by feel without focusing on the #s (if I have a HRM on I always focus on it, even if I don't want to!). My soph year in college I got my RHR down to 32 pretty consistently for awhile. I am curious to see what it is right now, but I have no working HRMs anymore...not to mention I haven't been running for 3 mos due to a stress "reaction" of the tibia .

Bo-Ridley

Heh. Riding. If you say so.

saratoga

I always get the bradycardia speech from doctors until further explanation is offered on my part.

They talk to you about it like it's a terminal illness.