Interesting developments here.....

My blood pressure has always been around 125-80 meaning a pulse pressure of 45. Resting heart rate = 48.

This year, I have more time for training so there is around 25% more training time, my weight is also around 5lbs lower. Power is a little higher, but not much. Aerobic capacity seems better, however I am just done with base, so the long intervals will be replaced by short intervals and speed training

Two things have changed:

Blood pressure 130-66 giving a pulse pressure of 64, which is a bit concerning, resting heart rate dropped to 42.

My faithful Garmin hard plastic strap started losing the signal after four years of faultless operation.(Tried the soft straps, lucky if I get three months) Once heart rate goes above 135, the monitor drops back to zero. Changed battery, same thing. Bought a new Garmin plastic strap, same thing. Purchased a second new Garmin plastic strap, exactly the same thing.

Naturally, the conclusion here is that Garmin has not changed, but I have??? Weird.

Any insight from those into sports science will be appreciated.

What is pulse pressure, I'm not familiar with the term.

Never mind, Google to my rescue. ��

What is pulse pressure? How important is pulse pressure to your overall health? @ Mayo Clinic.

Basically, there's systolic (the top number) and diastolic (the bottom number). The "pulse" pressure is the difference between the two.

According to the Mayo Clinic:

This is one of those numbers that sometimes needs to be interpreted a bit differently in endurance athletes than in the general population. As you get more fit, the heart gets stronger just like any other muscle. Contractions are stronger as a result, which means stroke volume goes up and resting HR going down. There are also training adaptations that happen in the vascular system (increased vasoconstrictive capacity) that can cause systolic pressure to be a bit higher than in untrained people.

It might be something to talk about with your Dr on next visit just because your systolic # of 130 is getting into the borderline 'high' range (by current standards), but I wouldn't read too much into the pulse pressure number itself if everything else checks out. My pulse pressure is into the 50's sometimes, but in my case neither BP number is into the 'high' range (my pressure is usually in the range of 110-120 over 60-70).

Gee, my pulse pressure is all over the place, ranging from the mid thirties to the high sixties.
Last winter the sports cardiologist didn't mention it. Just said, come back in two years.

I routinely have a pulse pressure between 50-70 (120s/60s - 130s/60s). I told my doc I'd measured it twice daily for a good two weeks and consistently got those. She measured it and it was like 125/75 or something similar and said it was fine.

So. Yeah. I dunno.

When I was running, rhr was in the mid 30s. With cycling it's generally low to mid 40s but haven't seen any correlation with bp or anything.

I have noticed, however, that training hard always gets my bp up into the 130s and rest weeks have it drop to the 120s/11xs/ If I take bp later in the day after a really hard (or hot) ride/ race, it'll be in the 140s/60s-70s.

Thanks for all the replies.

The weird thing is Heart Rate Monitors with chest straps stopped working for me.

My old faithful one progressively started losing the signal at higher heart rates. I have now tried six different new monitors, with different head units, ANT+ and Bluetooth. They all do the same thing, stop recording once HR goes above 110.

Doing research on the Web, only thing I can find is the signal is dependent on body tissue type. Seems I have become quite heartless and no one has ever heard of this before.:-(

I too have a problem with chest strap HRM's. I have only tried a few, but as I approach 170 they jump to about 215.

Do you guys with HRM issues lick the contact points before putting them on? Or at least wetting them with tap water? And wash the straps sometimes?

Missing signal?
You could try some monitor electrode gel.
I don't get a consistent HR signal if the strap is too low on my chest, so try moving it up an inch or more.

This sounds like the classic "flapping jersey syndrome". Static electricity from the shirt flapping in the breeze jumps the rate up to the low 200 range. I see it on downhills the most. It's rare in the humid summer weather. If I pull the jersey away, the rate drops back to my usual 120-150 range within a few seconds as the false readings drop out of the rolling average.

Well I use:
Spectra 360 electrode gel
or
buh-bump electrode cream

It's mostly a problem speedskating. Much more anaerobic with 1 to 3 minute accelerations. Don't think the wind flutter is much of a problem.
On the bike it only happens when going slow by myself then sprinting up a hill. With a group, they go to fast before and after.

This is pretty new for me, I have used a heart rate strap for several years (10+) with absolutely no problem. Then after losing a lot of weight, the issues started. I have tried all the tricks mentioned above and with different sets of monitors. Think as far as chest straps go, I have just become totally heartless. :-)

Will move to a wrist band and see how that goes.

I've had very good luck with this strap:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BI9X1QM/ - comes with the xmtr unfortunately or perhaps fortunately.
and this strap:
https://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com...nt=11309945414

I always use gel on the bike. The strap has to be tight enough. If you've lost weight, maybe tighten it? If HR is dropping out, might be a low battery. Replace it?

I've been using HRMs for 20 years, never had a problem with high HR dropping out, so something unusual is happening. The above Garmin strap is particularly nice - never had a problem with jersey flap with that one. Polar and Garmin straps using snap-on transmitters are interchangeable, though not the transmitters.