Another Heart Rate Query - Gear

Midbat

27/12/2005 at 21:21

I wonder if someone can offer some advice or put my mind at rest at least! I have been running for about a year (just for enjoyment, fitness etc) and have received a great Polar F11 HRM for Christmas. I performed the 'fitness test' which said I was of an elite standard (suprising but great!) and calculated my heart rate as such. However on my first run I had not reached the first half mile before my heart rate was sky high (180 ish) and the HRM was instructing me to slow down. Is this normal? I didn't feel out of breath or anywhere near a decent pace. Help! I have gone from very motivated to worried and disheartened in one easy step.

27/12/2005 at 21:24

What HRM test did you do...? There are several and they're notoriously inaccurate. Alot of people on the RW forum swear by the HADD test (Barnsleyrunner help me out here!). But to gain some adequate advice you'd have to give us a clue about your age and what 'elite fitness' means..?

eL Bee!

27/12/2005 at 21:35

The 'Fitness Test' on the Polar range is a bit of a gimmick really - and should be treated as such..!!!
Cath is right - you should do a reliable Heart Rate test to determine your Maximum Heart Rate, and calculate your training zones from there!!!!

Midbat

28/12/2005 at 11:22

Thanks to you both. I need to get sorted with a proper heart rate test by all accounts.

cougie

pirate

28/12/2005 at 13:02

If you look on this site they explain how to do it - someone posted a link on this just the other day ? I guess it would be under the training section - not the forums.

Inky Fingers

29/12/2005 at 16:11

I'd like to put in a word in favour of the Polar heart test, or at least the one on my s610. (It's a test that uses the irregularity of your pulse when you're completely relaxed to calculate your maximum.)

It always gives me a consistent figure, and a couple of years ago, when I absolutely flogged myself in the final stages of a race, I got within a couple of beats of it for about 30 seconds, which suggests that it's reasonably acccurate.

eL Bee!

29/12/2005 at 16:26

Inky Fingers
The fact that it is accurate for you - I couldn't dispute, but the fact that it is not consistently accurate for most people has to cast doubt on it usefulness
..and for it to suggest that someone who has been running for about a year - for enjoyment and fitness - has an 'elite' cardivascular system simply illustrates my point.

And as has been discussed at some length over the Forum, Calculated Max HR formule and kit, are notoriously inaccurate

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