heart rate

I'm just comming up to 54, weigh 12st old money and I'm 5'10" so average really. My resting heart rate is between 41 and 44 bpm, is this too low? I run 15 to 20 miles a week and cross train 2 nights a week for about 75 minutes at a time my MHR never seems to go over 180bpm

Low-ish but not too low. I'm 46, same height as you and a couple of pounds lighter and run 40-ish miles a week, no cross-training. My rhr varies in the 40-45 range.

My max hr is also about 180, but you don't say how you measured yours. I did mine the hard way (never again).

What your figs say for you is that you're in good shape. Don't worry about it and carry on the way you are now.

BD, that sounds fine to me. I am 46 and I have seen my HR hit 38 on rare occasions and it sits easily beating away ot 40 BPM while at rest. My Max HR is 192.

If you have completed a significant "raise of pace" for the line during a race then the HR recorded at that particular time will be around 93 to 96 percent of your Max HR. I would suggest that your Max HR is close to 190 BPM

I've never really pushed it to see what my MHR could be, a bit nervous I suppose. I've only recently started using an HRM so I'm still trying things out. I've tried working it out on the given formulae but the top end seems a bit low.
Ta for the replies

I have recently started training using Heart Rate Zones. On my recovery days I keep my hr below my anaerobic threshold and on my hard days I push. My training log software plots my hr showing the time spent in each of the zones and creates a map colour coded to show where I was in what zone. On my hard days, my hr creeps up and I start to red line, that is my hr is over 172 for a max hr of 185.
In a hard workout what would you expect the amount of time redlining to be? This would not typically be a track workout.
Mick

Mick, it all depends on how hard your work out is. There are many ways to approach training, muscle adaptation and potential improvement - its all a case of what your body can tolerate.

It sounds like you have a Polar HRM with all the charts. Its all very useful information and your "red lining" sounds to be around 93% Max HR. I would certainly expect to hit these areas towards the end of reps in tough interval sessions. And depending where I was in my training (and what I was training for) would dictate how hard I would have to work.

If I was training for a marathon then I would not be working at 93% Max HR.

If I were training for a 5/10K or the XC races then I will be doing sessions that will visit 93% Max HR (and perhaps more).

With appropriate training load (and your HRM is a very good tool in indicating this) it is possible to train consistantly at a predertemined level that will maximise improvement.

My heart rate hit 200 today!! So low would be nice!!

I thought that low heart rate indicated that u had a good level of fitness,

not too low Bernard. Mine is about the same(has been down to 33) and I'm a 47 year old faghead thats a tad overweight.

hoose, it all that exta hay mate, puts the pounds on ;0)

My HRM is a cheapy, I bought it a week or so ago after trying one out at the fitness club for the last couple of months but I could only use that in comination with the CV machines. It has made me think about what I'm doing a bit more, I don't think I'll see any results for a while.
Anybody taking part in the Great South Run on Sunday, good luck.

Thanks for the response.
My hard days are not all out and are what I would describe as tempo runs. Strong pace held for 8 to 10k. I run half marathons but only race three or four times a year. I am slow these days as I have just turned 60. I run the half in 1:40. I have been running for 30 years and use a Garmin ForeRunner 305 to capture my data.
A typical 'hard' run would be a 4:40 per km pace over a 8 to 10 k route. an easy day would be 5:15 per km over the same distance. My long run would be 18k at a 5:15 pace. I don't cross train. Prior to a race I would do hills and intervals.
On my hard days my heart rate will redline towards the end of the run, the last 15% what I was interested in was should I back off and try and not redline. Redlining for me is greater than 172 for a max of 185.
Between races I am trying to maintain my speed without sharpening for a particular race.
Mick

I've started cross training because I found that I was picking up injuries, back and ankle mostly and the cross training helped with the recovery, hard exercise a couple of times a week without any impact. I do most of my running in Manor Farm CP Hampshire, it's got everything, hills, trails, roads and views but with the dark nights on the way I'll be running the main roads around the town, my dog doesn't like it much. Wednesdays I train with a club in Titchfield, time trials, speed work, fartlec and shuttle runs up and down Titchfield Hill.
I love doing the Great South Run but mostly I'm I'm happy to do 10K's and maybe a 1/2 marathon once a year.
Whatever i do I'll be trying out the HRM.
Bernicd

My memory has just told me that Miguel Indurain, legendary Spanish cyclist, was infamous for a ridiculously low resting heart rate. To confirm my suspicions I did a google search and came up with this:

"The heart is a pure powerhouse muscle. It responds to exercise the same way an ordinary muscle does. We can make it more powerful or we can let it get scrawny and weak. "When you hold a human heart in your hand, it feels like a piece of filet mignon," says Michael Crawford, M.D., Chief of Cardiology at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center. "Only it's hollow, so it gives a little more when you squeeze it, but it's basically just muscle."


NOTE: An average heart weighs 300g (10.7 ozs.) and is about the size of a fist.
The average resting heart rate is 66/72 beats per minute (bpm). A well-trained endurance athlete is 40 bpm. The lowest on record is 28 bpm (Miguel Indurain, a Spanish cyclist). My resting heart rate is 38 bpm.
Paul D. Thompson, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and Director of Preventive Cardiology indicates, "A slow heart rate is absolutely beneficial for health, in fact, there are about nine studies showing that people with the slowest heart rates live the longest."

A well-trained heart can be 30 to 40% larger than a normal heart and pump 50% more blood with each beat.

According to Dr. Crawford, " You can demonstrate significant changes in heart strength in four to six weeks." A strong heart is like buying life insurance. The required premium is REGULAR installments of CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISE."

(see http://www.fitness-sergeant.com/heart.htm)

why aint I a dead good runner then phil?

For the stats 50 and RHR is 40-45 and Max about 185.

I do loads of base training and race half marathons upwards. I'm told low RHR is good.

I had a recent medical for insurance and got a 'scare' when the doc told me I had an enlarged heart and needed further tests. The further tests (by a fitness nut doctor) revealed that my heart was enlarged, but not by disease, but exercise. It shows up on an ECG as larger left ventricle and on a 'normal' person might be the sign of a number of heart problems. For us guys and gals it is termed Athletes Heart and only when excessively stressed can it become dangerous.

See below....

"Athletes heart" is a common term for an enlarged heart that is usually associated with repeated strenuous exercise. This is normal and there is usually no danger of heart problems. "Athlete's heart" becomes dangerous when the muscle wall of the lower chamber of the heart (Cardiomyopathy) or the walls of the heart's chambers thicken abnormally (Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy).

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (called athletic heart muscle disease) usually appears in young people, often in athletes. Due to the increased workload required of it, the heart will increase physiologically by enlarging its chambers and muscle mass, thus increasing the volume of blood pumped per stroke. As a result, the heart has to contract less frequently and at rest will beat as few as 40 times per minute. The average number of beats per minute in a non "athlete's heart" is 70 beats.

The heart of a person with cardiomyopathy is enlarged in a bad way, and there's virtually no place for the blood to go. At a certain point, the heart's chambers (the septum) may become so thickened that it blocks the flow of blood through the lower left chamber (left ventricle). The thickened wall may push on the heart valve between the two left heart chambers (mitral valve), making it leaky.

Dunno. The human body's a funny thing in my experience!