Ability to reach Peak Heart Rate

[bethanysmum2002]

So, starting the year not anywhere near the weight I should be, I set out to put things right.

I started walking the 3kms (1.86 miles) circuit around our neighbourhood. I have a playlist of music that I use to push myself through. Starting on Day 1 I was doing this circuit in about 35 minutes and have been improving greatly.

I noticed the amount of time in Cardio and Peak zones increasing as my time was improving.

Then after about 2 weeks I was struggling to even hit the Peak zone. So then I started really power walking and even including jogging. It seemed to help.

Again, after a couple of weeks, my rates dropped off. So I started going on a longer route - 4kms (2.48 miles)

Again this helped, I was getting approx. 10 minutes in the peak zone but again it dropped off.

I was confused.

SOOOO, I went back to my smaller circuit and tried doing it quicker. I can now do it in 28 minutes but still no major Peak Heart Rate results.

Then last Wednesday I went for my walk. I was only doing the smaller circuit as the weather was extremely hot and humid. About 30 seconds in, my Bluetooth earphones went flat. I wasn't going to quit because I had missed walking the previous 2 days.

I thought to myself, "I'm not going to burn a lot today without my music to push me" but I kept going. I just walked, didn't power walk like I do with my music, didn't jog, just walked.

I looked at my Fitbit and it said I was in the peak heart rate. Confused? I wasn't working extremely hard like I usually do. So I kept going and looked again about 5 minutes later, still Peak heart rate. So I tried to keep the pace.

This time it took me nearly 31 minutes to do the smaller circuit without the music. When I got home, checked my app - for my 31 minute walk I was in the peak heart rate zone for 21 minutes - the most I had ever done. I wasn't puffed, I wasn't sweating profusely, my knee wasn't hurting and I had done almost my best workout EVER

Anyway, next day, I did my larger circuit, tried to do the same pace - result 1 minute in the Peak Zone. The only difference, I had my music.

So my next walk, I thought I would check this. I took my earphones but didn't play my music. I did my smaller circuit. Again it took me longer to do the smaller circuit. out to almost 32 minutes now - heart rate - 18 minutes in the Peak Zone?

And again last night, smaller circuit - now almost 33 minutes to complete it, no music - 22 minutes in the Peak Heart rate zone

so now I am doing my exercise slower, going less distance but working at a higher heart rate - ALL BECAUSE I AM NOT PLAYING MUSIC???????

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this could be.

[Alicat2104]

My Charge 2 was registering peak rate the other evening when I wasn't even wearing it... there does seem to be something weird with HR as I've noticed mine gets into peak when I'm rebounding gently, but not when I'm doing it more vigorously. 

[yayuhz]

As you continue to work out and exercise your heart, it will be able to pump more oxygen/blood per pump to your muscles, so it doesn't have to work as hard to keep up the same results, because it is getting stronger. This is especially true in people who weren't working out before and then start regularly performing exercises that increase heart rate. 

If you start to notice that you aren't reaching your heart rate that you want, try upping the intensity of your workouts. For example, two years ago, if I ran 2 miles at 6mph, my heart rate would hover around 155-160 bpm to adequately supply my body with oxygen to keep moving. Now, I can run 8mph for 25 minutes and my heart rate will be around 155-160, and running 6mph will be around 140 bpm. 

Take this as a good thing, your heart is getting bigger and stronger.

[bethanysmum2002]

@Alicat2104 yes there is definitely something up with it. Last night I went for my same walk but it was fairly windy out so really had to pump out the effort while walking into the wind and barely got out of fat burning. The only time I hit peak last night was for 2 minutes as I was returning home with the wind at my back and was more relaxed and not working as hard? It is really confusing.

I don't know whether to keep going with the less intense workouts to achieve peak heart rate or go back to the hard workouts with power walking and jogging but they don't achieve peak heart rate?

[Alicat2104]

@bethanysmum2002 today I did my normal lunch hour walk of 3.5 miles and apparently 34 (!!) minutes of it was in peak with a high of 205 which is just insane! Average of 163.  Exactly the same walk yesterday and every other work day, average of 132 and no peak at all.

Definitely not accurate. 

[Daves_Not_Here]

Long shot answer -- if both Fitbit and the music headphones use BlueTooth, is it possible that heart-rate could be recorded inaccurately when the headphones are in use?

[bethanysmum2002]

@Daves_Not_Here I was wondering about that too but now my heart rate has dropped to being unable to reach Peak again even without music.

Monday's walk was devasting to my self esteem because after cracking out 3 awesome workouts, I could barely get out of fat burning.

Tuesday's and Wednesday's saw a slight improvement, but not much and it was really starting to get to me. I tried smaller faster steps, longer harder steps, I put jogging back into my workout. but still the most I got was 7 minutes in peak heart rate.

So last night I was actually letting it get to me so bad, I even contemplated not going but instead, I thought no, I am just going to focus back on my workout and forget the heart rate side of the exercise. I was back to doing 2 laps of my circuit in 28 minutes and then continuing for another 2 minutes. I've gone back to jogging (I used to jog across any road intersections to start working jogging in to my exercise instead of just walking - about 7 seconds worth everytime I crossed a road) and managed to jog for a full 90 seconds without stopping (this STILL didn't send my heart rate into peak) and I listened to my music again. And I managed 4 minutes Peak Heart Rate.

This morning I did it again ... And I did my worst workout in almost a month!!!! It also didn't record my last 10 minutes which is when I am going up hill and jogging.

I don't know if it was because I did it in the morning only 12 hours after my last one. I really don't understand what is going on. I don't know if certain hormonal cycles can cause an effect like this. I know it didn't happen last month.

I have spent this morning looking at other people's posts in the community regarding peak heart rate and apparently it isn't common to experience issues regarding reaching peak. So now I think I am just going to get back to focusing on the exercise, my improvements and my little victories, not the heart rates.

I mean, at least I am up and exercising - and that's a 100% improvement on what I was doing last year.

[Daves_Not_Here]

@bethanysmum2002 - I've been spending less total time in Peak and assume it's due to my increased level of fitness.  For example, I'm establishing new Personal Bests on my Strava segments, but my heart rate is lower.

I think the downside to having all this granular data is that you can lose sight of the forest for the trees.  I believe that if you are as active as you are, you benefit greatly, regardless of how much time you spend in the various zones.  So, if Fitbit is the catalyst that gets you moving, you've won.

[Ennay]

Music vs. not music, there is some evidence that listening to music can artificially alter both your cadence and your HR but not to a large extent.

You said you hit higher heart rate on a day when it was hot and humid.  Those are both conditions that will drive up your heart rate.  Pace is only one factor.  Heat, humidity, fatigue, dehydration level and perceived exertion (how hard does it FEEL) all have a huge impact. 

Another thing to consider is these bands are initially set up based on your age based MaxHR.  Not everyone has the same MaxHR.  I'm not sure where I am now, but last I tested it (which is not fun and I dont recommend without guidance) mine was significantly higher than expected. 

Other people have significantly LOWER than expected which means they simply can not go higher.

Fitness can not change your MaxHR, only your ability to work out in higher zones and your recovery time between max effort.  But as you noticed, as you get more fit you need more effort to get into peak zones. 

You said you had your worst workout - based on what?  % of time in peak is not necessarily a good measure.  In fact its a pretty poor measure.  Because if you improve you will struggle.  And not every workout should be "better" than the last or you will burn out.

intervals are the best way to reach peak and they should NOT be done everyday. 

[GershonSurge]

@bethanysmum2002,

You should be proud of your results. The only thing wrong is you are using the wrong metrics to measure your success!

 Peak Heart rate can be estimated by subtracting your age from 220. In this case, it would be 179 bpm. The peak range will run from 85 to 100% of this number, which is 152-179.

Generally, people can only run/walk for about 2 minutes a day at peak heart rate speed without getting extremely tired. They will be winded and probably need a good rest. Think of it like a few intervals of a 100 yard sprint at maximum speed. 

In my mind, cardio is misnamed, however the range is useful. Think of it as the final month or two of training before a race where a person wants to improve their speed. The problem with exercising in cardio, is it arrests aerobic training (more on the definition of aerobic later). The reason for this is a shift in what's burned. Below a heart rate of 180 minus your age (for you, it would be 139) you burn 70% fat and 30% carbs. It transitions to 30% fat, 70% carbs by about ten beats above this number. The fat is burned aerobically, which forces your aerobic systems to develop. Above this heart rate, the process is anaerobic, which is useful for short races.

The place to be is the fat burn range with your heart rate at or below 139. In this range, you are training your entire cardio-vascular system that contains 1,000's of components. When you keep your heart rate down, you force the weakest component to catch up. You will see this as plateaus in your speed. If you increase your heart rate to take up the weakest component's slack, then that component will not improve as quickly. 

Here is the beauty of this method: You are trying to lose weight. If you stay in the fat burn zone, you will burn 70% fat and 30% carbs. The body doesn't have a mechanism in humans to turn carbs to fat. Excess carbs generate energy which is dissipated by encouraging you to move or it is dissipated at the cellular level by generating heat. The result is you can burn more fat and lose more weight by going slower and sweating a lot less. 

You can find this information in this book: 

Maffetone, Philip. The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing  Kindle Edition.

The running research is impeccable. The diet is literally deadly. I suggest reading the book to get the rest of the story there isn't room to type here.

There is another quirk in the system that allows people to burn more calories by going slowly. The most efficient speed to walk is 3.5 mph for a broad range of body types. You can walk slower and burn more calories. Sorry I don't have the reference for this one. 

If you keep going the way you have during the past walks/runs, you will likely develop an injury. I suggest reading this book by Jeff Galloway. If you want, you will be able to cover a bunch of miles without much pain or fatigue.

The Run-Walk-Run Method Kindle Edition

by Jeff Galloway (Author)

I sometimes say health is what's inside, and fitness is what people can see outside. There are healthy people that aren't fit, and fit people that aren't healthy. Healthy inside comes from what we eat and only in a small way from exercise. Fit comes from what we do and by itself does little to promote longevity. I'll address what to eat in the next post if you are interested in this one.