Staying in peak heart rate zone whilst running

[Prowlerchick]

Hi all

I'm a 37 year old female and have been exercising regularly for over a year and on and off in previous years although would not class myself as super fit!

I got a fitbit for my birthday in June and have been wearing it whilst running and have noticed that during my runs (which I've recently been increasing to 10km in preparation for a 'race') my heart rate pretty much stays within the peak zone. I do not run fast, about 7.15km / hour average over 10k and can hold a conversation if needed to whilst running. I'm just concerned that when I run my heart rate is in the peak zone and sometimes gets up to 178 bpm (not often) more like 163 bpm.

Other forms of exercise such as cross fit don't give me same results it's just running. 

I know I have a heart murmur (very slight) but don't need it checked and have had all sorts of tests on my heart and my dr says as long as I don't have any pain in my chest any exercise is fine. I'm just concerned it stays in the peak zone all the time and I'd basically be walking if I slowed my speed down to reduce it!

I don't want to bother my dr as I feel absolutely fine but wondered if anyone had any suggestions?

Thanks!

[MeatLips]

Hi Shivarsh,

I wound up having a stress test back in October. As it turns out, people are very different with different peak heart rates despite what the general heart rate formula says.

This was a long journey of anxiety for me before my cardiologist sat me down and told me that based on all my tests and stress test, my heart is extremely physically fit and I needed to stop worrying.

I think my versa 2 has been pretty close to my actual heart rate. It matched up pretty well with the monitor during my stress test and my heart was up around 180 or so. These days it can get up that high after running for a while so I've learned to simply trust it and to stop watching my bpm as much. I just make sure to be aware of anything else like chest pain or discomfort and just tune out and run.

Now I just need to work through the motion sickness I seem to develop after running for a while, which actually seems to be the root of all my problems and not my heart.

At any rate, if you're concerned about your bpm, I would strongly suggest you talk to your doctor and maybe go for a stress test as well. It can be extremely reassuring to have a cardiologist sit you down and explain to you in professional terms that there's nothing wrong with your heart and to stop wasting their time. 🙂

[Shivparsh]

Hi

Thanks for your reply. I am not too concerned about my heart rate, but would have the stress test later this year anyway.

What I noted and would like to know is if Fitbit shows incorrect figures at bpms 130 and higher. My treadmill showed 142 for example when my Fitbit reading was 175.

[KP_Nuts]

Hi Shivparsh, It's been my experience too that my Fitbit (Alta HR) displays crazy high heart rates during moderate exercise. I'm certain this is just an artefact arising from the suboptimal way fitbits measure you're pulse. I get better readings if I wear the Fitbit half way up and on the inside of my arm, and quite tight. Even then it's not always perfect.

[Shivparsh]

Thanks. That would alleviate some stress if anyone is concerned with those high figures.

[Heybales]

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@Shivparsh wrote:

This is something I noticed when running on the treadmill.

Up to 128 bpm, the reading on Fitbit and the treadmill are close. Above 130 on the treadmill, Fitbit goes hyper. Fitbit was about 40 bpm higher than the treadmill reading. It was difficult to hold on to the treadmill bar for about 3 minutes at about 4.5 miles/hr but managed somehow; I was too concerned with bpm figures showing 183 on my tracker.

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Some people find the optical HR reading goes haywire above a certain HR - either drops out completely or spikes above actual.

Sounds like you found your level.

You can try to move the device so it'll read better for higher HR.

About the only solution.

[GlamZ]

I am so confused by this peak thing. So does it mean that while you are in the peak, there is no cardio going on? And is peak bad? 

[Julia_G]

@GlamZ , no, quite the contrary!  At peak heartrate maximum cardio is taking place.  

Whether or not peak is “bad” largely depends on your health and fitness level.  Most experts agree that it is not healthy to spend significant periods of time in your peak zone; however, athletes and people wanting to build fitness levels often exercise using intervals - short periods (usual a few minutes at most) of very intense exercise at or near peak - combined with much longer periods of lower level activity.  

If you are new to exercise it is probably not good to spend much time in peak zone.  Instead, aim to workout mostly in your “target heartrate zone”. This will be 50-85% of your  maximum heartrate.  This will be the start of the fatburn zone at the bottom (50%) and the  very top of the cardio zone (85%).  You will be unlikely to be able to sustain activity for very long in peak zone in any case.

You can calculate these numbers yourself by doing the maths.  Your theoretical maximum heartrate is 220 minus your age.  Then you just multiply that number by 50% and by 85% to find your target zone.

Your Fitbit can help you exercise safely by keeping an eye on your heartrate and helping you to push yourself a little harder for short intervals.  But it is also important to listen to your body.  Don’t exercise for extended periods when you feel so short of breath that you can only gasp single words.  Aim for most exercise to be at a level where you can carry out a conversation, even if a slightly out of breath one!

I hope that helps.  Welcome to the forums!

[MeatLips]

@GlamZ Also keep in mind that that that formula is just a baseline to determine maximum heartrate. I'm 45, so that would mean my maximum rate should be 175, but when I run for 30 minutes or more my heart rate can get up to that and hover around 175 or so for most of my run. When I discovered this it set off a massive anxiety attack making me think I was injuring my heart. I'm not the thinnest guy in the world, but I wasn't having any shortness of breath or any cramps or physical warnings from my body. I only jog at a fairly slow pace.

It took a stress test and meeting with a cardiologist to determine that I'm not damaging my heart. My max peak is just higher. So if you have questions as to what your actual peak rate is, it's worthwhile talking to your doctor.

[Heybales]

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@GlamZ wrote:

I am so confused by this peak thing. So does it mean that while you are in the peak, there is no cardio going on? And is peak bad? 

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Cardiovascular exercise is a workout that pushes the lungs, heart, and muscle cells to a state of pressure such that there is improvement to those same systems.

It's a range from where you start going above daily level intensity into aerobic exercise (avg found to be about 90 HR) up to above aerobic range going into anaerobic but still a steady state type workout.

So not like lifting even though the HR bounces around up there in high ranges too - for different reasons.

What improvement you are looking for depends on how you stress it.

Stress it always in the peak zone - you are prepping body to do hard short efforts - think 5K.

Stress in cardio range - think 10K or slightly longer.

Stress in fat burn range - think much longer endurance aerobic. Or recovery for a prior day hard workout. It used to be called the Active Recovery HR range, faddishly changed to fat burn mode as if the others don't burn fat, not true.

The time at each level of stress varies - more stress less time almost automatically.

And there are improvements outside the "zone", though it's slower to come by. Like lots of base building in the lowest zone will improve body so it can do better in the highest zone. But there are improvements only to be made in the highest zone too. And all workouts there won't improve your endurance as fast as being in the lowest zone.

There is cardiovascular improvement going on through that whole range - it's all cardio, though not all aerobic. And depending on your goals is what matters.

So if your purpose is merely to burn extra calories so you can say eat more, or eat more normally while in a diet, and you are limited on time - then as hard as you can go for your say 20-30 min, that still allows you to recovery and do the workout again tomorrow - would be the method. And likely Peak zone.

As the others have said though - those zones are based on a calculation of only age - and as an average are rather terrible. For women the bell curve is very wide - you have a better chance of being more than 20 bpm outside the range than in it.

If you read through this topic you'll see where ones prove very easily the assumed HRmax was wayyyy off - and if they held to it - would have negatively impacted getting an effective workout for their available time.

So if the HRmax was that far off, the zones are incorrect too.

[Kris111]

I'm also was also wondering this question. I am bad for overtraining, i worry about myself lol  and I just did a run on treadmill and apparently I was in peak the whole time 0 minutes in the other areas except 1 minute cardio apparently. 

[Heybales]

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@Kris111 wrote:

I'm also was also wondering this question. I am bad for overtraining, i worry about myself lol  and I just did a run on treadmill and apparently I was in peak the whole time 0 minutes in the other areas except 1 minute cardio apparently. 

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Peak zone starts at higher level of aerobic range really - this would be the range endurance runners, bikers, rowers, swimmers, ect go for hours during a race.

Now - they aren't going to go out and do the same level of effort tomorrow either.

Be aware that zone, as the words say, are based on your age as huge part of it, and fitness level which probably means your resting HR.

At least 1 side of that scale is a known figure, the other is calculated and based on a pretty sad formula that has been updated by much research but sadly not replaced in the world of easy formulas.

In other words - you may not have actually been in YOUR true peak zone at all.

If you are bad for overtraining - start tracking your true restingHR right before you wake up.

Not Fitbit's figure of RHR which it really isn't, because they include all day resting time - and that's not valid.

See if your true RHR starts going up - either your body is fighting off a bug, or you aren't getting enough recovery, so too much diet, too much hard exercise, not enough sleep, or combo of things.

[Kris111]

Thank you. That helps. Actually for women heart rate goes up about 2 weeks after that time of the month or so and stays peaked for two (and feel like I blow up maybe that's what it is instead of overtraining but I only got this bad in the last 2 years or so,not sure) to so it's also hard to tell for that reason. Mine was just 70 and went down to 58 over the course of a few days when it came. That doesnt help matters. 

Always hesitant to trust Fitbit to so you are probably right on that one .

[PRCstuart]

I too have this issue. I'm over 50 and have been running for years and consider myself to be in excellent shape.  Last year I got a Fitbit for my birthday and was surprised to see how high my heart rate stays while running or doing certain aerobic exercise.  I feel fine and like you, if someone talks to me, I can converse without too much difficulty. I've tried tightening my Fitbit but it makes no difference.  I'm wondering if I need a cardiology???

 

 

[Shivparsh]

I would rather suggest that you first verify with readings on a treadmill.
It's difficult to do that beyond a speed of 5 miles/hr, but not impossible.

Regards,
Shiv

[Heybales]

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@PRCstuart wrote:

I too have this issue. I'm over 50 and have been running for years and consider myself to be in excellent shape.  Last year I got a Fitbit for my birthday and was surprised to see how high my heart rate stays while running or doing certain aerobic exercise.  I feel fine and like you, if someone talks to me, I can converse without too much difficulty. I've tried tightening my Fitbit but it makes no difference.  I'm wondering if I need a cardiology???

You only need to change the HRmax in Fitbit settings to align better with reality.

The whole calculated 220-age really gets skewed when already fit through the ages, let alone the fact it's an estimate anyway.

Usually the problem with inaccurate HR is reading to low - not high. So it's probably accurate.

The zone as based on HRmax are merely bad for your reality. 

[Micsb]

If you are in good shape, speaking while keeping your HR in the 140-150 range is doable, this is below your lactate thresshold and you should still have a surplus of oxygen in your blood. Once you get close to the lactate thresshold your will need all the oxygene you can get to keep fat as the primary energy source. I assume your threshold is in the mid to high 150's being in good shape and exercising frequently. 

I used to be a running coach and the best way to avoid fellow runners from over exercising was to keep them talking, that kept the pace at the right level. It was before everyone had HR devices. As soon as we paused the conversation the pace went up close to the level where breathing becomes forced.