High BPM and heart rates? or Broken Fit bit?

[lauraE95]

Hi all!

I have noticed that when going for a run, my fitbit often registers being in the Peak Zone for most of the duration of my run. Further to this, when running a 5k, I am getting an average BMP of 194 and often my heart rate exceeds this to 200-208bpm. I have tried to regulate my heart rate more by doing interval running, but this still shows high rates. I also seem to hit the peak zone in little than 5 mins into my run. 

I am a 25 year old, consider myself to be fairly active, and am not overweight. I do a various exercise such as yoga, pilates, HIT workouts and running. I have never been a natural runner, but have got to a point when I can run 5K without feeling exhausted. I cant help but feel, these are alarming rates for a young person to be having. I also know that working out my max BPM for my age, it should be 195, which i seem to be exceeding when really i should be working at lower than that? On my runs, I don't feel dizzy, about to pass out, no chest pains and feel i am able to hold a conversation (maybe less when going up hill!). By speaking to friends the same age as me, they all seem to have much lower BPM's. (I am aware that we are all different).

I am just conscious whether this is something to cause concern, or maybe my fitbit isn't accurate/not working properly? I am also running with the idea, that practice makes perfect and overtime my BPM may improve as I get better at running? 

[WavyDavey]

Hi @lauraE95

I'm not a runner, but plenty of runners here report Peak Zone for much of their running duration, so I don't think what you're reporting is completely out of line.  When I hit Peak Zone, I'm not really able to hold a conversation, so not sure what's going on there. But glad to hear you're not experiencing any physical symptoms.

To figure out if it's your Fitbit or not, I would try an experiment. Do a run, and bring your phone with you with a stopwatch app. When the Fitbit gets you well into Peak Zone, stop and start the stopwatch. Take your pulse at the side of your neck, count the heart beats for 30 seconds, multiply times two. Then see how the number you get manually compares to what the Fitbit is reporting. You can try this a few times to compare the two, and that should give you some idea of what's going on. Best of luck.