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HR and age relevancy
Last Post 05/17/2013 05:27 PM by 79 pmooney. 35 Replies.
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Pin0Q0
Posts:229
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| 05/14/2013 10:14 AM |
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Greetings and congrats on the migration and good to see all the familiar names. I was testing and got stuck with the screen name and can’t seem to be able to change it.
I need some advice and input from you older fellas. I turned 49 this year and have noticed a gradual decrease in my Max HR comparing to previous years which I was expecting but not sure what type of guidelines if any I should be able to compare it with for someone my age.
Last year about this time on the same course my Max HR was 176, back in my 30’s it was about 10 bbm higher and this year it’s down to 170. Granted given all the variables apart from my fitness and weight which has remained the same in the past few years and maybe a little better but should the difference be so noticeable?
Kameron
[URL=http://s1294.photobucket.com/user/vojdka00/media/Untitled_zps4136f1cb.png.html] [/URL] |
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bobswire
Posts:304
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| 05/14/2013 12:05 PM |
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A lot depends on your individual condition and amount of riding you do. I know from experience I can raise my Max HR the more I ride and my conditioning.
I haven't been using my Garmin/HR monitor in over a year but I'll strap it on today and hit a couple of climbs. Last year I was averaging 166 when I was doing lots of riding, when I backed off a bit it would drop down to 158-159. BTW I'm 68 |
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vtguy
Posts:298
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| 05/14/2013 01:31 PM |
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My experience is similar to bobswire -- generally in the 160-165 range -- it dips to the high 150's during the winter when I'm exercising less. I'm 67.
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C2K_Rider
Posts:173
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| 05/14/2013 01:43 PM |
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Depends on how close you want to get to keeling over!
It's going to go down. might as well live with it. The question is, does it really matter? Your AT HR is more important for 99.9% of your riding.
Mine hasn't gone above 165 for a few years. But I rarely got above 180 in my prime. Probably why I never had a chance at being in the finals.
OH, btw, maybe you can change it with hardware. with my Garmin I regularly see 250 bpm. And mainly on descents! What a stud! |
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Oldfart
Posts:511
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| 05/14/2013 03:31 PM |
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I think Kam that would not likely be your max. You would probably collapse at true max. In my late 20's I could and did often hit 205 in races but at 31 I did a max VO2 test on a treadmill and hit 213. I was getting dizzy and I doubt I could have gone much longer. In races a few years ago I could hit 196 so in about 20 years I would say my max came down about 10 beats.
C2K Pffffft, I hit 199 kph on a mountain bike once. Uphill. And it felt like I was going much slower I was so darn fit. |
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Pin0Q0
Posts:229
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| 05/14/2013 04:13 PM |
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| Holly crap boys, getting old ain't so bad I suppose or is it? I'll keep a lung out and track it closer this year. I think I need to push a bit harder but that ain't gonna happen. The bump in the middle of the elevation chart is the Manyaunk Wall, it's short but at 17% I just hit 160 bpm, and I'm telling you, it was the legs and knees preventing me go harder not the ticker. Ten years ago I couldn't suck air fast enough and felt my lungs were going to spew out of my mouth, the legs tingled, OK maybe screamed......now like OF said pFFFF...... 20% ….yeah sprinting up it in the big ring no problem. I would have made that little Columbian look like a school girl yesterday on that climb if Bissell had signed me up, oh well thei loss. |
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THE SKINNY
Posts:506
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| 05/14/2013 08:04 PM |
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| i'm 47 and i touched 173 in spin class this evening. most of the class i was at 160-165. wasn't there a formula for max hr? some number minus your age plus winkie length or something? |
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| How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 05/14/2013 08:36 PM |
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Kameron, being limited by leg power,not lung power,is a sign that you are over-geared for that climb. In a low enough gear, you can still hit the ticker limit. Sadly, the gear required keeps getting smaller with age.
I get to witness this as I climb on several very different bikes. 3 have gears; triples with 28 tooth fronts. 2 are fixed; my new ti fixie that I can put a 42-23 on and my winter fixie, 44-17. How I feel and my limits are very different depending on the bike and gearing. The winter fixie is all about legs, on th egood fixie it depends on the climb and with the triple and big enough cog it is all about heart and wind.
Doing climbs with guys riding higher gears is fun. When grades change, I can shift and go with the flow. Those locked into too high a gear cannot, and every acceleration I make is a big drag n them.
Ben |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 05/14/2013 09:47 PM |
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I haven't seen 170 in a long time on my HRM. Used to be my threshold, then my max and now my "I can't even touch that".
This is a prime example of why training by HR is a poor substitute for training by power. Watts are watts. 250 watts this year is 250 watts next year and 5 years from now. They are objective numbers. HR is too subjective and a poor measuring stick for fotness improvement, especially over the long term. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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THE SKINNY
Posts:506
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| 05/15/2013 09:21 AM |
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| is training with hr better than nothing? |
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| How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 05/15/2013 09:31 AM |
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Oh sure, it is definitely better than nothing....HR is roughly a known output derived from effort (power). But at the end of the day, just like speed or MPH, it is still a pretty poor proxy for power.
Just because your Max HR has dropped doesn't necessarily mean your power output has dropped. So in Kameron's case, he may be concerned about something that is ultimately irrelevant. If his funtional threshold power is the same (or up!), who cares if his Max HR is down? At the end of the day, fitness is about applying the most power to the pedals for a given period of time. HR, Speed, etc are all byproducts of this equation.
Now, there are all sorts of other variables that also come into play.....cost of a power meter, training goals, etc. For example, if your training goals are just fitness based ("I ride for exercise and fitness, not to race."), then power may be a metric that is necessary and you can accomplish your goals using HR. "My avg. HR for this ride used to be XXX bpm and now it is YYY bpm. I know I am fitter now than I was 2 months ago." Similarly, the cost (or specificity) of a PM may not be worth it for some people depending on their goals. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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THE SKINNY
Posts:506
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| 05/15/2013 09:40 AM |
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| the ymca doesn't have the money for power meters and i usually don't bother with a hr monitor. my metric is "i was faster than that guy last season and now he's kicking my ass" |
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| How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 05/15/2013 10:51 AM |
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| 58 years old-- I hit low 180's at max effort when I'm doing hill repeats or in a race. About 10 years ago I'd hit upper 180's |
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bobswire
Posts:304
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| 05/15/2013 11:11 AM |
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Of course one own heart rate is a very valuable tool but it's not how high your HR is but how to use it as a GUIDE .
Personally I don't train, I ride for joy of it and by extension my health but at the same time I do monitor how my body feels and ride accordingly since I plan to continue to ride for many more years.
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C2K_Rider
Posts:173
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| 05/15/2013 11:14 AM |
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| The cost/benefit of a power meter doesn't work for me. First, I am not trying to get the last 2% - 5% of value out of my training (which is what a power meter is actually good for), I ride the same roads all the time, some of them I've done hundreds of times, and I keep track of splits and HR for varioius sections, especially hills. With that history it is very easy to see how power develops (or not). It's just a speed and distance value, so very obvious. I don't ride trainers, so no need there. And when I am on unfamiliar roads I just go by perceived exertion. Many riders with power meters are lost if they don't have it. Like people who rely on GPS for directions and then can't tell you the route they just took because they were just passively following directions. |
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