Measuring heart rate

Chris52686 said:

This may be a stupid question but when measuring heart rate in the more(to monitor signs of overtraining) do you take the lowest number that comes up or an average..thanks

Take your morning HR before sitting up and getting out of bed for 3-5 days. Then average those numbers to get a good base number. Using that base number you can tell if your heartrate is elevated on a given morning.

KGnagey said:

Take your morning HR before sitting up and getting out of bed for 3-5 days. Then average those numbers to get a good base number. Using that base number you can tell if your heartrate is elevated on a given morning.

What percentage higher from this average would be considered elevated? I just broke out my 15 yr old Polar Accurex HR Monitor, got a new battery and used it yesterday. It really lets you know you aren't working in those slightly downhill stretches where it seems you're working it because of the speed, but you're really not. 😄

gntlmn said:

What percentage higher from this average would be considered elevated? I just broke out my 15 yr old Polar Accurex HR Monitor, got a new battery and used it yesterday. It really lets you know you aren't working in those slightly downhill stretches where it seems you're working it because of the speed, but you're really not. 😄

Damnit! You're Polar does that too? I thought it was just a defect in my HRM.

If memory serves, 10 beats per minute higher than norm is one indication of overtraining. Does that help?

I bet that Accurex cost an arm and a leg 15 years ago. 😉 Back then it was probably some cutting edge stuff, unless you were a pro. I'm hoping the power meters drop in price to where they are affordable (like HRMs today) in the not too distant future.

Doctor Morbius said:

Damnit! You're Polar does that too? I thought it was just a defect in my HRM.

If memory serves, 10 beats per minute higher than norm is one indication of overtraining. Does that help?

I bet that Accurex cost an arm and a leg 15 years ago. 😉 Back then it was probably some cutting edge stuff, unless you were a pro. I'm hoping the power meters drop in price to where they are affordable (like HRMs today) in the not too distant future.

Yeah. I think I will be a little smarter about power meters. I expect them to drop a lot too.

And yes, the bpm overage is helpful. Now the trick is to see the watch without walking to turn on the light. I guess I could just turn on the timer, count, turn it off, and then get out of bed and turn on the light. It's not nice and neat, but it would work.

Thanks again.

Chris52686 said:

This may be a stupid question but when measuring heart rate in the more(to monitor signs of overtraining) do you take the lowest number that comes up or an average..thanks

measuring HR is not a way to determine overtraining. currently, there are no known tests to determine overtraining. the only sign is an unexpected significant, decrease in performance (i.e., power output in cycling). if performance is the same or similar you're not overtrained.

ric

gntlmn said:

Yeah. I think I will be a little smarter about power meters. I expect them to drop a lot too.

And yes, the bpm overage is helpful. Now the trick is to see the watch without walking to turn on the light. I guess I could just turn on the timer, count, turn it off, and then get out of bed and turn on the light. It's not nice and neat, but it would work.

Thanks again.

Waking HR can be an indicator of some abnormal stress on the body like illness, lack of recovery from previous training etc . It comes down to knowing yourself though. By taking it regularly you will build up a picture of what your HR does before you get ill or if you are just too hot in bed!

I think that 10% rather than 10beat raise is a pretty good indicator that you should not be overly stressing your body on that day. ie dont go exessively long or hard on your training ride.
If my HR is up by 10 beats then it will be obvious even before I take my HR that I shouldn't be training as I'll feel like [censored].
If my HR is raised by more than 5 beats(usual HR 41/42) and I don't feel 100% right, then I will restrict myself to training under threshold and reschedule any harder sessions that I had planned.

Consistency is the key. If you only remember to take your HR when you are feeling ill, then you might aswell not bother as you wont have anything to compare to.
You need to know yourself🙂

I apologize to the readers. I meant to say "one indication that you haven't recovered from a previous session(s)" and not "one indication of overtraining". My bad. :o
Thank you to The Brother for pointing this out.

Edit: The 10 beat per minute figure I believe I got from one of Sally Edwards' books, but it could very well have been 10%. I can't remember. I'm getting old you know.