Quick heart rate monitor question

[Dave B .]

I bought a heart rate monitor recently but really haven't done too much with it yet. I wear it once
and a while just to see what readings I get and how I feel at different heart rates.

I'm 44 and the basic formulas for finding the max heart rate put it anywhere from 176-183.

I did a 5k this morning and the rate at the finish was 184. I read one method to find your max heart
rate is to do a 5k and then add 5 to the number.

Is 189 a reasonable number for a 44 year old male to use as a max rate? I'll keep playing around
with it for a while, but I thought I'd ask.

[Roger 2k]

Dave,

I am 46 and I use 207 for my max. I normally always hit 200 at the end of a
5k. My first 5k this year was a little different. I held 200+ on the last
6/25ths of an indoor 5k. I even saw 205 on that race.

In other words, pay no attention to any formula. They can be way off.

Roger

Dave B. wrote in message ...
>I bought a heart rate monitor recently but really haven't done too much with it yet. I wear it once
>and a while just to see what readings I get and how I feel at different heart rates.
>
>I'm 44 and the basic formulas for finding the max heart rate put it anywhere from 176-183.
>
>I did a 5k this morning and the rate at the finish was 184. I read one method to find your max
>heart rate is to do a 5k and then add 5 to the number.
>
>Is 189 a reasonable number for a 44 year old male to use as a max rate? I'll keep playing around
>with it for a while, but I thought I'd ask.

[Donovan Rebbech]

In article <cblg9vg6fk7ovgvih2tov8fpug50jdov8f@4ax.com>, Dave B wrote:
> I bought a heart rate monitor recently but really haven't done too much with it yet. I wear it
> once and a while just to see what readings I get and how I feel at different heart rates.
>
> I'm 44 and the basic formulas for finding the max heart rate put it anywhere from 176-183.
>
> I did a 5k this morning and the rate at the finish was 184. I read one method to find your max
> heart rate is to do a 5k and then add 5 to the number.
>
> Is 189 a reasonable number for a 44 year old male to use as a max rate? I'll keep playing around
> with it for a while, but I thought I'd ask.

Maximum heart rates are wildly variable. My max heart rate is about 200, but I'm older than 20 (-;
It's not unusual to have a higher or lower heart rate than the formula suggests.

If you're doing hard interval sessions, you could use those to measure your max heart rate. They're
tough enough that they can (IMO) serve reasonably well as a stress "test".

BTW, there's not a lot of harm in underestimating your max heart rate by 5 beats per minute.

Another point: see http://www.panix.com/~elflord/vdot.html to get interval training paces for
different tempos. The workouts performed at "T pace" should get you up around 90% max heart rate,
workouts at "I pace" should have you close to 100% max heart rate (or *at* max towards the end), and
workouts at "E" pace should have you under 85% max.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/