Heart Rate

Doug,

You may not be as fit as the other riders. Your recovery
pulse is good, and you are in good shape. Your resting
pulse is good but not excellent. I'd place you in the
"worried well" category unless you have other risk factors.
Just my opinion.

[email hidden] (Dougielas) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I am a cyclist and note that my heart rate climbs to my
max very quick into my ride. I am 47 with a chart max of
176 bps and I cycle about 30 to 40 miles 2 or 3 times a
week. I consider myself in shape but do get winded. I
usually hit my max or at least 90% after a couple miles.
My recovery is good after a short session but after a long
ride, it will recovery from about 170 to 120 within a min
or two but will remain ~100 bps a couple hrs after the
ride. My resting pulse is about 58. I don't consider it
normal and it is abnormal compared to everyone in our
riding group. I mentioned it to the family dr but he said
as long as I was asymptomatic, not to worry. But I still
do. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Doug

Dougielas said:

I am a cyclist and note that my heart rate climbs to my
max very quick into my ride. I am 47 with a chart max of
176 bps and I cycle about 30 to 40 miles 2 or 3 times a
week. I consider myself in shape but do get winded. I
usually hit my max or at least 90% after a couple miles.
My recovery is good after a short session but after a long
ride, it will recovery from about 170 to 120 within a min
or two but will remain ~100 bps a couple hrs after the
ride. My resting pulse is about 58. I don't consider it
normal and it is abnormal compared to everyone in our
riding group. I mentioned it to the family dr but he said
as long as I was asymptomatic, not to worry. But I still
do. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks, Doug

Would suggest you ask your family doctor for a referral to
consult with a cardiologist. Persistently elevated heart
rate (greater than 100 bpm) for more than 5 minutes after
cessation of exercise is not normal.

Servant to the humblest person in the universe,

Andrew

--
Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Board-Certified Cardiologist
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It seems to me I heard somewhere that Dougielas wrote in article
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

I am a cyclist and note that my heart rate climbs to my max
very quick into my ride. I am 47 with a chart max of 176
bps and I cycle about 30 to 40 miles 2 or 3 times a week. I
consider myself in shape but do get winded. I usually hit
my max or at least 90% after a couple miles. My recovery is
good after a short session but after a long ride, it will
recovery from about 170 to 120 within a min or two but will
remain ~100 bps a couple hrs after the ride. My resting
pulse is about 58. I don't consider it normal and it is
abnormal compared to everyone in our riding group. I
mentioned it to the family dr but he said as long as I was
asymptomatic, not to worry. But I still do. Any feedback
would be appreciated. Thanks, Doug

For comparison, I'm 75 and my MHR measured on bicycles and
treadmills over a period of about 15 years was somewhere
around 165. I need to run one or two miles before my heart
rate stabilizes. My period of slight breathlessness ends
after about half a mile, but the heart rate rises gradually
until the warm up is complete. Any similar pattern is
probably normal.

Your recovery seems within rule of thumb limits, which for
endurance runners is to get back to 100~120 bpm within two
or three minutes of cessation of exercise. I would guess the
same rule of thumb would apply to cyclists, since both are
doing primarily aerobic exercise.

Endurance runners may have elevated pulse rates for an
extended time after a strenuous effort such as a
marathon; I've never timed my recovery following a
marathon, but it was certainly longer than a few
minutes.. I see no reason the same shouldn't be true for
cyclists; 100bpm is not unusually high for some time
immediately after a hard session.

Resting pulse is quite individual, though skimming Google
hits suggests many well-trained elite endurance athletes
bottom out in the 30s or 40s. I don't think you should
compare your own readings to those of others--each of us is
an experiment of one and the goal is to determine what is
normal for you, not for a statistical population. OTOH, if
your resting rate is rising by several beats that can be a
symptom of overtraining.

How long have you been cycling at this intensity? Endurance
sports are long-term endeavors; if you have changed or are
changing the intensity of your workouts you should see
equivalent changes over time in both resting rates and rates
at given levels of exertion.

Not being a medical person, I can't guess whether the
pattern you describe is appropriate for you, but it doesn't
seem unusual to me. If you have concerns try to go into it
in more depth with your doctor or look for a second opinion.
I suspect the results will be reassuring.
--
Don [email hidden]

It seems to me I heard somewhere that Dougielas wrote in article
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

I am a cyclist and note that my heart rate climbs to my max
very quick into my ride. I am 47 with a chart max of 176
bps and I cycle about 30 to 40 miles 2 or 3 times a week. I
consider myself in shape but do get winded. I usually hit
my max or at least 90% after a couple miles. My recovery is
good after a short session but after a long ride, it will
recovery from about 170 to 120 within a min or two but will
remain ~100 bps a couple hrs after the ride. My resting
pulse is about 58. I don't consider it normal and it is
abnormal compared to everyone in our riding group. I
mentioned it to the family dr but he said as long as I was
asymptomatic, not to worry. But I still do. Any feedback
would be appreciated. Thanks, Doug

For comparison, I'm 75 and my MHR measured on bicycles and
treadmills over a period of about 15 years was somewhere
around 165. I need to run one or two miles before my heart
rate stabilizes. My period of slight breathlessness ends
after about half a mile, but the heart rate rises gradually
until the warm up is complete. Any similar pattern is
probably normal.

Your recovery seems within rule of thumb limits, which for
endurance runners is to get back to 100~120 bpm within two
or three minutes of cessation of exercise. I would guess the
same rule of thumb would apply to cyclists, since both are
doing primarily aerobic exercise.

Endurance runners may have elevated pulse rates for an
extended time after a strenuous effort such as a
marathon; I've never timed my recovery following a
marathon, but it was certainly longer than a few
minutes.. I see no reason the same shouldn't be true for
cyclists; 100bpm is not unusually high for some time
immediately after a hard session.

Resting pulse is quite individual, though skimming Google
hits suggests many well-trained elite endurance athletes
bottom out in the 30s or 40s. I don't think you should
compare your own readings to those of others--each of us is
an experiment of one and the goal is to determine what is
normal for you, not for a statistical population. OTOH, if
your resting rate is rising by several beats that can be a
symptom of overtraining.

How long have you been cycling at this intensity? Endurance
sports are long-term endeavors; if you have changed or are
changing the intensity of your workouts you should see
equivalent changes over time in both resting rates and rates
at given levels of exertion.

Not being a medical person, I can't guess whether the
pattern you describe is appropriate for you, but it doesn't
seem unusual to me. If you have concerns try to go into it
in more depth with your doctor or look for a second opinion.
I suspect the results will be reassuring.
--
Don [email hidden]