Heart Rate Gets Higher, More Quickly Some Days. Why?



JamesAA

New Member
Aug 10, 2013
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Hi. I'm 39 and have been involved in fitness/athletics most of my life. I have noticed a phenomenon from time to time, most recently the last couple of days. My body normally can do a given (exercise) routine and follow a pretty consistent HR pattern. However every once in a while, like last night, my HR gets higher, much more easily and quicker. Other than things like dehydration (which I wasn't), what can cause this? Does anyone else here experience this too?

For what it's worth I actually took it easy last week. I'm wondering if not doing much intense cardio for one week could cause me to be less fit? Seems hard to believe that one week could do that, especially given that it wasn't 1 week of doing nothing. I walked, played tennis, did very slow paced bike rides, etc.

Thanks,
James
 
I found that ambient temp and consequently my body heat affect my heart rate greatly. On the same course, duration and effort my avg HR can vary by 15 bpm on hot vs. cold day.

Also on days following a hard ride, I find it more difficult to get to peak HR.
 
For starters, HR measures only (approximately) half of the heart's work to supply oxygen to your muscles. Stroke Volume (SV) represents the other part and it responds over a similar range from rest to maximum as HR. So, I wouldn't draw too many conclusions about your HR response. Second, I at least don't have a consistent relationship between power and HR even on the same ride, same day, same temperature, same elevation. If I can't even explain differences in HR at the same power under identical conditions, I wouldn't even try to explain differences on different days.
 
also food in your stomach raises HR, HR is a nice frame for your training if you take it as broad supporting tool, of course power is more to the point but i would first try to understand HR, like you are doing, before getting into that, resting heart rate, measured first thing in the morning, before even getting out of bed, will show you a trend if you record it for many months,
 
Quote: Originally Posted by vspa .

also food in your stomach raises HR,
HR
interesting that you say this. i had eaten a couple of slices of pizza and some breadsticks about 1 hour before that exercise session. i didn't feel full at all but perhaps the food in the belly was causing a higher HR??
 
yeah it is a fact, for the first two or three hours after eating as digestion processes starts working, more blood is needed,
 

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