High HR concern

[Elliot M]

Just got a heart monitor and I amazed to find my resting rate is about 75! I haven't checked it for years and am hardly ultrafit now but does this not seem a little high?? It was certainly below 60 as I remember

[siwickm]

I am going to start doing this check every morning as I am still getting ill every now and then after long rides. Hopefully I can see whether or not I am fit enough to do the long ride before I do it and then finding a couple of days later that I come down with a killer cold.

Just had three days off because of the ride to Brighton and back last Friday. Although illness only really kicked in after the ride on Sunday, which I probably should not have done, if I had monitored my heart rate I probably would have spotted this and not ridden on Sunday.

Cheers

Marek....

[Alan B]

yeah, mine is about 60 (those mornings where i wake up, and remember to test before doing anything else at all), but if i sit down with my pulse meter and think about it, it seems to range from 65 to 85 - there is a lot of psychology involved i think........

i don't get too hung up about it - i find it much more useful when actually training, for eg, my LSD work at 140bpm etc. i find that over a period of time, my average heart rate for a particular ride is so consistent ride on ride, you can even overlay the graphs on top of eachother (assuming same route) and they almost fit..... then, if it goes adrift, wither i am skiving, or am not 100% as Marco says - often a cold kicking around makes quite a difference

[Elliot M]

cheers guys. where should i look (website/book?) for the basic stuff on how to use HRM for cycling?

[siwickm]

You could try the Polar website. If you want to get a book on it then I would say that most cycling training books have a section on heart rate limits etc. The Lance Armstrong 7 Week guide has a section on heart rate monitoring but I think most books do. Serious Cycling has a section as well.

I am pretty sure you can find out most of the information off the web though with a bit of hunting around. Maybe even look at some of the old threads under training where I am sure HRM has been talked about at great length.

Cheers

Marek....

[Will]

[url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0963463306/ref=ase_theheartratemoni/202-6128948-0677402]This[/url] book covers the basics.

It is often described as a 'classic'.

Although I don't remember reading it at school in GCSE English