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High HR while running

jsk85's picture
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started by jsk85 on March 21, 2008

Alrgiht, seeing someone's swim HR post reminded me I wanted to ask about this. I started becomming active in HS by joining XC. I moved into rowing in college, and found triathlon about halfway through. I have always been much stronger on the run leg than the others. I have not actually done LT tests to set my HR zones, I just kinda base it mostly off percieved exertion and note where my HR sits at different "effort levels" to estimate my zones.

Anyways, I was doing a 60 minute run the other day at just over 8min/mile and was feeling pretty strong. However, by about the 30 minute mark my HR hit 170 and stayed above until the end of the workout. Now I was slowly increasing speed throughout, but my HR finished at around 180. My avg HR was 167 for the run with peak at 183. The thing is, I felt like this was a relatively easy run.

This is usually the case for all my runs.

So I guess my question is...is it healthy for me to feel comfortable running in 170+ HR for upwards of an hour? Am I at risk of my heart exploding or something, lol?

I used to always just assume that my zones were just shifted since I am larger than the average runner of my speed (6ft 205-210lbs with sub 19:30 5k), but this shift seems kind of extreme.

ChunkyB's picture
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ChunkyB posted 15 weeks ago.

I have a similar thing when I run, except I don't feel comfortable. My hear rate will get up around 180, but all the while I'm huffing and puffing and hoping I don't die.

It is normal for your heart rate to be higher when running than, say, biking. I don't know about running comfortably at 180, but I know many people prefer RPE to HR because heart rate is influenced by so many things.

$0.02: If you feel good, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice

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wmckean's picture
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wmckean posted 15 weeks ago.

Everybody's heart rate is different. That's why we do the LT tests to help us figure out what our zones are. For example, I did the 10 minute warm up followed by two minute all out, and my average heart rate as 170. I've seen my heart rate climb on a hill up to 184, so that is what I currently use as my max. There are lots of articles out on the internet to help you setup heart rate training. My point being that without determining what your LT heart rate is, there's no way to know if 180 is too high for you :-)

wmckean's picture
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wmckean posted 15 weeks ago.

Sorry, meant twenty minutes all out :-) Two would be definitely a bit short!! ROFL!!

spomeroy's picture
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spomeroy posted 15 weeks ago.

I'll get that alot of times. Usually for me when I start to run my HR pops up to 90% but then settles down. Holding near 75-80% for easy runs. But perceived effort and actual HR for my runs seem to be at odds with each other.

jsk85's picture
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jsk85 posted 15 weeks ago.

So...on the same topic, I just got home from my run where I got a little excited at the end and decided to finish the last quarter mile in a sprint. I saw these kids and they looked like they needed to be impressed, so I kicked it up one more notch to a full out 100m sprint at the very finish and maxxed my HR. My monitor read 202, lol. That was probably unhealthy

Oh and further evidence, my run stats for today: 5.2 miles, 40:50s, 7:47/mile pace, 171 avg HR (of course the finish didn't help)

tri-ac's picture
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tri-ac posted 15 weeks ago.

HR is very personal...if mine hits 183, I'm within seconds of stopping running!

big 3's picture
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big 3 posted 15 weeks ago.

As everyone is saying. HRs are very different from person to person. Using those Age formulas are useless if you are really serious about HR training.
Joe Friel's Total HR Training book explains how to find your zones. (Swim, bike, run will all be different of course). Then how to use your zones to maximize your training time to improve. Good book.

As for the craziest HR I've heard about. A guy at the pool I go to says he hits 220 during his sprint sets.
If my HR hit 220 I'd need the defibrillator.

BrooksBier's picture
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BrooksBier posted 14 weeks ago.

Not uncommon. My last 5k, I hit a HR of 192 after thinking my max was 185. My HR spikes quickly running, much more than cycling. The longer you run too, you get cardiac drift, an increase in HR without going faster due to heat. Finding zones is key but I find that I am always in a pretty high zone running unless I run really slow. I know of others that can run fast paces and always hover around no more than 145HR. I guess this is just due to fitness level/efficiency?