CycleryNorth81

We use to manually calculate the heart rate by measuring the pulse on the wrist for 6 seconds then multiply it by 10. For someone to have a 200 bpm HR, that would mean 20 beats every 6 seconds.

gearbasher

My PVCs go away when I'm exercising. They occur when I'm resting. If they start happening and I get up and walk around, the PVCs stop. My Cardiologist noticed this during a stress test and said it was a good sign. So I asked him if I should act like Jason Statham in "Crank".

terrymorse 

Same thing happens to me. My doctor says PVCs are nothing to worry about.

Darth Lefty 

HCM + ICD + metoprolol = don't bother looking at heart rate, just set out and see if going medium is in the cards today or if stuck with slow

Spaghetti Legs 

I’m gonna go with probably artifact. I used to use a Garmin HRM chest strap and the first part of the ride it would read wonky stuff , 220-250 for 10-15 minutes until I suppose I worked up a good sweat and got better contact with the skin. Of course that will throw off the average bpm as well. 220-250 is not normal (although we will all agree you’re not normal RT) and if your heart is scampering along at that rate, odds are you would not feel right, even more so than just the feeling you get when you hammer really hard. Most people can generate those kinds of heart rates, but they would be from abnormal rhythms.

Anyway, I like your plan of trying a different hrm. Ultimately though, your regular doc should be able to set you up with real deal heart monitor to wear for a week or two. They make them now so they’re really unobtrusive.

rccardr 

Mmmmm.
Forget to mention, when I do winter training on a spin bike I wear my HRM strap and shoot for an average of 150 watts with an average HR of 140 or lower over a 60 minute training period.
It works.

qcpmsame 

Found these interesting reading, and some amusing ones too. I'm siting here recovering from a 3-hour cardiac ablation procedure last Friday and looking back on my past riding habits wondering if Zinn, et al, were sent to save my butt (recommend reading "Haywire Heart", highly. It was Afib running away that got my cardiologist to tell me it was time to do the NO2 freeze thingie. I had been on a anti-arrthymia Rx, it stopped working completely after 3 weeks. Got to where it was measured in hours, not minutes and an every day thing very suddenly. Point is to find a cardiologist when you feel something ain't right with your HR, or the rhythm. Make certain they are very well versed in rhythm issues and electrophysiology, also. I had a worthless Cath procedure last June because of a cardiologist that would not take time to listen to my problems, and me not asking for a second opinion.

As to Robbie's question regarding what to use/wear when riding, I got an Apple Watch just to record and transmit ECG strips to my Nurse Navigator, which surprisingly are well accepted by most of the heart docs around our area. Ask yours before spending, they ain't cheap. I use the Cycle Meter App, from the Apple store, its got an android version also, as I understand it.

With the Apple Health App I have a record of HR, can set Max-HR alerts, match a specific HR with the time and location (think elevation and sprints.) I used strips from a particularly bad weekend of AFib events sent directly to the NN, she put them in printed form in front of the doctor first thing the next Monday morning. Got a call for Nurse Navigator before lunch, gave me the doctor's take and scheduled the procedure. The watch is fairly accurate for a single lead ECG according to the doctor, I actually had my doubts. I recommend them, and Garmin has a less expensive similar watch, with the Apple 5 out now, deals are available on the model 4 I have. It was worth it to be sitting here and be on the fourth day without an AFib event, or the chest pains from the added beats from the errant electrical signals.

Again: See a cardiologist that knows rhythm problems if you have anything that makes you wonder, or feel something odd. Wish I had done so much earlier. Now, I need to find something to do for the next two weeks that requires absolutely no lifting and won't raise my HR too much. then its RIDEIN' TIME!

Bill

stardognine

Yikes, that procedure doesn't sound like much fun. 🙁 Best wishes on a full & speedy recovery. 👍

My mother had problems with diabetes and weight problems most of her life, and ended up having a quadruple bypass procedure, in her 40s, one of the earliest successful ones. I fully realize, how fortunate I am, to not have those issues. 🙂

conspiratemus1

A cardiologist would not want to give what would be taken as professional opinion without examining someone, ...well, professionally. (I could tell you stories.....)

Mad Magazine's Dave Berg once did a panel:
Doctor walking along the sidewalk, middle-aged lady accosts him. "Doctor, I have this pain right here. [Hand indicating what is called the "hypochondrium", not without reason.] Could it be serious."
Doctor, stiffly: "Madame, I do not give curbside advice. If you wish to consult me professionally, please make an appointment with my office." Lady walks away, disgruntled.
Next panel, doctor sees a lawyer on same sidewalk. "Oh, Counsellor! People are always stopping me in the street and asking for advice. If it was wrong, could I be sued, in the circumstances?"
Lawyer, just as stiffly: "Doctor, I do not give curbside advice. If you wish to consult me professionally, please make an appointment with my office."
Doctor starts to walk away, disgruntled. Lawyer interjects, "Oh, by the way, Doc. I have this pain right here. Could it be serious?"

Edit:
Oh, I get it now, as in really ask a cardiologist, with an appointment, professionally. Sorry, went over my head.
I still loved David Berg, though.

conspiratemus1

It's just a number that comes out of a little box, Rob.

There was a case report a few years ago of a man who was put on a cardiac monitor when admitted to a hospital for some minor thing to "rule out" some major thing. While he was brushing his teeth, the remote sensing station called the ward to say the monitor was showing a rate and rhythm that you can drop dead from. To make a short story shorter, he ended up with an implantable cardiac defibrillator. It turned out (later!) that the sensor was picking up the rhythmic movements of his arm muscles from brushing his teeth and there was nothing wrong with his heart at all. (No mention of what his eyesight was like or whether there was hair on his palms.)

Stuff like this happens more than you think, especially when you have too many cardiologists and not enough people with heart disease. Be careful of being over-investigated.

conspiratemus1

Be careful about stress tests for vague symptoms and mysterious numbers coming out of toys. You can end up with unnecessary invasive procedures because of false positives.

79pmooney

I picked up a cheap (chest) Polar last summer. (I like the detached watch option so I can have it on my handlebars where I can see it in all my hand positions.)

As far as 220 - age goes; I'm 66. 220 - 66 = 154. I got the Polar to 170 several times and 165 many times. Could sustain 165 for a hill. 220 - you age as a formula is worth exactly the price you paid for it. (When I was in my early to mid 20s I could hit 200+ at hill tops using my hand on my heart and a watch. Regularly. And by the time I got my hand there, my heart rate had fallen a few beats Couldn't physically do the check if I was going anywhere near my hardest.)

Ben

qcpmsame 

This is why I like the Apple iWatch, and the Cycle Meter and Apple Health Apps. It has a running record that can even show up on the ride route map at intervals you choose, or when a high HR alarm sets off. I can pick out specific segments, or when events occurred in my case, to high light or print out. Just set my watch to awake on wrist rotation and a 70 second hold when I press to open and it is visible. As long as the watch and the iPhone are coupled you are good to go. Phone always has been with me due to my health issues that accumulated. (None cycling related, happily. Its my pressure release valve

What you said was a problem for me with just a watch and a HR monitor, very frustrating when you are really cranking or high spinning to need to see the HR, and not be able to.

Bill

qcpmsame 

Thanks for the good vibes, its relatively painless, you are under general anesthesia for the procedure. A single puncture entry point for the catheter in the groin is all you see. Stayed overnight in the Cardiac ward, for observation purposes, came home next day. I'm weak still, from anesthesia, knew that was coming from lots of experience with surgeries over the early part of the century, 16 major cuttings from May 2000 through June 2010. I'm really happy with the results so far, no events at all since the procedure last Friday morning.

Bill

martl

Nope it isn't, at least not in my personal experience. My max was 210-220 without the "less your age" until i reached my forties. Normal doctors without experience with endurance athletes (sadly, theres a lot of them) might have found that worrying, but the sports medicine specialists under whose supervision i did pull that stunt found nothing strange about it. Other athletes in their early< 30ies i know always maxed out at 170... the "220-age" may be a rule of thumb for the 80%, a hard rule it ain't.

79pmooney

This being the Classic and Vintage forum, I will remind all that we are not "there" yet, especially in the vintage sense while our HR is greater than 0.

qcpmsame, my HR monitor is simple and dumb. But I made a wrist sized wood block that wraps around the HB at the stem so the watch face sits right beside my GPS in full sight.

Every time I get a chest X-ray I have it pointed out that I have an oversize heart. I take the Mad magazine approach, "What, me worry?"

Ben

RobbieTunes 

Your friend needs to lay off the bike shorts when her hubby is around. They can do things.

Cougrrcj 

I have a Fitbit Charge 3 (~$125 just about everywhere) because it supposedly would also track exercise such as cycling and swimming in addition to regular walking steps, HR monitor, and sleep quality. The sleep quality doesn't work all that well for me because my sleeping pulse (56-58) is very close to my sitting-around-on-my-ass pulse of 60-63 -- at least that's all I can surmise because it routinely says that I fall asleep some four hours after I actually doze off. The cycling tracking is kinda kludgy because for some reason or other, it has a hard time tracking my location via my phone's GPS (kept in my handlebar bag)/

Anyway, on my relatively flat 12.5-mile ride to- and from work, I average ~110-120bpm and peak at around 140-145bpm -- and this is at a ~20mph riding speed! Oh, and there is 150' of real elevation change between home and work... By those numbers, one would think that I'm in some kind of uber-fit aerobic state - yet I'm an over 60 near 'Clyde'. Go figure...

FWIW, even when I WAS in shape back 40+ years ago when I was on the high school swim team, we did pulse readings to asses our training output. After a rigorous 200yd swim on 2:05 or faster, I'd have a pulse of over 240! My coach didn't believe me at first until he took my pulse.

RobbieTunes 

I appreciate the information, and the advice, and the offers to dispose of my bikes should my HR monitor be right and I'm about to die.

I was in an LBS today, picked up another HR monitor for my Garmin, the oooh, deluxe edition. The sales rep was older than I am, which is a good thing, and I told him about the spikes, high average HR, etc.

I also described how the thing didn't work for a while, then I saw a tip about putting a drop or two of water on the strap, prior to riding, and it's worked fine since. He said to perhaps stop the water thing, as "you're gonna sweat, anyway." Worth a shot.

We also discussed the 3 latest rides, and the figures. He figures the long one was the most accurate, especially the spike to 204 on a Cat 4 climb. Then he said, "If it bothers you, leave it home. If it bothers others, the only way you can solve that is to see a doc. Depends who you want to be happy. Need any bar wrap?" I didn't, but I bought some toe covers. I gave mine away on a cold day. And a tool bottle to fit in a cage. I gave one of those away, too. And some patches, because I owe @speedevil for his patches at Coppi. So we'll see how it goes.

smontanaro 

The instructions for the cheapo HRM I have ($20 on eBay, recommended in another thread here) said to dampen the contacts before use. I either use a bit of water or lick my finger and use a bit of spit. I've had no problems with spiky values.

Kabuki12

I am the youngest of four kids in my family and the only one who has not had surgery for afib. Both of my parents are gone and both suffered from heart disease. My doctor sent me to a cardiologist just because of family history and the cardio guy said all ok with stress test ekg etc. I have a fairly low heart rate and low blood pressure and at 65 years young 6’ tall ,155lbs, feel great . My doctor occasionally checks my heart history by my app linked to my Apple Watch . I tell him , by my Strava app, when I was cycling and when I was climbing a hill on the bike and he told me everything looks good . I no longer worry about it. I rode almost 40 miles Sunday and it was 90 degrees with a headwind all the way home. It did take about 25 minutes to “ cool down”. I ride quite a bit but I must say Sunday was pretty much max for me.

chas58

I've had that problem with optical sensors (or ones that were just worn out). Scared me a lot at first, but then I just got a good chest strap (Polar H10) and it is spot on now. Whew - nothing wrong with me, just with my HR monitor. ;-)

bikebikebike

Your available commercial heart rate monitors are toys. There's a whole lot more science about chain lube than these things.

They have a ridiculous rate of both false negatives and false positives. You need to know what that means.

They are not FDA approved as would be anything used in making an actual diagnosis.

They create a lot of good business for cardiologists, because they are always telling you you have something that you don't have, and it is exceptionally hard to prove or disapprove. Rare is the time taken for a full appreciation and discussion of risk.

Prove Elvis is dead. Cardiologist spend a lot of time digging up empty graves.

Unlike chain lube, there is real consequence to a false positive, so be careful when you complain about any findings that you feel not to be "normal".

Remember, when you go to the barber shop he very seldom sends you home without a haircut.

As stated above, real data requires lots of fancy hardware and Jumbo bucks $$$$.

Are you trusting your heart to the customer service guys at Garmin? They couldn't even find Kansas City.

Classtime 

"If it bothers you, leave it off."
I like that one.
I took off my bike computer years ago because I would touch my brakes when it read 45 mph. I would get dropped when I touched my brakes.

squirtdad

in fact some watches are FDA certified for medical functions and FDA is working on certification program. here is a good article on the subject area https://wjlta.com/2019/05/02/are-sma...hould-they-be/