Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 7)

I have one of those hearts that does weird things. Well, not weird per se, but it'll happily and safely do 240 while I'm running. Not running fast, mind you, just jogging it'll do that.

When I trained for IM in 2007, my coach was really concerned and I was sent for a battery of tests, at huge expense to myself, to determine what, if anything, the problem was. The tests were conducted incorrectly, and the report came back and said that I was just extremely unfit. I took exception to that, as I was training about 8 hours/week at that stage. So, we started again, at more expense to me.

In the end, after going through a whole raft of different tests and checks and things, the cardiologist told me that I'm a two stroke; I rev really high while I'm exercising, but there is absolutely no reason why I shouldn't push myself on a run or allow my heart rate to get high. There is nothing wrong with my heart, it just goes fast. He also told me that Perceived Exertion is a far better indicator of what's actually going on in your body, as your heart rate is affected by so many factors that strict adherence to read-outs on hrms is not particularly valid. He told me to take my hrm for a swim in the lake, and disconnect the chest strap while I was out there.

For me, keeping to set heart rates meant that I was forced to go slower and slower and slower in my training until I felt I was actually going backwards. I'm just mentioning this because I felt cheated of some progress due to a numbers convention that actually impacted negatively for me.  The cardiologist had done marathons himself in the 80s, when noone really had hrms, and he said that just as many people stayed alive. It's possible to get wrapped up in this I guess. I haven't used my hrm since, and it's taken me a good couple of years to try and get myself to go faster now because I was made totally paranoid by the hrm screaming at me at 180bpm. Hope you guys can sort your issues with them; I have another friend who says she just couldn't ever train without hers.

See, now that was the interesting thing. I can still sing in tune whilst running when my heart is at 206. We tested me to make sure, because someone had told me once that if you can talk comfortably, you're probably where you should be-ish for endurance. My first run with the HRM on, it told me my heart was doing 196 when I'd taken about 20 steps, so I doubted its accuracy, having been told that I needed to keep my heart rate under 145...... and feeling just fine....... so I ran all around a local park singing, because I was running alone and thought that talking to myself would look even weirder!

I have no sensory perception of my heart going fast until it's at about 260, and THEN I feel it. Before then, nothing, just faster breathing. But, if that's a Perceived Exertion of 10, which it is, then I guess 5 would be about 200 for me.....

In truth, my answer is no! I can't translate Perceived Exertion to heart rate! Hopeless!