My heart-rate monitor read: 103% of max HR. Shouldn’t I be dead or something?
I was about a third of the way up Torrey Pines hill going very fast and feeling very good. Well, very good for being at 103% of my max HR. I’ve been training with a heart-rate monitor since April and usually when I get above 95% I can feel the acid building up and I know the clock is ticking until I’ll need to slow way down and recover.
But for some reason, on this day, I’m at 103% and all is well. I ended up setting a new personal record up Torrey Pines by a single second. I decided to make the day into intervals and managed five separate pushes above 95% max HR. Here’s a graphic that shows my HR and the elevation profile of the course:
I picked 180 to be my max HR after experimenting with how high I could get it to go, and for awhile it seemed like a solid ceiling. I guess I broke the ceiling.
2010 Leadville Trail 100
2010 Julian Death March
I Do Not Ride Alone
My Secret Leadville Plan
Previewing the Leadville 100 MTB Course
2010 Triple Bypass
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks like a good effort to me. Congrats. I plan asking for a HR monitor for Christmas.
Wow, some workout.
One of the great feelings of cycling is when you are at or near you max and you KNOW you can keep going for a good while.
I find I can get my heart up to it’s Max only when my legs are very well rested andd ue to a freak of genetics (and some asthma) my Max heart rate is only 153. I could use another 30 beats!
It looks like you may have found your maximum heart rate and need to reset the max on your HRM.