Last year for my birthday, my husband got me a heart rate monitor/watch, which I promptly returned to the store and exchanged for something else. At the time, almost a year ago, I was running very lightly, only twice a week, and the idea of wearing/monitoring/caring about my heart rate had no appeal to me.
Fast forward to less than a year later, and I’m running 5 times a week, 55KM/34M weekly average, and interested in anything that has the potential of helping me train better and stay healthy.
I’ve been curious about understanding heart rate, the concept of training by heart rate zones, improving my performance and my speed by better understanding the way my body works.
When I got a GPS watch a couple of months ago (glad I returned that original watch though, it didn’t have GPS), I decided to buy the heart rate monitor as well. Even though I knew I wouldn’t be using it regularly, it made sense to have it.
I did an experiment the last couple of days, in which I wore the heart rate monitor and watch for about 30 hours, to see where my heart rate stands at different times of day doing different levels of activity.
Some basic information about heart rate first.
Heart Rate:
Our heart rate, or pulse, is the number of times our heart beats per minute (BPM).
Resting heart rate:
Resting heart rate is the rate at which our heart beats when we are at a complete state of rest.
A normal resting heart rate for adults is between 60-100 BPM, however this number can go down significantly for athletes, possibly as low as 40 BPM. This is because regular aerobic exercise makes our heart stronger and more efficient, meaning that our heart pumps more blood each time it contracts, needing fewer beats per minute to do its job.
Maximum Heart Rate:
The maximum rate at which our heart can beat per minute at a given age.
General formulas to calculate your maximum heart rate:
Forget the old 220 minus your age. Some newer versions: 208 – (0.7 x Your Age), or another one: women: 210 – 1/2 your age – 5% of body weight in pounds, men: 210 – 1/2 your age – 5% of body weight in pounds + 4.
It’s important to keep in mind that same as with resting heart rate, the heart rate experienced under physical exertion also gets lower through regular exercise. So even though maximum heart rate would be similar for people of the same age , it would take athletes longer/harder effort to reach their maximum heart rate than for someone who doesn’t exercise regularly.
Wearing the monitor for the last day was easy and comfortable. I hardly noticed I had it on for the first few hours wearing it, later during the day I became aware that I had it on, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable feeling.
The most interesting finding was the difference in my heart rate measured at the same time (for a period of 6 hours) on 2 different days.
Both days I started wearing the monitor at around 8:00 AM, and I did the same things during the time period I wore the monitor: took the kids to daycare, drove to work, and worked at my desk job.
The only difference was what took place before putting on the monitor in the morning, one day was a rest day, the other day was after a hard effort running HIIT session.
The first morning (rest day) wearing the monitor I averaged 50 BPM, the second morning wearing the monitor (does not include exercise time) I averaged 57 BMP.
REST MORNING:
AFTER HIIT MORNING:
According to the Journal of Exercise Physiology, the heart rate of a typical individual will return to resting levels an hour after light or moderate exercise, four hours after a lengthy workout and up to 24 hours after a very intense workout session. These times will be less for athletes.
So it makes sense that even after wearing the heart rate monitor for 6 hours after finishing my workout, my heart rate was still higher than the day before.
My heart rate during my HIIT run this morning.
It went up consistently during warm up, and look at those little bumps, each one represents the fast part of the intervals, 6 total, approx. 3 minutes each.
Training Heart Rate zones:
A heart rate zone is a range of a particular percentage of your maximum heart rate. Each zone serves a different purpose for your training.
2 Cups 'N Run 
Thanks for sharing this information with us! I’ve been considering getting a GPS watch with HR. A cousin of ours uses his to check his lactic acid threshold during races so he knows how to pace throughout the race. Interesting concept, not sure how well it works. I found some information here if anyone’ s interested: http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/LT_training.htm
Thanks, I’ll check it out, I don’t know about lactate threshold, but heart rate can definitely tell you something about effort.
I love having a HR monitor. With a HIIT workout particularly, it’s interesting to see the sustainable burn.
I really enjoy seeing where I stand in terms of effort, it’s very interesting. Even for an easy run, it’s good for me to how it affects my heart rate.
Interesting, I’ve been thinking about buying one, especially to see my splits but the heartrate info makes me want to see what mine is. Will let you know if i invest.
It is really interesting data.
If you decide it’s the right time for you to buy one, I know you will get good use out of it.
I go back and forth on heart rate training. I use it exclusively for shorter distances like marathons, but don’t touch it for ultra training!
I thought I had read wrong when I read “shorter distances” and “marathons”.. 🙂
Just curious on why don’t you use it for longer distances?
Oh my goodness, just reading back my own comment makes me cringe – a marathon is certainly not “short!” What I meant is that I do almost all of my ultra training at a much slower pace, so I stay in my lower zones. Marathons are different because I’m focusing on speed, so I use HRT to train my body to run faster in lower zones!
Interesting post. Thanks for sharing your research!
Thanks for reading. 🙂
I love that info on the heart rate thing. I’ve been reading some of training via heart rate as I look into some running watches … but admit, I don’t understand it very much …
I think it sounds a bit daunting at first, but it’s relatively easy especially after you start wearing one and looking at the numbers.
Great post. I’ve been wearing a heart rate monitor for over a year now. Mine has a training load with it and suggests when I need to cut back a bit – it’s very helpful.
Wow that sounds like a very useful feature.
Great post. Lots of info. A HRM is on my list of things to get as I start spring biking and running so thanks for sharing your experience.
Thank you. It’s really interesting to actually see the effort we are making, I know you will enjoy it.
I think I can reliably judge hard efforts but I have such a hard time running truly easy enough so I love wearing my hrm on easy days to make sure I’m in the right zone and therefore recovering properly from the hard efforts 🙂
Same happens to me although I usually don’t wear the monitor and then I go by pace.
Thanks for all the info! I know absolutely nothing about heart rate so this helped a lot!
Glad you found it useful, it’s also a relatively new subject for me and it’s actually really interesting.
I need to start wearing a heart rate monitor. My husband does and it gives him great insight!! This is a great post- lots of great info packed into it!! Thanks for the info!! Have a great day!! 🙂
Thanks! I agree it adds a lot. I wouldn’t wear it regularly at this point, but it’s nice to track different runs at different effort levels and see how my heart responds.
My heart rate monitor gives me major chafing 😦
I keep hoping Garmin will develop a reliable HRM that I can wear on my wrist or something.
I also thought about a wrist monitor.. even the watch could be it? No chafing from my strap, maybe they improved the material?