Wacky Readings from Heart Rate Monitor

I often get wacky readings from my heart rate monitor. Generally when this happens, I look around and, sure enough, I’m near big power lines.

I did a 37 mile bike ride today. It was sunny and 63 degrees. I wore my bike shorts, my bike shirt, and my bike jersey with the sleeves tucked away. I didn’t need the jersey – wish I’d left it at home.

I decided to make this ride a tempo pyramid ride. I did the following tempo sets, in minutes, with 50% rest between each: 5,10,10,20. I was trying to get my HR up to 165 for the intevals. It’s hard to do that unless going up a hill. Impossible to do going down a hill. During the 20 minute segment, which was the entire length of Orange Grove Road, I kept getting really wacky HR readings: 65 and 227! I triple checked when I saw the 65 to make sure I wasn’t misreading a 165. It really did say 65. I was breathing kinda hard, so I know there’s no way 65 can be right. Whenever I see 228, I know I’d probably be dead if my heart was really beating that fast, so I disregard it. Since my HR readings were unreliable, I decided to just look at my speed and try to make sure I was going 25+ if on a down, 20+ if flat, and 14+ if going up. That worked well and was fun. I was even going 18 up some of the hills.

On a similar note, I don’t get why I struggle up some gradual hills at 12 mph, and then am feeling strong at 18 mph up other hills. My only guess is that how you feel on a hill depends greatly on what came before the hill.

On a fun note: I saw a lone Bison in a field today at the corner of Cornwallis and Murphy School Rd. I have never ever seen him before, tho I pass that place quite often. I also saw my Llama friend. Almost missed seeing that because I was working hard.

At the end of the last hard tempo effort, I was feeling wiped. I even considered calling my husband to pick me up – what a wimp! I thought maybe my fatigue was due to having done a long run two days ago, and then a hard treadmill workout yesterday…maybe I just overdid it. Then I remembered I had a Gu packet in my pocket. I ate that. Then, 10 minutes later, after having forgotten about eating the Gu, I thought “Wow, I’m feeling great again”. Then I remembered having eaten the Gu. Gu Rocks! (And is absolutely more convenient that any type fuel exploding out of a flask all over my legs!)

Ride Stats – Avg speed: 16.4 mph; Max Speed: 37.4 mph; Time: 2:15; Dist: 37 miles; HR: 154 avg / 227 max; Odometer: 5471.7 miles.