Galloping heart-rate at slow pace

Does this occur mainly at the beginning of runs?

I've seen jumpy HR's at the beginning of run due to lack of moisture between the strap and chest. Also, sometime I need to clean the metal contacts at the HR strap contact points (sweat does some nasty things to metal). I have the HRM strap that goes with the RS800 BTW

Yes, this does happen at the outset of runs. That's interesting. Someone else has suggested it could be partly due to apprehension at the start of a run about the effort the body is about to be forced to make.

Has anyone else experienced either of these phenomena?

If I run with the heart rate monitor. I've noticed that before I get a good sweat going to make a good connection, that the HRM counts my cadence as HR sometimes.

Yeah....like the others said...it's not you. The heart monitor is not working properly until you get a sweat going.....especially in cold weather.

I don't think the anticipation of the run can make your heart rate go up too much more than 5-10 beats per min. So it doesn't sound like this is the case here.

Good luck...

Galloping always sends my heart rate way up. Have you considered switching to running?

PTF wrote:

I don't think the anticipation of the run can make your heart rate go up too much more than 5-10 beats per min.

I agree with what most of the others have said about this issue. I'd bet it's an equipment problem, and not a physiological issue.

However, I will say that I've definitely experienced anticipation making my heart rate go up more than 5-10 beats per minute.

A few years ago I was standing on the starting line of a marathon (feeling very anxious) and my HR was sitting right around 130bpm, which is what it typically is on a very easy run. I'm certain that was a good reading as I could feel my heart going quite quickly.

Since I don't tend to do much of a warmup for a marathon, in this case anticipation was sending my heart rate up by 40 beats per minute or more.

Had Some Myself wrote:...I will say that I've definitely experienced anticipation making my heart rate go up more than 5-10 beats per minute.

Ditto. Standing on the start line, my HR is always elevated. Same thing the morning of the race. The body just seems to "know," and goes into survival mode or something.

Mind you, I've never experienced the same thing before a regular training run, and I also suspect it's just a poor connection early in the run. Happens to me too, more commonly in cold weather, when it takes longer to get a good warm sweat going to establish a good electrical connection.

When my hr monitors act up they just won't get a signal at all generally, but last week one of mine was sticking at a certain hr when i knew i had upped the tempo and my monitor never climbed any. I changed the battery in my strap and then found the corrosion like the other guy posted in the contacts on the strap. I cleaned them out and now it works like new. When both of mine are working normal generally if i have the strap and wrist unit on and hit start then my hr will show within five secs or so.

Had Some Myself....

Yes...you're right about heart rate before racing. I was thinking solely of training runs.

Cheers...

I train with a HRM very often and I find my heartrate goes from 60-65 in the first few seconds right up to 180's for anywhere from 1 to 4 minutes at which point it usually drops (on easy days) back to the low to mid 120's and slowly climbs over the next 30 to 60 minutes as one would expect. I always thought it was a fight or flight type body response. Unless I am severly dehydrated (happened once) the HR always settles. Every once in a while it is a slow rise like on would expect, but that is when I run later in the day vs. my typical 5:30 AM start.

Maybe Mr. Daniels would be able to shed some light on this situation?

That sounds very much like my experience. I definitely think my heart rate acts strangely early in the day. I often struggle to race well in races with early starts.I'm pretty sure corrosion isn't responsible for my experience because the heart rate is new. It does seem to happen when it's cold so I'm thinking the lack of sweat could be a factor.

I'm interested in this dehydration idea because I suspect I often am. Why/how does dehydration affect your heart? and how much impact should you expect it to have?

The problem you describe is almost certainly an equipment malfuntion.

Dehydration tends to cause the heart rate to drift higher during the course of a run. If you were deydrated at the start of a run your heart rate would be higher than normal and stay higher than normal.

False readings from HR monitors are extremely common, and are usually the reason for people giving ridiculously high figures for their estimated max heart rate.

I have this "problem" too. I say it is your heart. My cardiologist thinks that it is an arenaline response. Even on easy runs.

I am 53 andhave had problems with atrial fibrilation in the past (age 49) now it is ok, but these high early readings worried me at first.

It's not th monitor.

Have you been training for many years? A Fib is more common among endurance athletes who've been at it for like 30+ years.

[I have this "problem" too. I say it is your heart. My cardiologist thinks that it is an arenaline response. Even on easy runs.

I am 53 and have had problems with atrial fibrilation in the past (age 49) now it is ok, but these high early readings worried me at first.

It's not the monitor; it doesn't seem to matter if it's wet, warm, whatever....

Have you been training for many years? A Fib is more common among endurance athletes who've been at it for like 30+ years.]

Of course I meant "adrenaline" response...

Toivo,

My first reaction is tell you that you better get a cardiologist who knows what the hell he is talking about. But that really isn't fair as I don't know exactly how your heart is (was) behaving.....nor am I a doctor.

That said, there's an easy way to tell if your heart is actually beating that fast. Just stop and quickly take your heart rate when you see those high early readings. If it really is at 180bpm, you'll feel it beating like a rabbit and you'll at least be able to get a manual reading within 20 beats. If, for example, you only count only 10-12 beats or so in 6 seconds.....when it was reading 180 moments ago...then you know the monitor isn't getting an accurate reading yet. Also, once you stop, the monitor will probably start working (the contact is easier to make when you are stopped) so you'll get an idea from that.

Another thing you can do to eliminate possible confusion is to hold the sensors tight against your chest for at least 5-10 seconds. This will often work to give you a temporarily accurate reading. But once you let go, it may go back to reading innacurately....until you have a decent sweat going.

Finally, if you have the kind of heart monitor that displays the beating heart symbol you can look at it and see if it's beating in a steady rhythm. When the monitor isn't functioning properly yet, that little heart symbol pulses in a way that doesn't make any sense at all. It's all over the lot.....and not like someone with an irregular heart beat.

My heart rate monitor almost never works in the first 5-10 minutes, no matter what the weather.....winter, summer, whenever.

So before we send anybody off on a wild goose chase, it's proabably a good idea to make sure it's not some stupid little gadget causing all the alarm.

All the best....

You offer sensible advice.

My history is that I really do have a extremely high heart rate when I start a race. It's not unusual for my heart rate to jump from a warming up rate of @110 to 210-225 at the mile, when it will settle back down to 165-70.

In that case I pretty much know that it is not the monitor, because it's been working right for a half hour warm-up.

My cardiologist isn't a runner, plays tennis competively, but he seemed pretty confident about that "adrenaline response."

Anyone else ever heard of that kind of thing?

edgini wrote:

That sounds very much like my experience. I definitely think my heart rate acts strangely early in the day. I often struggle to race well in races with early starts.I'm pretty sure corrosion isn't responsible for my experience because the heart rate is new. It does seem to happen when it's cold so I'm thinking the lack of sweat could be a factor.

I'm interested in this dehydration idea because I suspect I often am. Why/how does dehydration affect your heart? and how much impact should you expect it to have?

Even a couple of runs can build up corrosion at the contact, remember salt water and metal do not mix.

I try to clean the contacts off before I run and run the strap under hot water (as to not freeze myself) then put it on.

A couple of months ago I noticed during a long run my HR jumping all over the place from low 90's to 150's (no way I run in low 90's). So after run cleaned off the contacts and worked like new. Now when ever I see funky HR's I remember that I haven't cleaned the contacts in a while.

Also, I find in colder weather is takes longer to build up a sweat and water evaporates more quickly (air is drier).

Now, the Polar footpod on the other hand is another story.....