heart rate (part 2)

[AkatheGog]

I cant believe where my original question went??? Any how I am checking my heartrate when exercising now and have noticed that when i pass 150 I still feel I have more in the 'tank' but back off and keep it between 145 and 150. If I follow some of the Concept daily exercises in particular the distance and rest ones I notice with light rowing it gradually drops to 115 - 125 in 2 minutes but takes longer the more reps I do which seems obvious. I understand we are all different but I would have thought that there is an expectation when easing off.
I asked the original question because I wanted to find an efficient HR target to get the best out of the training. The one thing I have found out is, that since I've had the erg is I have lost 2kg. I have also noticed my blood pressure drops considerably after a 45 min - 60 min workout is that good?
Can I thank all those who contributed but lets not get too rude or personal with the replies.

[left coaster]

HR is an amusing topic, especially for me as it is emerging I am an outlier as a 'low max' person. I've had an erg for 4 months now and have yet to break 160. Somehow I still feel like I'm holding back though and I've yet to measure my HR during a different activity such as a long steep hike or run.

I realize the genetics testing stuff is still in development, but my Athletigen report says something about my blood oxygen levels being slower to rise than average and that my HR is also slow to come up. This is definitely my experience, if I go hard and steady without being fully warmed up I run out of air at about 1300 meters. I need to fully warm up before short pieces and to not let my HR come down much below 100 prior to the start. Also, if I ease in a bit I can continue negative splits and do reasonably well over longer distances -- once past around 5500 meters things seem to open up for me. The weird thing I experience though is that I have full sprinter genes (another genetics testing thing) so I usually want to just GO when I start out, which is OK for a sprint but leads to pain on the medium term.

My resting HR has continued to drop since I got on the erg though. It was around 58 four months ago and just came down below 50 in the last few days (49). It was 48 through my 20's and early 30's, so I have definitely come close to those levels again. My HR will never crest 140 in under 1500 meters (unless I start at a HR over 100), no matter how hard I go. I'll run out of air first, it's rather weird. I got paranoid for a while and thought I had a thyroid issue, but really my HR levels are within 'normal', my rate increases respond in a way that is unique to me. It's workable and I've come to believe that I may actually have some potential at 10K distances, something I never thought was possible before.

[SlickC2]

I look at my HR zones from a functional viewpoint and so the question is what is the functional limit or purpose of HRmax? We all know what the aerobic and anaerobic bands do, but surely there must be some other function coming into play to limit HRmax (other than anaerobic energy supply)?

If you look at it from a functional point of view, HRmax as an absolute limit is conditional upon factors such as how fast your heart muscles can beat, valves can open and close, how viscous your blood is and of course how wide/narrow and long your blood vessels are. Plus of course the energy supply to make all this work for a period of time. So, for me it is "reasonable" HRmax and how long you can sustain HRmax (i.e., HRmax * Duration, or something like that) which is relevant for someone like me who is mainly interested in keeping fit, rather than achieving a high HRmax. And, my observation is that over a couple of years, doing the same exercises (from an admittedly poor fitness base) resulted in a lower HR, my base HR reduced and I was able to sustain longer, more intense, effort at my highest HR.

In practice, you could pick a reasonable HRmax that won't kill you as your limit and keep monitoring how long you can sustain it and how intense your activity is at that limit. You also have to make sure that things like fluid levels, temperature, warmups etc are maintained to ensure valid comparisons.

Cheers