Resting Heart Rate

[Bryan]

So I have been back at rowing for approx. 1 month . I had not been on the erg for over a year , and even before then it was for a sporatic 3 months and before that several years without any real cardio . I have had several years prior , say late early thirties to 43 or so , being very cardio active , running , rowing , weight training , cycling . I'm going to be 53 in April . I'm 6' 2" and I weigh 96 kg. I really never developed a high resting heart rate during my time away from cardio , maybe at worst high 40's . I took my resting heart rate the other morning with a good quality machine and was suprised to see it read 39 . I double checked manualy and yes 39 . I usually have been reading around 42 -45 . I did the heart rate chart that was provded from one of the postings here to see what I should consider as my
UT2
UT1
AT
TR
AN
Thresholds should be . I used 42 as my resting heart rate for this .
Today I did an hour on the erg and burned just over 800 cal. . My highest heart rate during this was 131 . I mostly was around 126-128 . SPM around 22-23 I was breathing hard and it was somewhat uncomfortable at 131 . I was feeling that if I had to keep it up for too long it would have been quite hard .When I look at the chart I made that gives me my category rates . The 131 puts me at the end of UT2 and at the beginning of UT1 . What would any of you experts say/advise about how I should proceed getting to the next levels of the heart rate chart . I am doing the March Madness at the moment going for the 10,000 meter catagory .

[Citroen]

Stop using stupid formulae like 220-age they clearly don't work for you. Read http://faculty.css.edu/tboone2/asep/Robergs2.pdf to understand some of the non-science behind those formulae.

You've got a good value for resting HR. Now go an measure your maxHR by doing some form of step test to failure http://concept2.co.uk/training/guide/step_test Once you have a better value for maxHR then the spreadsheet you're using will create much more sensible values and something around which you can base your training.

The best way to find UT1, UT2, AT, TR and AN levels is at the Sports Science dept. at your local university, they'll do a step test protocol including blood testing for lacate at selected points within their step test. There may be a charge levied for doing that sort of testing.

[Carl Watts]

http://www.freespiritsrowing.com/conten ... e=hr_bands

Which is probably what you used.

You need to do a test to find your Max HR. Resting is quite easy to measure after a couple of days off of hard exercise.

I find it pretty usefull but what it doesn't tell you is how long you can sustain each band. I would be interested in what other people here see. AN for me is like less than a minute and TR is like 6 minutes.

[Bryan]

Thanks for the responses guys . I have yet to do a real 2000m test of myself other than in the middle of a 10,000 +m row I rowed fairley hard to see what # I came up with and that was after only being back at rowing for a couple of weeks and my # was 8:30 approx. ; I can't quite remember . I figure that I will get through my March Madness Challenge first , and then get down to sorting how to go about setting up an effective training program . I'm working to get back on my road bike so I'm trying to do weight loss ( about 12 kg ) + cardio conditioning at the same time . Where I live is hilly so I've got to drop the weight and my bike wheels are not designed for my present weight . I'll keep you posted .
Any other help/advice is welcome .