Rapid heart rate rise

[Bobpond]

Last week I took a bad step and aggravated an old knee injury, so given I need to shorten stroke length and intensity this week I have begun some strict UT2 erg training. Three workouts in I know this is a good rehab plan.

UT2 for me is 123 to 142, so I am trying to keep HR around there for 30 minute workouts this week. (Maffetone for me is 125 so between the two this seems about right).

Anyway, here's the question.

I keep a steady watts pace, steady SPM and handle force (via ErgData). In my last two workouts, at around 18 minutes in my heart rate went from 130 to over 150 in about 2 seconds. My breathing did not change and I felt fine. When I stepped my HR went down to warmup level in about 2 minutes. I have had this happen a few times, maybe once out of every five SS workouts.

I know I saw an explanation for this phenomenon mentioned elsewhere but I have tried searching and can't find it, so I would appreciate if someone could enlighten me.

Thanks,
Bob

[G-dub]

Not too long ago I was going on about cardiac drift, which is when your heart rate rises 10 percent or so at about the 30 minute mark (or sooner or later depending on who you are) due to heat, sweat, thirst, heart having to work harder to push the blood. The effort feels the same, it's just the HR is higher. I try to be better hydrated and try to keep the room cool if can which helps.

[Bobpond]

Ah yes, now I remember. It has happened when my basement was 50F so hydration is my guess. I will correct that. Thank you.

[G-dub]

The dang thing is that I don't think you can correct it - meaning not have it happen. One line of discussion is on how you work with it. Do you stick with how you feel or a prescribed wattage or do you slow down to stay within HR band. Many I've read slow down if they are in aerobic base building mode. I guess it also depends upon which band you are working in and how close you are to AT.

[Bobpond]

i have only noticed this when trying to stay in UT2 so going pretty easy.

Now that I knew what to search for, I read through the paper on cardiac drift and the discussion and while I do see this it isn't what I am experiencing here.

What I am seeing is a jump from 125 to 150 in two seconds, almost like I hit some threshold. If I stay at the same effort, I then continue the normal drift, the whole thing just bumps up. The graph in PolarBeat looks like a shelf.

I will be doing mostly UT2 to rehab for a while so that eliminates some variables I will see if I can find some commonality in the others.

Thanks again.

[hjs]

i have only noticed this when trying to stay in UT2 so going pretty easy.

Now that I knew what to search for, I read through the paper on cardiac drift and the discussion and while I do see this it isn't what I am experiencing here.

What I am seeing is a jump from 125 to 150 in two seconds, almost like I hit some threshold. If I stay at the same effort, I then continue the normal drift, the whole thing just bumps up. The graph in PolarBeat looks like a shelf.

I will be doing mostly UT2 to rehab for a while so that eliminates some variables I will see if I can find some commonality in the others.

Thanks again.

Is your device not broken? It does sound very strange. A next time right away time you hf manualy and check that. A jump is certainly not drift. Certainly when you don,t feel differently it could be a false reading.

[Bobpond]

Good thought. Next time it happens I will check. It is a brand new Polar H7 chest band.

[Bobpond]

Just finished a 40 minute workout. 2x15' + 1x10'

At 13 minutes in first piece, HR went from 136 to 172 in about 10 seconds.

Recovered back to warmup level in 4 minutes, started again, this time it went to 160 at about minute 3 and stayed from 160 to 177 the whole way through. Just to test I pushed harder at that point, increasing watts by 25% and I found that this did not cause an additional rise.

Last 10' piece was non-eventful, I stayed in UT2 the whole time. Then after I finished and stood up it went up into the 170 range and did so again a few minutes later when I was cleaning off the rail.

I verified all of these with an actual pulse count with a stopwatch.

I had about 4 liters of water in the 4 hours before starting.

My gut feeling is that I am unfit, and once I have expended a certain amount of energy, my heart rate jumps up even though I don't need to breath very hard. Once I have gotten to that point, it is pretty easy to cross over the threshold. I have not noticed before because I have been pushing the upper reaches of UT1 into AT trying to make better times. Now that I am forced to go pretty easy to heal my knee, I am seeing something I did not see before. If I wasn't using the HRM I wouldn't know at all.

[G-dub]

There is also something that happens at the beginning for some people or for some modes. For instance, it takes me a while when I run for it to come down to reality. For some strange reason when I start on the treadmill (and not every time) for the first 5 minutes or so it goes up rapidly and then settles back down. I thought it might be an unclean strap, or a weird match with a particular machine, but when it also happened outside one day I had to think differently. I think I have read somewhere about the heart rate rising sharply at the beginning of exercise in anticipation of a level of effort that in my case never came (I know it sounds sketchy).

[sekitori]

This forum is an excellent source of information concerning many aspects of the use of C2 products. What it is not is a definitive source for medical diagnosis. We have seen several posts from well meaning people who care about your situation and are more than willing to give you ideas as to its cause. However, suggestions by others in a forum doesn't take the place of an accurate medical diagnosis.

When someone has a question about a possible medical problem, the only way to find out its source is to go to a physician and learn what you're dealing with. The fact that you show no symptoms and that the only way you learned of this rise in heart rate was by looking at your HRM indicates that it probably is of no consequence. But you will never know that until a doctor checks you out and tells you that it is. It's quite possible that the cause is unknown.

I am a good example of someone having a chronic situation with an unknown etiology. Microscopic blood has appeared in my urine for a long time without my having any symptoms. When it first showed up, I was very concerned but after several medical exams and tests, no cause was found and I was told the condition is of no consequence. A possible reason given to me is that it's due to microscopic tears in the prostate caused by sliding back and forth on the C2 seat almost daily for 17 years. But that's only a theory which can't be proven. So I continue rowing and when they keep telling me I have microscopic blood in my urine, that's no surprise to me and I don't worry about it.

You state that your gut feeling is that you are unfit and that is the cause of rise in heart rate. That may be a pretty good self diagnosis but unfortunately, self diagnosis doesn't mean very much. Please make an appointment with a qualified physician, preferably a cardiologist. As I mentioned, this seems like nothing more than a harmless anomaly but you'll feel a lot better when you hear that from a qualified physician. After you see the doctor, try to give us a brief followup as to the diagnosis--or the very possible lack of one.

[G-dub]

Yikes! Excellent and imperative point Sekitori! I was lost in heart rate training anecdotes.

[Bobpond]

Thanks for the concern Sekitori, I appreciate your viewpoint. I really was not thinking of this as a medical issue at all, just a training thing. More along the lines of how the aerobic system works and how activity and physical condition interact.

I need to have a physical this summer, so now that I am aware of this I will have it checked.

Thanks.

[sekitori]

I need to have a physical this summer, so now that I am aware of this I will have it checked.

Although this doesn't seem to be a severe problem (it may not be a problem at all), summer won't be here for a while. Since this occurs fairly consistently and showed up only recently, I would get it checked out sooner rather than later.

[Bobpond]

I need to have a physical this summer, so now that I am aware of this I will have it checked.

Although this doesn't seem to be a severe problem (it may not be a problem at all), summer won't be here for a while. Since this occurs fairly consistently and showed up only recently, I would get it checked out sooner rather than later.

We're on the search for a new doctor right now, when we pick one I will go in for a checkup, get a cardiologist referral and go through that stuff. As soon as I do I will absolutely report back here. I still see this as an academic exercise not a medical thing so hopefully the cardiologist will be able to shed some light. Of course, like a car that never makes the strange noise for the mechanic, when I get tested it will probably be uneventful.