High Heart Rate While Exercising - requesting some advice/feedback

[Rachel]

I have never posted before, but I’ve been reading the posts in the past couple months and feel really comfortable asking my question. Some background on me - I found out 13 months ago that I was born with a bicuspid aortic valve. At that time, I also learned that I had a 5cm ascending aortic aneurysm. I had my OHS July 2011, surgery went well, my aorta has been repaired, and I now have an Edwards bovine valve.

I used to be a mid-distance runner, running 20 to 30 miles a week consistently for the past four years without any problems, (no stamina problems while running and no indication that I had any heart problems -- it was six months prior to my surgery that I began to experience heart palpitations and then I almost blacked-out while driving my car, which lead me to see my doctor).

So - I’ve been trying to get back into running since cardiac rehab (which was seven months ago) but my HR STILL gets up to 160 in a matter of minutes (I'm 46 and my max HR is 176). I back off when it gets that high because I'm afraid… although I feel fine, I barely break a sweat and I did "better than average for my age" on a stress test using Bruce Protocol.

I'm really interested in hearing from some of the other runners/athletes/active people about your stories -- did your HR seem faster after your valve replacements? Did you ever panic while exercising? Did you train by HR monitor or not? Did you get back to your normal (or near normal) levels and if so, how long did that take you?

Overall my recovery was super smooth and I’ve been feeling great for the past seven months, but my surgeon says I should be back to my former activity levels by now. I'm also only taking baby aspirin (no BP meds or any BB because my BP is super low 90/60 most of the time and resting HR is around 60-65).

My doctor has definitely cleared me to run, but based on my HR I’m honestly getting to the point where I think I should just stop trying to run. I’d be interested in hearing opinions from others on this.

Thanks – Rachel

 

[neil]

welcome aboard rachel, am sure some of our fitness friends on here will come along soon to give you good advice,

 

[epstns]

Hi, Rachel,

How comfortable are you when your HR is in the 160's? If you don't feel bad, maybe it isn't all that serious.

I have a similar situation, but how I got here is all different.

Prior to surgery I was a recreational runner, slowing to jogging as my valve got worse. Right up to the last 6 months or so before surgery, I was jogging 3 miles daily and my heart rate would get up into the 150's; resting heart rate often in the upper 40's. I was 63 years old at that point.

Fast forward about a year or so, now 13 months out from surgery, but with a pacemaker. We concluded that the previous low resting heart rate was probably bradycardia, which became near complete heart block immediately following surgery. Over the past year it has improved somewhat, so I'm not fully pacer-dependent. When I power-walk or jog now, my heart rate quickly rises from the low 90's to the low 160's. (Resting heart rate doesn't matter - the pacer won't let it get below 60.) My cardio isn't worried about it, so neither am I. I feel as if I could go at this rate for a long distance, IF my knees would shut up and let me run. My surgeon and cardio have both told me that as long as I feel OK and don't have heart-related pain or symptoms, go for it. It won't break or wear out faster.

Now all I have to do is find a way to reduce the knee pain, then train back to a respectable 10K time. (Am I dreaming, or what?)

 

[bocco]

Seems like your resting HR is pretty good. I wonder of your running HR will start to drop after your back into a regular running routine. Also I think recovery time is also a good indicator of cardiac health.

 

[tprice54]

Welcome. I used a HRM after surgery (and before). I totally understand feeling a bit of panic. You need to pack that monitor away. I never use mine much anymore. You need to try and use it as a reference point, not a reason to cut back. The question previously asked, how do you feel.? Go for a run, check your hr, crank up the pace. When you REALLY feel winded, THEN check your hr, and make a mental note...that's probably as fast as you want to go for awhile! Don't limit your workout just on hr, limit it on how you feel. Use your hr monitor to help find that sweet spot in your run. Your doctors say you are ok, so quit questioning yourself and enjoy the run!
Stop on over to cardiac athletes and you will see plenty of threads n overcoming panic.

 

[DebbyA]

You may also want to research how your HRM determines your heart rate. I'd gotten some really wild readings that didn't correspond to how I felt or what I was doing. I discovered my monitor reading is a calculation, not an absolute value (it's a low-end Polar). Maybe the cardiac athletes have more on that topic? My monitor could also pick up readings from other monitors at the Y.

 

[Bean Counter]

Reading through your post, 2 questions come to mind. Did you use a HR monitor before surgery? If so, what kind of HR were you running then and how does that compare? Also, how did you determine you max HR? I have found that standard formulas are worthless. My HR always ran low. When I was 30, the formulas told me that my max HR was 190 and the highest I ever saw that (this was back in 2003) was about 180 and that was during a max effort at the tail end of a 5K race on a very warm day.

As others have said, if you are feeling fine at 160, then that is probably a good training HR to be at. Before surgery, my normal training zone was 135-140 but I have noticed that after surgery, it tends to be about 138-143 as my comfortable aerobic training zone.

 

[Rachel]

Thanks for all of your replies! VERY helpful for me to know that it seems that most are either not using a monitor, or not checking it constantly. I also really appreciate the confirmation from all of you that when the docs say: “no-restrictions, go run”, then experiencing the run is still the “gold standard” over watching the numbers, even after heart valve replacement.

Bean Counter, for my max HR I am going on the standard HR formula age minus 220 but unfortunately, I never tracked my HR prior to surgery so I don’t have a good baseline (I’m kicking myself now, but I just never thought of doing that). I have heard fellow runners also talk about the worthlessness of the standard HR formulas, although , they didn’t have heart surgery so it means so much more to me coming from you!
During the (rare) times when I’ve been able to ignore the monitor, I feel great (I don’t feel winded, I’m thinking about getting into the zone, I’m happy….) no matter what the HR, then I take a peek, if I see 160 – 165, then all of the sudden I’m not so good. When I slow it down to run at about 150-155, my stride is all messed up and it becomes a really unpleasant experience for me. So, based on how I feel, it does seem as though 160 might be a good training HR for me.

Debby, I do wonder sometimes about my monitor working correctly (or at all), sometimes at the end summary it will give me a reading that my max HR was either 183 or 220, (yeah, I don’t think so).

Tom, thank you for the great advice! I think that I’m trying so hard to do everything “right” and in the process I think I’m really just killing the passion I have for the run. I think I’ll start weaning myself off the monitor and do what you suggested, using it as a reference. Hopefully this won’t take me too long and if someday I ever get to where I was before, I will have a “HR-monitor-destroying party!”

Steve, first, really sorry to hear about your knees (although you did crack me up - “hey knees, shut-up down there!”). My husband has the same problem and I just feel so bad for him, so I hope you can work through this! (I dream of doing 10Ks again all the time). It sounds like we are very similar in our HR’s getting up pretty high for the effort, but it really helps me to know that you’re out there, high HR and all, and still working out!

Thank you all again, I’m so glad I put my question out there! You all have helped me understand a little more that when the doctors say run – then run!

I keep you posted, Rachel

 

[tprice54]

Good luck, Rachel! We have another runner in Austin I think...... Louise. She and her husband came up to Harrisburg to run with us a few years ago. We try and ahve at least one race a year where cardiac athletes meet up. many from right here at VR.com. This year we are going to Baltimore, you may want to join us!

 

[Bean Counter]

I have always found the best way to determine your proper training zones was by using your lactate threshold (that point where lactic acid starts to accumulate). Rather than paying to have it done, I found a simple method that has always worked for me. Actually this was a method developed by Joe Friel...a well know triathlon coach. I would run a Thanksgiving day 8K every year and would use this confirm/ change my training zones. I would take mile splits at each mile and average out the HR splits from the last 3 miles. You can always just go out fo a 30 min hard run and plan on the last 20 minutes being harder than the first 10 min. If you go too hard in the begining and fade towards the end, the test is not as accurate. Anyway, the average HR from those last 3 miles would be your lactate threshold (LT). The zones would be as follows: 84% and below of your LT would be your recovery zones, 85% to 90% would be your general aerboic zone (where most of your training should be), 91%-96% would be your tempo zone and 97%-100% would be a gray area; that area between tempo effort and all out effort. This is considered the garbage zone as it is too hard to benefit your tempo system, but not hard enough to benefit your anerobic zone. Anything over 100% would be hitting our anerobic zone (800s on the track).

 

[Rachel]

Bean Counter, thanks for the info! Just playing around with the numbers I can see that this formula is a much more realistic (and sane) approach to training, I really like the fact that is so specific to personal effort over time.

Tom, thanks for mentioning the cardiac athletes race in Baltimore! If it’s possible for me, I’m very interested in participating so please let me know when it is, or maybe even send the website where I can find more info.

Just to let you know, yesterday afternoon I went for a run - still wore the monitor but didn’t look at it – what a huge difference! Still a little gun shy, but wow – just hearing from you guys as to what is possible and getting past negative thoughts in my head – really put the life back in me!

I hate to admit this, but I completely underestimated my own mental/emotional recovery. For me, the surgery itself and even the weeks immediately afterward were nothing compared to this aftershock I’ve been experiencing.

Just want you to know that I really appreciate all of your advice/info and your successes, it means a lot to me!

Rachel

 

[RunMartin]

I started to use a heart rate monitor once I began training again after surgery - I never used one before! I found I was getting high readings even though I felt OK. To cut a long story short the high readings were due to the clothes I was wearing, i.e. caused by static and my heart was doing OK. Since then I have not used a HRM and just run how I feel - it is much more enjoyable. I found that the HRM caused more problems than it was worth.

 

[epstns]

I could make you all crazy. Most HR monitors don't do well with pacemakers. Sometimes they read just fine, sometimes they read zero. And sometimes they read double the real rate (in these cases the heart is pacing but isn't pacing strong enough, so the pacer triggers, too - and the HR monitor sees both pulses). When I'm using the monitor within the treadmills at the gym, it is fun to watch the person on the next machine as they look over and see my HR read-out hitting 240! Gotcha!