Heart Rate Monitor/Sports discussion

Daniel, heartrate recovery time as a measure of fitness is valid. That has been useful in the sport of cycling for as long as I have biked... that's like 40+ years (with a huge gap in between years ). I use it in a couple of different ways. However, you should keep in mind HR is also a lagging indicator of your body's response to stress.

First of all, before you can get a sense of your training progress or improvements to your fitness level, you must first establish baselines to compare against. The graphs you posted are all from the same day so the most we can determine is a sense of your current level of fitness in hockey activities, which I suspect is more like repeated short sprints in a hot sweaty environment. But I do see your point, your recovery HR is more and more elevated as you perform the reps. This is normal but perhaps also indicates a buildup of lactic acid affecting recovery time... presumably you would recover to the same degree if you rested longer as you go through the session. This is part of the "lagging indicator" thing about HR that I mentioned.

Different sports activities stress different aspects of fitness. (Ice) hockey would be very different from running marathons. Your recovery performance looks good to me but it would be helpful to monitor your stable HR while you are just skating around, not going through bursts as your readings seem to indicate. It would establish a baseline for the occasion. Your HR would still be above resting and you would gauge recovery time to that HR.

You didn't mention whether the reps we see are timed sprints or activity while playing the game. The latter would be more like what we call "natural intervals" and the former can be anything that is of value to your particular sport. It could be pure intervals, natural intervals or endurance, or even very special workouts in some sports that may involve hill work,...etc. It's preferable to measure fitness using specific workouts because you can control the factors much better than while playing the actual sport when so many factors can alter conditions and measurements from one occasion to another. Make sure you note any food or fluid, electrolyte intake. If it's hot and very sweaty I suggest replenishing electrolytes or you risk damage your muscles. Your performance will suffer if electrolyte replenishment becomes an issue.

If you are serious, you should also gauge recovery from entire training sessions, not just from one set of reps to another. You do this by keeping a log of your resting HR taken every morning, always the same way, immediately after you open your eyes and pick up your HR monitor or manually check your pulse. Note what your resting HR is on days when you know you are fully rested. Compare this to mornings after a workout, note any changes like... is your HR still elevated from fully rested days or is it actually lower? This is one of the best ways to avoid overtraining, by taking it easy if your resting HR has actually gone up the morning after your training day.

Finally, you should establish a season training plan and set realistic goals. This is one of the broader views of gauging fitness. For cycling, we do not plan to stay at peak condition for the whole season but rather, aim to peak for specific events and then rest before working up for another peak. We try not to overstress our bodies even though successive peaks may be more ambitious over time. Rest and recovery time is essential to allow the body to repair and build strength. Your head also needs a rest.

 

You're welcome. No BS.

I learned some of that from the official Italian bike racing training manual back in the early 70s, as well as from my cycling buddies those days, some of whom raced in Holland, Germany and Denmark, a couple were on the provincial cycling team.

You can also get fancier and do VO2 max testing in labs... etc. but the simple stuff will work if you are diligent and keep good logs.

Have fun.

 

I would recommend running a stress test, and getting a baseline EKG/ ECG to show heart rate response under stress.

You want to make sure that wherever you run this test that it is "hospital grade" and not "gym grade". One of the diferrences is that the incline of the treadmills is much higher than the 15% max of a typical gym.

Your timing on this in a controlled environment is a much better indicator, and also provides a number of other clues to your actual cardiovascular function.

The MHR = 220-age formula is a guesstimate at best. Kind of like buying nice suit based on the average of what all your friends' suit measurements are. Not going to fit so well.

As 4th gear very rightly stated, the info you have been tracking is a lagging indicator. While this is interesting what you want is more relevant and current info at the time that it takes place, and at a much better level

 

How useful is measuring Heart Rate Variability if you are a novice in training?

 

pretty much have to get your MaxHR tested in a lab - I had mine done while doing a V02max ramp test while pulling lactate samples. They're also able to dial in the zones more accurately with that. I know 50 yo's with maxHR's of 200+ and world masters champions at 50 with maxHR's of 170-180. without knowing your real max, your guessing. The # of beats you recover in 60 seconds is an indication of good recovery, for that one particular event.

measuring waking HR is a good practice but it can also mislead. I use a 15% jump in my resting HR as an indication I might need a rest day - it depends on a lot of other life stressors as well as just the physical ones.

Long Slow Distance is fine if you have dozens of hours to train - there's lots of studies and coaches who follow intensity as well. I know world class Ultra Endurance athletes training 10-12h a week, for 20h events.

good luck!