I don't get it....?

intensityjunkie

intensityjunkie

Cathlete
I was out of shape from taking off a few years after my son was born. But as of January this year I've been working out 5-6 days a week. Somedays stuff just happens and I can't w/o others I need a day off. I do mostly Cathe and also Amy B and Jaris workouts. I do them completely. I feel like I've become much stronger and fitter. I can get thru tuff cardio workouts just fine.
well my Dh is a runner.. but the last few years hes not done as much either cause of extreme demands at work/school. The last 8 months for him hes gone for a run once occasionally twice a week. He hits the gym for weights maybe once a week. He admits hes not in the greatest shape right now.
Well he got out this heartrate monitor thing he admitted may not be accurate but took both our blood pressure. Mine was I believe 110 over 62 or something? but below that it said my heartrate was 82 and once 84. I asked DH what that meant and he said that I'm "not cardiovascularly fit". argh! I feel like screaming. how can that be? I workout MORE than he does. His resting rate was about 60. I heard that 84 is very high. I did my own this morning and I counted about 20 beats in 15 seconds just sitting around.. so that does mean its around 80.
what am I doing wrong??????? I'm feeling quite frustrated right now. :(
 
A true resting HR is done as soon as you wake up in the morning, still in bed, under the covers, no potty trips. Take it three days in a row and then divide by three. That will give you a more accurate assessment of your resting HR.

Your BP is great, BTW! And there are a several things that can affect your HR. Were the kiddos up and runnign around? What had you eaten? How was your caffeine intake for the day. 80 is a perfectly normal HR. Historically I have a resting HR of about 62 BPM and every time I put my HR monitor on before I WO it says 70-80 BPM.

HTH a little bit!
 
Take your heart rate when you wake up in the a.m., while you are still resting. When you get up and move around, your heart rate is going to go up!
 
Two things came to mind:

First: I've always read that you should take your resting heart rate when you first wake up in the morning before you even get out of bed. That's your true rate. Caffeine and other foods can elevate your heart rate so even just sitting around, it may come out higher than you'd expect.

Second: An elevated resting heart rate can be a sign of overtraining. You've been working really hard, do you have any other symptoms of overtraining?

Actually, a third thing just popped in my head: MEN CAN SAY THE WRONG THING AT THE WRONG TIME! :p If you've been working with Cathe et al for all these months, my guess is you are supremely cardiovascularly fit! HTH!
 
But you don't know what it would be if you didn't workout. Women generally have higher resting HR compared to men anyway. And what does your husband know about how fit you are?!

Ignore him. :)

But I agree with the other poster - if you HR is consistently high first thing in the morning, then you may want to take a few days off and see if it comes down. It can be a sign of overtraining.

If you are really concerned, you should track it each morning before you get up for awhile. I'm sure you will find morning when it is lower or higher and that might give you better insight than 1 or 2 data points.

BTW - my HR is always higher when I'm having my BP checked. My resting HR is somewhere around 60 but always mid-70's at least when getting my BP checked.
 
well hmm. I have to be honest that I was kinda "bad" yesterday. We were invited to go out to eat for lunch yesterday with friends and I ate some mexican.. It would have been an ok splurge but it wasn't even good. blah! I felt so bad afterwards I ate only super healthy stuff the rest of the day. I also drank a soda. I haven't had soda in maybe a year? I'm just not a soda drinker. I only got it cause their tea was nasty. So maybe that got me a bit out of whack?
I do occasionally drink an iced coffee but none yesterday. I drink a little green iced tea almost daily. Mostly I drink water though.

Anyway, I'll try again in a day or so. When I feel well hydrated etc and in the mornings like you guys suggested. I'd think DH would know better than to say that since he sees me working out so hard. ? Even if that was what came to mind. I did look it up online and a womens fitness site said that was on the high side? My DH is also a PA so pretty much knows this type of stuff? sigh. But its interesting you guys say it can vary by time of day, diet etc?
 
About overtraining. I do try to listen to my body. I took yesterday off for that reason I was feeling a bit burned out. So that maybe could've affected it.

I was wondering about it being affected by taking my BP also.
 
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