I’m in my mid-40s and after many years of looking after my children, as well as working, I have started to exercise. I can now run a mile at 5mph on a treadmill, but my heart rate goes up higher than it should, over 160. What am I doing wrong?
I don’t think you are doing anything wrong, but there are a few things that could affect your exercising heart rate (HR). Stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine, and stress and viral infections can increase resting heart rate by 10 beats or more. However, when exercising, the biggest factor affecting HR (other than how hard you are working) is your state of hydration. If you are chronically dehydrated, and running at a steady sustained pace, HR continues to rise beyond predicted levels. Ensure you start your workouts well hydrated – drink two litres of water through the day, another 200ml an hour before exercise (avoid very cold water as this reduces the absorption rate) and 80 to 100ml every 20 to 30 minutes during the workout. Bear in mind that equations for predicting your optimum exercising HR use formulas based on assumptions that can provide variations of between plus or minus 10%. Try monitoring your exercise intensity with both HR and a perceived rate of exertion (PRE) rating. This rates how your exercise intensity feels on a scale of one to 10: one is similar to rest and 10 to flat-out effort. Aim for seven – the level at which you feel you can hold a “breathy sporadic conversation”. Overtraining can lead to elevated resting HR and is often associated with fatigue, irritability and poor sleep patterns. If you suspect this, monitor your waking HR over a fortnight for increases above its normal level and then rest by either decreasing your exercise intensity or number of times you exercise.
· Joanna Hall’s The Step Counter Diet is out on Monday, published by Thorsons, priced £6.99. Send your exercise questions to: Weekend, 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER ([email protected]).
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