HR max testing study

[MichaelMc]

Interesting study quoted in Canadian Running magazine.

From the "what's new" section in this month's magazine, the University of Nebraska Kearney did an interesting study on max heart rate values. The abstract is here: http://www.jssm.org/vol7/n4/5/v7n4-5abst.php (full text available).

In short, testing on NCAA XC athletes showed that max heart rate values taken on treadmill tests were significantly lower than those taken during hard training and during actual races. The treadmill tests average 194 bpm while the training and competition maxs were 207 and 206bpm.

The conclusion was you should check your max HR either in hard interval training or during short(ish) races. Maybe I've been slacking...

[Mid_Packer]

My legs give out long before I reach max Hr.
Not sure how I can bump up leg capabilities to get able to get to max Hr

Dave

[cgraham]

I don't know about the study, but I do know that I find it very hard to hit my max HR outside of a race situation.

My MHR is probably somewhere around 202 (it hit 206 at the end of my marathon last October, but that's the only time I've ever seen it above 201/202).

But in the past 2 years, there have only been 2 non-race workouts where it's gone over 195.

Or maybe, like you Michael, I've just been dogging my workouts as well.

[eljeffe]

You are preaching to the choir here, but one thing this brings to mind is those lactate threshold tests. How can they accurately test those levels on a treadmill?

[Pat Menzies]

Isn't the whole point that a race should be your hardest effort?

[Nicholas]

Isn't the whole point that a race should be your hardest effort?

You mean it shouldn't be "upright & smiling"? More "bent over & puking".

It is interesting that you can't go full out in a test; only when the clock is in front of you and the crowd is cheering.

[ian]

Interesting stuff, even though I'm personally not into HR training.

Devil's advocate question: even though a race situation seems to produce a higher max HR than a treadmill test, wouldn't the treadmill test still provide appropriate training zones given that typical workouts are also done without race adrenaline? And then racing would use shifted zones?

[MichaelMc]

Interesting stuff, even though I'm personally not into HR training.

Devil's advocate question: even though a race situation seems to produce a higher max HR than a treadmill test, wouldn't the treadmill test still provide appropriate training zones given that typical workouts are also done without race adrenaline? And then racing would use shifted zones?

Ah, yes, but the TRAINING heart rates were the same as the racing heart rate (1bpm higher, actually) in the study. It would seem the treadmill test would thus NOT provide the appropriate zones, whereas racing would. That is what I've found troubling. Of course I don't have any record of a believable heart rate higher than I achieved on my VO2 max, so maybe the NCAA XC racers are just treadmill wimps... I'll be wearing my HRM on the next short race I do, just to be sure.