The primary buffering system in the body is the bicarbonate buffering system, which is regulated initially by breathing (eg hyperventilate and you decrease pCO2 and increase pH); and in the longer term by the handling of H+/HC03 by the kidneys.
As soon as I started reading I knew just what you were going to say…
I noticed this hospital “feature” a while back. A few years ago when my sister was in the hospital a fair bit during pregnancy (everything turned out great) my brother-in-law and I were there a lot and we often took turns (or if both beds/machines were free we would use both and “compete”) hooking up to the heart rate monitoring system and would see how fast we could get our pulse down below the threshold and make it beep… I think it was set for something about 45 BPM, so we would try to make the other one laugh to keep the pulse up. Anyway, they quickly ignored as as the fit bicycling guys. But about the most fun you can have sitting around hospital rooms.
P.S. a few years back as I was being wheeled in to surgery for my ACL i saw that my pulse was 32!! I was actually less worried about the surgery and more depressed because I knew I would probably never see that low number again (this was after years of training followed by close to 2 weeks of rest, so I was perfectly trained, rested and fully recovered = super low pulse) – and no, I’ve never seen a resting pulse near that again sub-40, yes, though
Managed a very pleasant 21km 36er ride around the village this morning, it was so pleasant, no traffic and just the birdsong to accompany the peace & quiet
Well, everybody has a different heart rate profile. Age, fitness and physiology are factors.
My comment was based on the zones. In the “standard” five zone system you would only be able to stay in zone five (maximum effort at lactate threshold) for a few minutes.
I know what you meant. But a 150 bpr isn’t in the top range for most people. I’m thinking it needs to be readjusted, so his Maximum is instead the Hard.
I do.
I’m 54 and besides unicycling I also box at least 4 times a week and often spar a couple of times too, so I’m quite used to my HR being up in the red zone.
I do enjoy exercising for extended periods with an elevated heart rate and normally feel a bit disappointed if less than half my ride is in my red zone.
Madness I know
Sorry to say, but the only reason you can sustain over an hour in that red zone is because your heartrate zones are setup wrong, or your HRM doesn’t work, not because your fit.
Not at all. Polar HRMs are known for being quality products unlike the more fashionable ‘smart watches’ many seem to favour.
My average HR was 150 for the 2 hours. My max is 170 and this morning I hit 174 at a couple of points whilst riding.
That seems normal, just previous scale seems out. Can’t see how 150 should be zone 1. My HR seems similar to yours, here are my stats for a moderately hard 30km ride with high speed flats and some tough hills over 2 hours. 176 peak on the long climbs but avg was 146 in zone 3.
Perhaps a topic dedicated to unicycle heart rate should be created. I find it a very interesting topic, it is the main indicator I use to monitor my fitness. On a unicycle, I find it difficult to respect continuous efforts in a precise zone unless you ride on flat areas (to do a fundamental endurance session) or with a regular slope from start to finish (to do a threshold session).
In any case, @Dino, if you reached 174 (and that was not a mistake), your max heart rate cannot be 170. In the absence of an effort to reach the max heart rate (the half cooper test in running), the watch will calculate a max heart rate from formulas such as 220-age (i.e. 166 for 54 years). But these formulas are approximations, there can be differences of +/- 20 pulses depending on the person and the level of training.
On a unicycle, it is difficult to reach your maximum heart rate (you always need to have a little reserve to stay balanced on the unicycle). I think that to get close to it you need to do something similar to a hill climb at full speed for 10 minutes.