Heart Monitor Training - Part 1 - Max Heart Rate

One of the first numbers you will need for the training plan from the Heart Monitor Training book is a maximum heart rate.  The author gives you 2 separate ways to calculate your actual maximum heart rate in chapter 5 of the book.  I chose the max heart rate hill workout (about 2 years ago).  It was awesome!  I was supposed to do another set of hills and I literally could not go any further and I had the taste of blood in my mouth.  There is no actual blood, but I always have this strange metallic taste in my mouth after an intense workout.  I experienced this many times in high school after running 6 sets of 400 meters in track practice or something else exhausting like that.  Anyone else experienced this?  Anyways, my max heart from this hill workout was 192.

Let's say you don't want to do a super intense max hill rate or prefer formulas.  The author provides a formula that is not as accurate, but can be used instead.

Max Heart Rate Calculation = 205 - (1/2 of your age) + 5 if female

I am going to reveal my age here (gasp!), but my max heart rate according to this is 195.

I will use 192 for all of my calculations from this point forward.

I recommend that you buy the book if you are truly interested in learning more about the maximum heart rate, but here are a few points that I found to be important. 

• Your max heart rate has nothing to do with your fitness level or ability
• You cannot exceed your max heart rate.  If you see a number that is higher than your max, adjust your max! :)  Update: I saw 196 in my 5K so I am adjusting my numbers.

Related Posts:
Heart Monitor Training - Why Am I Trying It?