Heart rates

General Discussion
1

Hi all just a query regarding heart rate data.
Ive just took part in oh my crit the double and 2 riders in the group aged 60 plus were with the front group so no problem there but looking at their heart rate data it doesnt really reflect the effort of the ride.
I finished with an average of 151 yet these guys were 138 and 128 is it just that they are extremely fit and that they can train at a lower threshold ?
Just wondering

2

Heart rates vary from person to person. Depending on fitness, genetics or possibly medication. I’m one of those older guys with a slower hr for a given effort.
Then there is trainer/power meter accuracy which can also lend a difference.

I’m sure that there are others here that can do a better job of explaining.

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3

You should look at the ratio of max hr to avg hr rather to see what effort they putting in. I’m 59 and my max is about 150-155 but my resting hr is 45 so when I’m above 140 it’s pretty much flat out.

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4

Guess it would be nice to know…
As ever with zwift they leave it to the community to pursue.
Without fully understanding why some heart rates are way way lower than other riders it is all to easy to jump to the conclusion that maybe they are not really hitting the watts they are showing .

5

I would not pay to much attention to Heartrate. It is one of those things that is very personal , if you don’t know the whole HR history of the rider you can make some very inaccurate assumptions.

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6

I can only compare my HR to myself. I’m 52, max HR 185, can hold 175 for half an hour. And got afib in my 40s. High max is not winning.

7

Ah right i thought the formula was 220 less your age ?

8

That’s an extremely rough estimate. In many cases it’s way off.

9

That formula just gives you a rough idea of what your max HR might be. My max HR is ~7 bpm higher than it “should” be according to 220-age. I have a friend who’s the same age as me and his tempo/cruising HR is the same as my max HR :open_mouth:.

HR is very individual, you can’t meaningfully compare yours (raw numbers) to anyone else’s. % of threshold HR would be better for comparison.

10

Ok if we park the heart rate although i would add both these riders have low data when racing.
Lets look at the avg watts im just under 75 kg and for this race avg 3.o3
One of the guys is 85kg and avg 2.7 watts for this race and had a podium finish
The other is 93kg and avg 2.7 watts
So they are both heavier older riders and producing less watts with a lower heart rate and hanging easily it seems with younger lighter riders.
Im just trying to understand the data

11

I’m kind of surprised that ten posts into this thread no one has mentioned trainer calibration and/or iffy power calculation. Not having looked into the profiles of the users I am not for a second saying that’s what’s happening here, but we all know that there are people riding around Watopia “producing” massive Watts according to their equipment, but not actually putting out anything like that power.

12

You put out an average of 227 watts on a flat’ish course.
The guy with 2.7wkg/85kg weight was putting out an avg of 225watts and has 523 races under his belt (he knows how to ride efficiently in Zwift).
The guy that was 93kg was putting out avg 255 watts.

Watts win the game on flat’ish to flat courses. Age has nothing to do with it. Might be a small factor for trainer accuracy but results look totally normal for that course and rider’s power/weight etc.

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13

Thanks dean thats what im looking for…just an explanation that helps me better understand the data

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14

beta blockers, pacemakers. who knows. i wouldn’t worry about it

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