I read recently that you can tell (to some degree) if you are overtraining by measuring your resting heart rate when you wake up. If it's going up, that may be a sign.
I guess it wouldn't be a good idea to rely on just one indicator but I was wondering what y'all thought of this?
By the way, I've been kind of pi$$ed that my resting heart rate isn't still around 60 but I haven't been doing as much "cardio" (sorry Bill) as I used to and now it ranges between 63 and 68. Am I making the connection between the two correctly here? What's a good range?
Quercus, You're correct, the measurement of your resting heart rate first thing in the morning is a good sign as to your training capabilities for that day. I've read that some runners adjust their training around that rate using the Karvonen Formula.
I can't remember the author, but the book I am refering to is "Heart rate monitor training for the compleat idiot".
Originally posted by Torque: I can't remember the author, but the book I am refering to is "Heart rate monitor training for the compleat idiot".
The information I was referring to was Strength and Conditioning Journal, Vol. 26, No. 3 (June 2004), pp 28 - 33. I don't know how well-studied this topic has been (didn't see a "Karvonen" listed in the references, by the way) but that's why I was asking the question to see if someone had more knowledge of this. The article provides a "recovery self-monitoring system" form that was, apparently, written for high school athletes but I thought at least parts might be useful for others... perhaps...?
Morning heart rate changes need to be increasing by 10 beats per minute more than your lowest recorded heart rate before you get too concerned.
There may be a better test called the Rusko Orthostatic test.
Lie down for 10 minutes at the same time each day. Record lowest heart rate in the last 2 minutes of the 10. Stand up and record heart rates at 15, 90, and 120 second intervals. If not overreaching, heart rate should be stable. if the heart rate increases by more than 10 at the 120 second interval, you may be overly fatigued.
You can also wear a heart rate monitor while you train and record heart rates periodically after certain exercises and certain loads. An increase in heart rate at a specific load or less load may indicate overreaching or excessive fatigue.
Heart rates can also be variable due to illness, poor sleep, low carbs, fighting with your wife, and dehydration so be sure to consider all those factors as well.
Originally posted by Bill Hartman: Heart rates can also be variable due to illness, poor sleep, low carbs, fighting with your wife, and dehydration so be sure to consider all those factors as well.
Bill
Thanks, Bill. I was wondering about that. It's still a pretty subjective determination, apparently. Although I'd like to understand it for my own training purposes, I'm also interested in this topic from an "academic" perspective as well.
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