30 Days Ago, Needed Oxygen, a Walker, and a Home Health Aid to Leave The House. Today...

[Jeremy McCreary]

HR is a lagging indicator.

Of course. But her HR correlated well with many different identifiable events in the concert that had little direct connection to exertion. That's my only point.

 

[mschwett]

Of course. But her HR correlated well with many different identifiable events in the concert that had little direct connection to exertion. That's my only point.

i have a few rides recorded where a driver did something rude or agressive, and i got angry... and a few rides where i did something reckless or stupid and nearly crashed, and got scared/frazzled. the ride data clearly shows a brief disconnect of around +15bpm above normal heart rate for the current power/exertion level. typically only lasts around 30 seconds, but is very sharp. it's also not just hormones, the nerves from the brain to the heart do the same thing. one procedure for people with hard to cure heart rhythm abnormalities is to disconnect them!

i also see around a 10bpm variation from morning to late afternoon, although whether that's circadian or caffeinadian i'm not sure

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

This non-exertional HR variation makes it trickier to use HR as a cheap proxy for rider power Pr. HR still has value as a riding metric, of course. You just have to keep its limitations in mind.

On the flip side, there's also opportunity here: By recording HR, you're looking at your rides through an interesting new lens — one that takes in everything, including your emotional states along the way.

 

[mschwett]

This non-exertional HR variation makes it trickier to use HR as a cheap proxy for rider power Pr. HR still has value as a riding metric, of course. You just have to keep its limitations in mind.

On the flip side, there's also opportunity here: By recording HR, you're looking at your rides through an interesting new lens — one that takes in everything, including your emotional states along the way.

to be fair … all those other things are fairly small factors relative to the work your legs are doing. my resting HR was 40ish and full blast on a climb might have been 135. emotional state and caffeine might make a 10% difference, pretty small compared to the 300+ % of riding a bike hard!