I'd do an experiment: take your HR up to 190 for a minute, then walk and note where it drops at 10 second intervals over the walking minute. This should be a recovery walk, NOT a powerwalk pace. Do you have a paper a pencil handy? Post back and let me know.

Mel


OK, so here we go:

1 minute @ 190 achieved by hitting 6.5 on the treadmill

Recovery walk heartrates:

10 seconds: 170
20 seconds: 170
30 seconds: 170
40 seconds: 170
50 seconds: 170
60 seconds: 170

I didn't get to about 140 until 3 minutes after my last 10 second interval above.

5 minutes later after cooldown: 110


So that's it right? I'm hopelessly unfit, right?! LOL

OK, the good news is that it dropped 20 beats in the first 10 seconds. The general rule of thumb that I've seen is if it doesn't drop 20 beats within 20 seconds, call a cardiologist.

I really would have expected it to go lower during the minute. Let me ask the physiotherapist/rehab guy some questions tomorrow.

How fast were you walking? How did you actually feel? What is your resting HR?

Mel

Hi Mel, I was walking at 3.0, which is where I start on my warm-ups. It's a really comfortable pace for me - I don't really put forth any effort until 3.5. I felt pretty good, was sweating alot for me. Red in the face, but I get that all the time, even at indoor swim meets and locker rooms where it gets overheated.

My resting hr is between 68 and 72 normally. I noticed the last few days it's been around 80 - allergy season and I'm on claritin, which is causing me some nasal congestion which makes my breathing somewhat labored. I might need to wait until June when the worst of the pollen is gone and I've bene off meds for 2 wks.