Strava HR Data has me worried... Doc in the house?

[JimmyTango]

My HR data for today's ride shows several spikes up to 230ish BPM.

I am 30yo, 6'2" 170lbs, and have been very fit my whole adult life. My calculated "max" is 189, but it isn't uncommon for me to push it up to mid 190s in races.

This is the first time I have seen it spike like this (above 195, not correlating with max effort). I didn't have any more or less coffee than usual this morning.

Most of the spikes happened during the first half of the 3 hour ride. I was definitely in "chill mode" until the 2nd hour or so and the spikes don't correlate with increased effort (several are on descents actually). Once I actually started pushing it out of z2 or z3, the spikes stop and my HR looks like it usually does.

I would write it off as a Garmin error, but I ended the ride feeling uncharacteristically "bonky" and have been concerned by a pretty precipitous drop in fitness in the last few weeks despite a fairly standard training schedule.

Am I going to drop dead next time I go out and ride?

[soulspinner]

Its probably arrythmia but by all means go see a doc.

[benb]

You sure the HRM is actually accurate?

I have a real problem this year of my rides looking like they start out with me riding at max HR for the first 10-15 minutes w/spikes to 230.. it's not arrhythmia it's the HRM not working properly due to weather and me needing to work up a sweat before it starts working.

If you think it's anything real and you felt like you bonked maybe ask yourself how much caffeine you'd consumed that day, etc..

I actually think there is some error and/or weirdness in Garmins that causes them to report 230bpm in error conditions. I should ride with 2 cyclecomputers but my Bontrager computer NEVER reported 230bpm when things were wonky, it would report low. (Same strap used with both devices) Unfortunately the Bontrager doesn't record so no way to really test this. But I've watched the garmin show 200+ bpm when I'm in recovery/warmup mode and I can take my pulse and know the garmin absolutely doesn't pass a sanity check.

[kgreene10]

My HR strap paired with Garmin 500 shows incorrect spikes all the time. Yesterday, I rode easy for 90 mins and my HR probably never went above 145 but the data showed a max of 179 once uploaded to TP.

If you want tons of errors, try an optical HR monitor.

[phutterman]

That sounds implausibly high to me, too. I still suspect that's HRM jitter. I've seen mine do that a handful of times, too. I'm pretty sure you'd know if it was actually that high. I think you'd feel your heart racing.

Interesting point if 230 specifically is what the Garmin records in error conditions. I'll see if I can track down an example of mine spiking and see what it read.

I've been slow and bonky when it's as (comparatively) cold as it has been, too. Your body's working harder to keep you warm and stuff.

I'd say try and keep a closer eye on it when you're riding - see if you see it spike and compare that to how you're actually feeling. And if it keeps doing it you can borrow mine or something for a few days. It's...moderately clean.

[JimmyTango]

That sounds implausibly high to me, too. I still suspect that's HRM jitter. I've seen mine do that a handful of times, too. I'm pretty sure you'd know if it was actually that high. I think you'd feel your heart racing.

Interesting point if 230 specifically is what the Garmin records in error conditions. I'll see if I can track down an example of mine spiking and see what it read.

I've been slow and bonky when it's as (comparatively) cold as it has been, too. Your body's working harder to keep you warm and stuff.

I'd say try and keep a closer eye on it when you're riding - see if you see it spike and compare that to how you're actually feeling. And if it keeps doing it you can borrow mine or something for a few days. It's...moderately clean.

Yeah, I'm kinda hoping/ leaning towards the garmin error angle.... each aspect of today's ride could easily be explained away by other factors (e.g. bonking because the only food I had eaten since dinner last night was a 150cal bar when I woke up), but it is a pretty scary reading to see, especially because I've been riding with the same strap and garmin for a year and this is the first time this has happened. Plus, I have been riding like ···· for a few weeks now and can't really figure why so I'm being neurotic about little things. Mainly just checking that no one chimes in with "this is EXACTLY what happens to me and I have discovered that it means bla bla bla that you should be worried about!"

Reckon I'll just see if it persists and worry more then.

[notsew]

My buddy had some serious spiking happen while he was riding (it was arrythmia). And he could really feel it. Like stop the bike feel it. So that's a date point for you.

[benb]

This is super easy to see in Garmin Connect, go to your Activities page, filter for cycling, then sort by Max HR.

Here is the first page of mine, I only have 6 months of data in my Garmin account. I don't believe for a minute that any of these with the possible exception of the 194s are legit. Note they're all once the weather starts to get cold... dry weather in the 50s temp wise will make my HRM do this very easily. I go into the 180s if I really, really push it (I think my threshold is around 170) but legit 190s is very rare. I guess this defeats my idea of seeing 230 as a magic # on garmins but it has been very noticeable that the garmin errors high when previous devices I've had error low in the same situations where the strap starts getting hard. If I drill into the individual activities I can see it's always at the beginning of the ride and it's an extended impossible period above whatever my real max HR is.

The only thing that really bugs me about this is I kind of like the Strava Stress scores since I don't have a power monitor. And this wonky HRM data from the garmin really throws a wrench in Strava stress scores and the fitness and freshness graph when you're doing shorter rides. I do a lot of rides that are 1 hour.. if the HRM reads outrageously high the first 10-15 minutes it puts a pretty substantial error into the stress score for that ride. It causes the stress scores to error high though, and that's fine, because left to my own devices I overtrain, if I take the stress scores at face value it's a good thing.

[benb]

Here's a graph of the first 20 minutes of a ride with a max HR of 245.. really bad behavior the first 20 minutes. Note for a while no HR data at all at first then super high readings. I think the no readings is not enough moisture on the skin for a reading and then the super high readings are one side of the sensor picking up and the other one not picking up. (Wind from one side or something.) This ride everything looks perfect from about 20 minutes on.

If you can jiggle the strap around and make the readings go back into a range you expect it's probably not arrhythmia! That often works for me as it gets some moisture onto the electrodes. (I've had an EKG, pretty sure I'm fine)

[eBAUMANN]

that graph looks like crappy data to me, the way it spikes up and drops off suddenly. id blame the HRM.

[Louis]

If the spikes are pegged at the highest the HRM can handle and only happen in specific geographic areas it could be due to EMI. (electromagnetic interference) There's a spot on the road into my subdivision, close to one of those big 3'x3'x3' transformer boxes sitting by the side of the road, (at least that's what I think they are) where my Polar always goes haywire and causes the display to max out. Ride a few yards past the box and the display goes back to normal.

[cnighbor1]

after my heart attack and recovered I took a stress test to see how heart was doing
they measure you at rest than put you on a treat mill and increase speed and incline and keep measuring
that is what you should have has any problems will show up there before out on the road riding

[christian]

You should always lick the electrodes before putting on the strap. If that doesn't work, see a doctor.

[Louis]

Did you try to measure your HR "manually?"

I'd make sure the data's real before worrying too much about it. It's simple enough to stop and see what you measure yourself. If that's close to what the HRM is saying, then yes, seek medical advice, otherwise, you have no clue if this is noise or actual stuff.

[Black Dog]

Well, if you had a 200+ spike during low activity and were not aware of it I would be surprised. An accelerated heart rate is not a symptom that usually goes unnoticed. I would think that you have a instrumentation error and not an underlying pathology at play here. Declining fitness and feeling crappy after a ride sounds more like overtraining. This can lead to cardiac drift but usually not discreet spikes in HR that are not precipitated by increased effort. At the extreme ends of overtraining you can get sustained elevated heart rate. You can confirm your readings with a finger on your carotid artery on your neck during one these events, your pulse at your finger tip will not lie.


You can always go to webMD and find out what type of rare terminal disease you have... :rolleyes: Remember that any internet health advice from me or anyone is to be taken with a grain of salt; large grain. None of us, myself included, have enough details to give a reasonable diagnosis. Please rule out instrumentation error and if you can not go see your doc for an EKG and or a cardiac stress test.

[Hank Scorpio]

Think about what you measuring. You know what 190 bpm feels like now add an additional 40 bpm to that. I doubt that would go unnoticed especially if you weren't putting in a hard effort.

Were you still cool and dry during the spikes? What types of clothing layers were you wearing. Remember when you were a kid and you would get under your covers and you could make all kinds of sparks between your pjs and the blankets. Possibly something similar was happening wth your layers?

[bobswire]

I wonder if overhead power lines have an effect. When I downloaded my readings from yesterday I noticed I had one very short instance where it peaked to 193, it was at a point where I went by railway power lines,in fact a rail car was approaching within a block. I'm not concerned since I was not really pushing it at that instance and in fact on the steeper climbs I'd get in the 160's with an average 129 Hr for the ride in total, for reference I'm 70 year old. I feel it's just a glitch in the HR strap/Gamin computer.

[SoCalSteve]

If you are at all concerned, go get an EKG. Simple test, over in 5 minutes and it will show you exactly what your heart is up to.

Good luck!

[thwart]

If you are at all concerned, go get an EKG. Simple test, over in 5 minutes and it will show you exactly what your heart is up to.


It would be nice if a simple resting EKG was that sensitive to the kind of problems the OP is worried about. Unfortunately it's not.

If you had a 'registered' heart rate of around 240 when you were not pushing it, and you were not aware of this tachycardia at all, I suspect it's measurement error.

FWIW, you may want to consider eating a real breakfast.

But see above about internet medical advice... :rolleyes:

[kramnnim]

If you were wearing a thin jacket, the fluttering during the descents could make the HRM act like you described.

I've noticed a few times where my HR will jump 30-40bpm for a few seconds, usually right after a hard effort, but sometimes it's just random. Maybe I should be concerned? I cannot replicate/reproduce it...

[oldpotatoe]

My HR data for today's ride shows several spikes up to 230ish BPM.

I am 30yo, 6'2" 170lbs, and have been very fit my whole adult life. My calculated "max" is 189, but it isn't uncommon for me to push it up to mid 190s in races.

This is the first time I have seen it spike like this (above 195, not correlating with max effort). I didn't have any more or less coffee than usual this morning.

Most of the spikes happened during the first half of the 3 hour ride. I was definitely in "chill mode" until the 2nd hour or so and the spikes don't correlate with increased effort (several are on descents actually). Once I actually started pushing it out of z2 or z3, the spikes stop and my HR looks like it usually does.

I would write it off as a Garmin error, but I ended the ride feeling uncharacteristically "bonky" and have been concerned by a pretty precipitous drop in fitness in the last few weeks despite a fairly standard training schedule.

Am I going to drop dead next time I go out and ride?

Go see a doc, it's what they do.

[JimmyTango]

I appreciate all the above feedback!

It was a cold, dry morning and the readings definitely happened before I had even stopped shivering, much less broken a sweat.

I also felt quite normal and had no sensation of heart racing, pounding, or fluttering.

I'll keep an eye out for another "episode" and try to check my pulse by touch compare against the HRM reading.

If I can rule out HRM error I will head to the Doc. Until then, the $60 copay will do me better elsewhere in my budget :butt:

[GoatLeg]

Out of curiosity, do you have the newer or older HRM? I never had mine (older version) do anything like that with my 705, and the few rides I've done with my 520 all return normal data.

[bewheels]

I will throw into the pile of 'go see a doctor'.
Yes there can be data collection spikes caused by all sorts of technical things. Looking to gather these bits is a way to rationalize not going to a medical professional to get things checked out. Don't fall into that trap. Go get checked out.

BTW - I have HR spikes like this happen on occasion (I mean real, not technical blips). Yes I can feel it. But only because I now know what it feels like. When it first happened I did not. But over time I got more sensitive to an episode. Yes I went and got it checked out when it first happened 10+ years ago even though I am not a fan (or have time) of spending time in doctor's offices.

[soulspinner]

My buddy had some serious spiking happen while he was riding (it was arrythmia). And he could really feel it. Like stop the bike feel it. So that's a date point for you.

The reason I chimed in is because I cant feel my arrhythmia all the time but once in a great while I see 185 or so butI could never achieve that number anymore excersizing at 59.............

[numbskull]

Below is some general medical information. It is not meant to be specific advice.

There are three possibilities here listed in order of declining likelihood.

1) The data is in error.
This is by far the most likely explanation. As discussed above HR recording is very prone to error during exercise......even when recorded by medical devices (such as holter monitors or during stress tests). Motion artifact, poor electrode contact, and skeletal muscle activity (particularly shivering) are frequent issues. The advice about checking one's pulse manually during these high readings is, therefore, an excellent place to start.

2) There is some sort of non-life threatening arrhythmia.
This could be runs of ectopic atrial tachycardia (short 3-4 second runs of extra atrial beats that most of us have to varying extents and are sometimes provoked during early exercise), short runs of re-entrant tachycardia (i.e., PSVT which is a complex topic but would usually be ignored if asymptomatic), runs of atrial fibrillation (which gets discussed to death on this forum), or, and least likely, short runs of exercise induced non sustained ventricular tachycardia (which can be either benign or indicative of a dangerous underlying condition....see below). Note that tachy-arrhythmias during exercise can often be asymptomatic (or at least unrecognized) particularly if there is no other serious underlying heart disease.

3) There is something bad going on that might be life threatening. Usually in this situation the arrhythmia is secondary to another underlying heart problem. This breaks down into structural heart disease, coronary artery disease, or primary electrical diseases.

Structural disease, such as a bad valve (mitral valve prolapse, aortic stenosis or insufficiency) or damaged heart (idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) can sneak up in people who are inactive but usually produces a slow but significant drop off in exercise tolerance in those who are active. Most valve problems also produce a significant heart murmur years before they become problematic (MVP is sometimes an exception since it can change abruptly) although in these days of sloppy physical exams murmurs are often missed. Prior cocaine use (or remote silent heart attack) can also cause unrecognized heart scarring that might be small enough to be asymptomatic but still cause dangerous arrhythmia.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) can present as an arrhythmia by causing ischemia during exercise that results in secondary life threatening ventricular arrhythmia (the thing that causes sudden cardiac death during "heart attacks"). Once again, pre-existing CAD significant enough to cause reproducible arrhythmia usually (but not always) also produces symptoms of significant exercise limitation and chest discomfort. (Note that CAD can certainly be mild, asymptomatic, and even undetectable, then worsen critically and instantaneously via plaque rupture during exercise resulting in arrhythmia and sudden death.......but this is different than the ongoing and repeatable scenario the OP describes). A person's risk factors also have some role in determining the likelihood a problem is related to CAD. If one has a family history of early age heart attack or sudden death or if one has HTN, diabetes, bad cholesterol numbers, or a smoking history then the probability of CAD as a cause of a problem increases.

Less commonly, primary life threatening arrhythmia can occur from other primary electrical causes than above (long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, primary idiopathic VF, RV dysplasia) but these usually present as fainting/syncope rather than asymptomatic changes in HR (of course most of the population does not monitor their HR so this doesn't say much). Most of them are also genetic so often there is a family history of fainting or sudden death (sometimes blamed on "heart attack" at young age).

Medically, if one wants to work this up it will likely entail a physical exam, ekg, holter monitor while riding, and probably an echocardiogram and stress test. This may entail 1000-2000 dollars of health care plus missed time from work.

[bjf]

GO SEE A DOC, and GET A HOLTER MONITOR FOR A RIDE.

My story: got a Garmin 500 in 2010 at age 63, found that whenever I sprinted it flipped up from about 170 to 220. I thought 220 wasn't even possible, so I blamed the Garmin and stopped wearing the HR band. Next year I did an oxygen uptake test and the same thing happened -- but this was with a different monitor. So off to a cardiologist. He thought it was the devices, but put a Holter monitor on me anyway. Sure enough, it was real -- atrial tachycardia. Had an ablation, all fixed now. But numerous tests along the way convinced my doc that the Garmin is reliable enough for me to use it as an early warning device. I now always wear some HR monitor (the Scosche these days).

Of course not every Garmin or any other device is wholly reliable. Read the previous post and GO SEE A DOC.

[bobswire]

Below is some general medical information. It is not meant to be specific advice.

There are three possibilities here listed in order of declining likelihood.

1) The data is in error.
This is by far the most likely explanation. As discussed above HR recording is very prone to error during exercise......even when recorded by medical devices (such as holter monitors or during stress tests). Motion artifact, poor electrode contact, and skeletal muscle activity (particularly shivering) are frequent issues. The advice about checking one's pulse manually during these high readings is, therefore, an excellent place to start.

2) There is some sort of non-life threatening arrhythmia.
This could be runs of ectopic atrial tachycardia (short 3-4 second runs of extra atrial beats that most of us have to varying extents and are sometimes provoked during early exercise), short runs of re-entrant tachycardia (i.e., PSVT which is a complex topic but would usually be ignored if asymptomatic), runs of atrial fibrillation (which gets discussed to death on this forum), or, and least likely, short runs of exercise induced non sustained ventricular tachycardia (which can be either benign or indicative of a dangerous underlying condition....see below). Note that tachy-arrhythmias during exercise can often be asymptomatic (or at least unrecognized) particularly if there is no other serious underlying heart disease.

3) There is something bad going on that might be life threatening. Usually in this situation the arrhythmia is secondary to another underlying heart problem. This breaks down into structural heart disease, coronary artery disease, or primary electrical diseases.

Structural disease, such as a bad valve (mitral valve prolapse, aortic stenosis or insufficiency) or damaged heart (idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) can sneak up in people who are inactive but usually produces a slow but significant drop off in exercise tolerance in those who are active. Most valve problems also produce a significant heart murmur years before they become problematic (MVP is sometimes an exception since it can change abruptly) although in these days of sloppy physical exams murmurs are often missed. Prior cocaine use (or remote silent heart attack) can also cause unrecognized heart scarring that might be small enough to be asymptomatic but still cause dangerous arrhythmia.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) can present as an arrhythmia by causing ischemia during exercise that results in secondary life threatening ventricular arrhythmia (the thing that causes sudden cardiac death during "heart attacks"). Once again, pre-existing CAD significant enough to cause reproducible arrhythmia usually (but not always) also produces symptoms of significant exercise limitation and chest discomfort. (Note that CAD can certainly be mild, asymptomatic, and even undetectable, then worsen critically and instantaneously via plaque rupture during exercise resulting in arrhythmia and sudden death.......but this is different than the ongoing and repeatable scenario the OP describes). A person's risk factors also have some role in determining the likelihood a problem is related to CAD. If one has a family history of early age heart attack or sudden death or if one has HTN, diabetes, bad cholesterol numbers, or a smoking history then the probability of CAD as a cause of a problem increases.

Less commonly, primary life threatening arrhythmia can occur from other primary electrical causes than above (long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, primary idiopathic VF, RV dysplasia) but these usually present as fainting/syncope rather than asymptomatic changes in HR (of course most of the population does not monitor their HR so this doesn't say much). Most of them are also genetic so often there is a family history of fainting or sudden death (sometimes blamed on "heart attack" at young age).

Medically, if one wants to work this up it will likely entail a physical exam, ekg, holter monitor while riding, and probably an echocardiogram and stress test. This may entail 1000-2000 dollars of health care plus missed time from work.

This, good advice! I'm going through the process now of trying to determine the cause and out outlining effect of my arrhythmia, though infrequent but because of my age and active lifestyle my Doc is having me go though the protocol you listed above, started with an EKG then I wore a ZIO patch for two and recently had an echocardiogram and after the holidays having treadmill stress test (which I'm looking forward to). Luckily I'm covered with Veterans Healthcare here in San Francisco which is one of the best VA Clinics.

[jimoots]

Google flappy jersey syndrome. It's a thing.

Your jersey flaps against the strap. Causes static electricity. Combined with a dry HRM strap, the static electricity causes it to read out insanely high HR figures.

[adrien]

Well, I'd see a doctor. A regular physical is a good idea, and an EKG should be standard with that.

If he/she detects anything worth further investigation you may also get a stress test and/or echocardiograph. Put all these together, and you will be well "checked out".

95% it's Garmin silliness, tied to the heart strap. There's a small portion of folks (me included) who apparently get many funky readings on certain Garmin straps. I now us a Bontrager strap and a Garmin strap with a polar receiver for this reason.

But -- go see a doctor. A $60 co-pay is a lot cheaper than an incident that leaves you in the hospital because something happens.

[malcolm]

I didn't read the entire thread but I'd find it hard to fathom that you could sustain that kind of heart rate and not be symptomatic as in profoundly short of breath.
I've had friends that could hit low 200s climbing for short periods, but I don't think I've ever heard of anyone with that kind of max.
You will see hearts rates that high with various dysrhythmias, but those folks are almost always symptomatic.
I suspect the problem is your monitor, but if it worries you see your doc and he can set you up for a holter monitor.

[mg2ride]

Its probably arrythmia but by all means go see a doc.

I very good friend of mine discovered his arrhythmia based on a fluctuating HRM. He too had short spikes that seemed to high to be real.

Based on the knowledge I learned thru his experience, I realized that I also have had a couple of events and looking back on it I had them before and never even knew anything was going on.

For a known emergent event a appointment with a cardiologist can take MONTHS to get. I recommend you stat the process to make one now.

[metalheart]

I wear a HR monitor all the time when riding because of an existing heat condition. I have noticed occasional spikes into the 200's that I am sure are artifacts and other times spikes that are lower that have made me wonder if something was going on. HR spikes are not unusual in cold weather, both as artifacts and otherwise. Check THIS (http://www.myheartratemonitor.net/how-to-troubleshoot-high-or-inaccurate-heart-rate-monitor-readings-in-cold-weather/) out for a brief discussion of these spikes.

When you are not sure, the Holter monitor is a good way to sort things out. I have worn them multiple times and they help the doc to sort out any issues. Since I have some ongoing issues I also have a little device that I use with my phone that produces an EKG. Costs about $75 and I use it a few times a week just to make sure there are no unusual heart beat thingys happening. The device i use is made my Alivecor (http://www.alivecor.com/home) and my cardio doc finds it useful/amusing. It is small enough that it could be carried in a pocket on a ride, but I just use mine at home.

Sorting out if there are monitor artifacts or some issue may require a visit to your doc, but knowing there are some winter issues with HR monitors is a starting point.

[WWKayaker]

Give the distribution of your apparent heart rate spikes, the extremely high rates, and your being completely asymptomatic, in my opinion, Jimmy Moots has nailed the diagnosis. I had exactly what he described and still get it when riding with a wind jacket or vest( and even certain jerseys). It always happens before I have a good sweat going. My theory is that the clothing flapping generates some very small static charges that are larger than the electrical impulses being received from your heart with a dry HRM. Save your self some time and effort(if not money) by just moistening both the left and right sensors of your HRM with a spit laden finger and see if you are "cured." Alternatively, you could try riding on someones Computrainer using the earlobe HRM which is sensing blood flow rather than electric discharges.