Heart Rate Strap Accuracy.

That ramp up of heart rate looks normal and pretty much what you would expect over the course of a relatively steady state run. 

The most common fault with chest straps is a high spike at the start of a run, that returns to a normal rate over 5-10 minutes. Basically caused by poor electrical contact between the chest strap and skin - most common in cold and dry conditions, that resolves as you begin to sweat. Pre-moistening the contact pads can help, as can regularly washing the strap to prevent build up of salts in the strap.

But as noted, your posted graph shows no evidence of this. 

Perhaps your maximum heart rate is just naturally above the age-predicted formula - this is the case for many people.

your maximum HR may well be above average. I'm 43 and my HR can easily rise above 185 on short intervals so that would make two of us :)

I also think your data look reasonable. If you doubt that, you could do it the old-fashioned way: measure the heart rate with your finger on your throat.

Even HR-Straps can show wrong values. With my first Garmin strap I had very high values when I ran with my plastic dog leash above my running shirt. Obviously the rubbing caused some electric signals. This never happened with a newer strap.

Well the wrist HR monitor useless if you are serious about running and the heart rate strap doesnt lie. Just make sure to moisture the contact pads a little be putting it on ;) Your fitness level is what it is. It's just the hard truth. up until now, you body was hurting a little every time you go out for a run using the wrist hr monitor showing a too low hr bpm value but in real life it was too high. Try and setup your watch to set your HR zones after your lactate threshold. When you have done that, run in zone2 most of the time. And If you load up one of Garmins own training plans( the standard ones, not the couch ones, you'll be running in zone 2 as per advised by your watch during the run most of the time during a weekly plan. The program will also add some intervals training session and a long run in zone 2 at the end of the week. In a couple of months you will see you can run faster with lower HR.  As you get more fit, your lactate will also change, and so will your HR zones. The more you run the more precise you zones will be, and ultimately you will be more fit and faster and enjoy your runs even more. But be patience, the first couple of weeks you will be forced to run slow, even maybe walk sometimes, to keep it in zone 2, but it will improve, just don't give up. 

Thanks for the answers everyone. Well I don’t think I need to rush to get a check up for any heart condition firstly which is good. Went for a run today, and my partner wore my watch and strap and data was very similar with similar HR so just think it’s where we are with fitness levels. 

I cycle and don't run, but routinely hit above 190 bpm on steep climbs. I can also average 180 bpm for an intense, 1 hr ride, and our RHR are similar. Data looks pretty normal to me.

But yes, give up on the wrist HRM. 

Fairly obvious but I would calibrate your zones to reflect your actual resting and maximum heart rates. The profile does look OK - do you know what your real maximum is i.e. at the end of a hard 5k? 

1. Hi - this is an old thread but I wanted to comment. 

I saw a sudden increase in my “cruising HR” as measured by my chest HR strap (which I’ve had for years) at least 20-30 bpm higher than I was used so. I thought it might be a loss of fitness, thought it might be a virus, thought maybe my heart was on the blink etc.

I borrowed a pulse oximeter which also measures HR and took that out and tested my HR on the chest strap and with the pulse Ox and there was a big diff.  Tried it vs. an HR app on my phone, big difference, finally tried vs. a blood pressure device and again a big difference.  

I’ve concluded that maybe the HR strap has just stopped working properly and am replacing it with a Polar H10 and will see if that gives me readings that make sense. 

Before rushing out and getting a new strap, I'd give the current one a thorough wash in warm water with a bit of detergent.

The reason being that salts from sweat can build up over time, causing alternate electrical pathways through the strap for static electricity. The techical fabrics in some running tops can cause more static than others

Regular washing can help dissolve the accumulation of salts.

If the HR values are continous (no disconnects or spikes) then I don't think this is the issue. Can you see what is the battery status of the HRM? Also I had some (different though) problems with and old strap and buying a new band for the HRM-Dual fixed the problem. Even a cheap band from ebay fixed it.