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Does Garmin try to kill me with today's suggestion

hisoft
over 2 years ago

Garmin usually suggested to me to do high heart rate running. And I can do most of them, but I've always doubted if I should trust it or not. Here is some of what it suggests me.



And the latest I found. I think that this can kill me. I can do 205-210 for, maybe, just 5 seconds. But 2 minutes straight and even for 8 rounds of it. Should this happen or is there something wrong with my setting? Current max-heart rate, lactate threshold, VO2 max setup was all measure and setup by my current Garmin fēnix 6 Pro and I use it for around 2 years.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    When was the last time it updated your Lactate Threshold? I do my suggested workouts with pace (only do HR when I have to be indoors on a treadmill), but I always feel good after the suggestions. Remember the target HR there is just in the middle of the range. If you switch to pace, are the paces attainable? 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Rememer that HR is a lagging indicator, and HR is therefore not a great measure for shorter 2 minute efforts.

    This workout is better understand as "run at a consistent effort that will have you reaching 205 towards the end of 2 minutes".

    I agree with the suggestion perhaps of looking at the pace based version.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    What is your current configured max heart rate, lactate threshold, and VO2 max? A 205 bpm heart rate target seems unusually high but we can't tell whether the daily suggested workouts are reasonable without knowing your actual numbers.

    In general though you should use a pace target instead of a heart rate target for shorter intervals. It takes a few minutes at a given pace for your heart rate to stabilize.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to nradov

    resting heart rate (from Garmin, look like it measures during sleep) 47 bpm

    max heart rate 213 bpm

    lactate threshold 187 bpm

    VO₂ max 51

    But, even when my max heart rate is 213 bpm, I am reading somewhere that it's not good for your heart to let it beating that fast since the blood volume per pump at 200+ BPM is less than at lower HR, that drop the blood & oxygen flow rate and can cause ischemic heart.
    So, I feel unsecure to do the workout with high heart rate. I kept doing it when it's just for 180 or 185 but when I see 200+ I think I should find some advice or confirmation from Garmin staff.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Jmkann15

    Maybe 2 or 3 months. I can't keep up with pace mode since it's always too little fast for me and I'm never understand why it's always like that. Pace mode can give me 190+ bpm even for just base run.
    So I only do today's suggestion in pace mode for sprint and anaerobic run since the time is too short to measure HR.

  • +1 over 2 years ago in reply to hisoft
    hisoft said:
    I think I should find some advice or confirmation from Garmin staff.

    I'd rather suggest consulting a sport medicine physician. Do not expect getting an answer from Garmin, and especially not here, on the forum. However, regular and frequent workouts in the HR Zone 5 are indeed a bit surprising to me too. 

    Perhaps you could also perform the Guided Lactate Threshold Test, if you did not do it recently, to make sure the value is not set too high (see more details about it in the user manual or here: How Is Lactate Threshold Measured by My Garmin Device? | Garmin Customer Support)

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to trux

    Thank you for your advice, trux. I'll find where I can consult with sport medicine physician around here.

    I also do Guided Lactate Threshold Test from time to time. Maybe around 2-3 months since the latest test.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to hisoft

    Where are you reading that? Do you have a citation? A high heart rate for a few minutes isn't necessarily bad for your heart, absent some other cardiac condition. There is a huge variation between individual heart rates.

    A lactate threshold (LT2) of 187 bpm is on the high side of normal, but not implausible. If the suggested workouts seem unreasonably hard then the device might have estimated it incorrectly; some athletes have unusually shaped lactate response curves which throws off the estimate. Consider going to a sports medicine lab for a real lactate threshold test on a treadmill where they actually take blood samples and plot the curve.

    Garmin staff aren't likely to give you specific advice or confirmation here. The daily suggested workout algorithm is what it is.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to hisoft

    If you can't keep up with the guided paces I'm going to assume you have some run in your history that is throwing everything off. Whether it be from a bad GPS signal or an inconsistent HR for a run. Something is throwing your data off. It also could be from a previous fitness progression and it's not updated to your current fitness level. 

    I went from doing a ton of CrossFit, to mostly bodybuilding, and it took Garmin a while to adjust down before I started training for triathlons.