My last few runs I've noticed a Heart rate spike in the 180s for about 5 minutes at the beginning of all my runs. I'm usually running slow and downhill at this point. The rest of my run (except for a few uphill sections) is in the 140-150 range. Any ideas?
I too have the same issue with erratic, overly high HR for the first 5-10 minutes - wrist HRM. I've read others who have this problem also on other isolated threads. I was eager to see the tips, but alas, they appear to be for a chest strap.
The one tip on that list to "Warm up for 5-10 minutes" is what I currently do, and it seems to help, but the need for this never used to be required (prior to 7.1 I believe). There are times where I neither have the time and/or patience to do a 10 minute warm-up so I end up with all kinds of garbage HR for the first 3rd of my half hour run, which throws all the other stats off.
This topic needs attention so the programmers are aware of it & hopefully address it on a future FW
My last few runs I've noticed a Heart rate spike in the 180s for about 5 minutes at the beginning of all my runs. I'm usually running slow and downhill at this point. The rest of my run (except for a few uphill sections) is in the 140-150 range. Any ideas?
I have this occasionally too, I use an external Garmin footpod and chest strap (not a OHR fan) and it sometimes cadence is displayed (and recorded) in place of HR which is a bit annoying, several times on runs i've had to soft reset the watch to correct.
Its always at the beginning of a run, once corrected its OK
My typical cadence is in the 185 - 190 range so easy to spot when it's happening (max HR is about 175) - possibly intermittent connection on the strap before i've worked up a sweat causing it?
235 WITH 7.1 fw
I assume you are refering to the optical HR since you didn't mention otherwise. If so the sensor and calculation for it... stores/starts from your last known HR, and will slowly update it from there.
When your HR changes drastically (resting to running... or awake to rest...) it takes some time for it to drift up/down to match actual. If your HR jumps or drops...it can easily lose your heart beat in the 'noise' of movement or ambient light, capilliary flow pulses from hard foot-falls while running, etc.... taking some time to lock.
I have found before working out if I can slowly bring HR from resting (45-55).... slowly up to 80-110beats (shoulder shrugs, calf raises, legs swings for hips, flex abs, brisk walk, etc) it helps acclimate the sensor/calculations prior to my HR increasing sharply as I start to run. Slow jogging also helps in the first minutes. Giving it a good minute to lock GPS and also behind the scenes lock HR (now that 'heart rate ready' isn't displayed)... will help with accurate readings as well.
If Strap issues - anti-static clothes treatments, wetting shirt a bit, wet contacts, etc all could help.... the new style strap (with wetable fabric silver front) has removed all of my previous issues with 170-220 HR in the first half mile to mile....
I have found before working out if I can slowly bring HR from resting (45-55).... slowly up to 80-110beats (shoulder shrugs, calf raises, legs swings for hips, flex abs, brisk walk, etc) it helps acclimate the sensor/calculations prior to my HR increasing sharply as I start to run. Slow jogging also helps in the first minutes. Giving it a good minute to lock GPS and also behind the scenes lock HR (now that 'heart rate ready' isn't displayed)... will help with accurate readings as well.
I also try go from walk to easy jog back to walk (5 min or so) trying to 'fish' for my HR in the range of 90-130 ... and usually as my HR begins to drop down to a walk HR, it seems to grab the correct number. Then I hit start. Works relatively well most days.
In spite of all the positive reviews and claims of accuracy I suspect that a much larger number of complaints about inaccurate results with optical monitors are being suppressed. Probably because folks like Garmin would really like to do away with the complication of having to provide com links for external sensors. Sad thing is that people reporting "accurate" results aren't actually doing a side by side comparison. As an example I recently picked up a Schosche Rhythm+ in the hopes it would prove to be as accurate as my chest monitor. First time out with it was for a walk with the dog at a gentle 16:36 pace. Within 0.15 miles the Schosche had my heart rate at 175. BTW, I've seen similar results with my 235 and these wild excursions are usually at the START of an exercise. I suspect that we are not being told that these optical devices are doing a lot of estimating while attempting to get a "lock" when the activity level increases suddenly. End result of that Schosche going into the stratosphere with my heart rate was that at the end of a 1.84 mile walk at a 16:36 pace was an average heart rate of 146 BPM. Naturally being concerned about what that record would do to my VO2 Max estimate I deleted that activity immediately. Yesterday I took the dog out for a bit longer walk with my Forerunner 235 linked to my Chest monitor and the average heart rate at a 16:32 pace was 104, much more in line with where my walking fitness is at after a winter spent working on an Elliptical Trainer. BTW, it is rather surprising how many different muscles get used when comparing rather similar exercises, my lower legs seem to need a bit of work at present.
Today I did an actual side by side comparison between two electrical heart rate monitors and the Schosche monitor. Electrical monitor one was that on the Life Fitness Elliptical Trainer I was working on. Electrical monitor two was my Garmin Premium Soft Strap monitor. Optical monitor was the Schosche Rhythm+ worn high on the forearm positioned to read from inside of my forearm just below the elbow and it was snugged well enough to not shift at all. As for readouts, with the Schosche turned OFF I took my older forerunner 15 and started the indoor run function with it linked to my chest monitor and propped it up on the head unit on the Elliptical Trainer. I also set my 235 up for Indoor run and linked it to my chest monitor. Then I turned on the Schosche and started the Wahoo Fitness App recommended by Schosche. BTW, it took about 3-4 minutes before Wahoo indicated a link with the Schosche and the light on the Rhythm+ changed to purple indicating a good link. Once all that waiting was done I started my normal warmup run. For the first 4 minutes the Schosche was reading a heart rate of a constant 75 and then it took off to 144 and started drifting between 140 and 144. Meanwhile while the Forerunner 15 started with a slow climb from a starting rate of 80 and was showing 132 at the 3 minute mark and the Life Fitness machine was reporting 133 at the 3 minute mark. Over a 30 minute warmup run at a 9:27 pace the Life Fitness readout and my Forerunner 15 continued to track quite closely together, typically within one BPM with a few excursions to a 2 bpm difference. The Schosche finally seemed to settle down a bit with a heart rate averaging about 142. End result was the run recorded on the Garmin had an average heart rate of 135 which is fairly normal and the Wahoo Fitness routing had an average heart rate of 126 because of that extended time it was only recording a heart rate of 75. If it weren't for that extended period at an artificially low heart rate the true average for the Wahoo record would have been 142-143. As for the difference in the later period of the run, the 15 and Elliptical were showing 135-138 while the Schosche continued to indicate 140-144, so later in the run the Schosche was only off by about 5-8 bpm. However if you study VO2 Max determination a difference that large is SIGNIFICANT.
So, in a direct comparison between TWO electrically based HR monitors and a highly "reviewed" optical monitor I can only call the optical monitor NOT ACCURATE. BTW, a previous outing with the WHR on my 235 was even less accurate, so much so that if I ever forget my chest monitor again at the gym I will turn around and go home to get it before trying to use the wrist monitor on the 235. IMO the only time when the wrist monitor on the 235 is close to accurate is when I am sleeping or just sitting watching TV.
Bottomline, there is currently nothing more reliable and accurate as a good old chest monitor". If you find them uncomfortable then I would suggest getting rid of that old Gen 1 Garmin hard monitor and get the Premium Soft Strap monitor. If you find the soft strap version uncomfortable you may want to consider calling yourself "snowflake". About the only real negative for the soft strap monitor is that it does take a bit of time and privacy to put one on.
Here's a new finding regarding this issue: I've been experiencing this jump to clearly wrong HR during first 3-5 min of an activity for a year now on F5. I see it on both runs and bike rides.
I decided to use my Edge 520 on my bike while on a trainer to have better view of status during workouts vs F5. Over past year I've never had a cycling workout (indoor or outdoor) where the HRM was out of whack at the start. But on past few workouts where I've selected to broadcast my HR from the Fenix to the 520, it is giving normal readings right from the start... This tells me it is not watch placement or not detecting HR until my heart starts pumping harder but an issue with the watch firmware.
Not sure how I'll confirm this during running since I don't know what I would broadcast HR to...
I wonder if you have hit a bug in an edge case that Garmin does not have in its testing matrix. The RD pod was intended to give running dynamics when you don’t want to wear an HRM-Run or HRM-Tri (and now HRM-Pro) and are happy with wrist oHR
If you are getting a footpod the gold standard is Stryd.
I have used 2 different generations of Stryd with Garmin HRM3, HRM-Run, and Polar H9. I have also used the Stryd simultaneously with the RD pod. No issues at all other than the RD pod not agreeing altogether with Stryd. The only metric in Garmin running dynamics not on Stryd is really L/R balance, FWIW
I do have the same issue using a HRM-TRI chest band. As the thread is quite old, I am wondering, if there is any update about this topic especially in case with an HRM-TRI?
What can I do to avoid this, except a warm-up of 10min?
