Recovery heart rate

Question
Hi Rick,

I had a question regarding recovery heart rate. There is so much conflicting information out there....

Some background:

I am a 40 year old male with a resting heart rate of 75. I am 6 feet tall and weigh 230. I have been running for about 3 months and have lost about 30 lbs. My RHR was 85, so there is some improvement there.

I typically run for 30 minutes and vary between 140-160 HR for most of that time. I usually will get to 160 and then back off my speed to get it down. (My treadmill starts blinking red at about 165!)

Yesterday, I stopped my run at 30 minutes as usual with my heart rate at 154 according to the HR monitor (chest strap). After one minute it fell to 134, and then 120 after 2 minutes.

Is this good? What should it be? What number should I be shooting for? Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hi Mike,
After using HR zones with clients, I ran into the same issues you are running into: running into trouble zones when things feel just fine for the client or myself.  Some machines go by an outdated HR monitoring formula, while others go by a totally different one that is based on age only, and not having resting heart rates factored in.  Plus, you have other formulas popping up out there, which use the same data but have different factors figured in, so which is better?  Well, time & time again, research is showing that the PRE, or Percieved Rating of Exertion scale, is about spot-on with what your heart rates should be.  An easy method to use is the 1-10 scale, with 10 being an all-out effort at your max, think an all-out sprint for 20-30 seconds.  Working in the 5-8 ranges will get you falling into a safe heart rate zone.  

So, since discovering these issues and the research of PRE scales being just as, or more effective than HR monitoring, I suggest using PRE scales now.  This is generally how people worked out well before a HR monitor was even invented, one worked out based on how hard it felt for them. I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I hope this helps you,
Rick Karboviak