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recovery heart rate

Fun With Heart Rate Data

Garmin Heart Rate Data over time: Day with symptoms

Garmin Heart Rate Data over time: Day with symptoms

Garmin Heart Rate Data over time: typical work out

Garmin Heart Rate Data over time: typical work out

I have a tendency to faint (not a big deal, I’ve been cleared medically). I’m not sure what causes it in every instance, but heat is my kryptonite. It was HOT and HUMID at the gym the other day. Just as I was getting to the most intense, portion of my work out, I started to feel faint. I didn’t lose my vision, but I did start to get that “feeling” that passing out was imminent if I didn’t stop. I was aware enough to take a glance at the heart rate reading on my Garmin watch, but not aware enough to realize what the sub-100 beats per minute meant. I stared, confused, and tried to adjust my chest strap. When the numbers didn’t budge, I took my pulse manually- and lo and behold, consistent with overexertion symptoms, my heart really was beating slowly! I instantly couldn’t wait to see the graph my monitor puts out.

The above graph is a segment of my overall workout on that hot and humid. My average heart rate (122 bpm) is the dotted line. As you can see, I’m cruising along at about 150, and right after my peak effort, you see a sudden drop. That’s where I got dizzy, just after the 50 minute mark. I posted a typical workout below. My heart rate goes up and down, but you don’t really see it go below my average until the cool down at 58 minutes. Unfortunately, it didn’t graph out as dramatic as I hoped. I dropped 75 bpm in 2 minutes and 48 seconds, which is on par with my recovery heart rate of about 65 bpm in 2 minutes. You can’t tell that I was near losing consciousness from the graph, I could have simply stopped working and the graph would have looked the same.