Maximum heart rate increasing

[Bakks]

As a bit of background, I previously found my maximum heart rate would never go above 183, no matter how hard I was pushing. It very rarely went above 179.

Last week I went on holiday and so spent a week and a half off the bike. I've done 3 rights since I've been back and have noticed both my average and maximum heart rate has been sitting higher than I've previously been accustomed to. On a few rides I've been able to comfortably sit at in the 160's (previously this was more in the "pushing it" category), and the last two rides have maxed out at 184 and 185.

Why might this be? Has the weeks rest been a good thing and allowed me to "unlock" more fitness?

[Comedian]

Anne you were over trained and the break has helped?

[Alex Simmons/RST]

As a bit of background, I previously found my maximum heart rate would never go above 183, no matter how hard I was pushing. It very rarely went above 179.

Last week I went on holiday and so spent a week and a half off the bike. I've done 3 rights since I've been back and have noticed both my average and maximum heart rate has been sitting higher than I've previously been accustomed to. On a few rides I've been able to comfortably sit at in the 160's (previously this was more in the "pushing it" category), and the last two rides have maxed out at 184 and 185.

Why might this be? Has the weeks rest been a good thing and allowed me to "unlock" more fitness?

HRmax is not as fixed as some think it is.

HRmax can vary along with changes in blood plasma (and total blood) volume, and heart stroke volume as well, which are impacted by training and detraining. It can also be impacted by environmental changes, or other factors such as hydration.

It's possible you have simply freshened up from a period of training fatigue, but also it's possible you have lost fitness. In both cases HRmax can go up (IOW, HR is not an indicator of fitness).

[Bakks]

Thanks for the feedback. It seems to have returned to "normal" over the last couple of days, i.e. generally very hard to top 180.

[Ross]

Wouldn't your HR go down over time (for the same effort) as you get fitter? And I believe your max HR goes down as you age as well?