Hi I am 16 and my heart rate is always really high with anything past zone 2 it is like 170-180
but I could hold that for 2-3 hours is that normal?( I have used multiple heart rate moniters)
Firstly - I am not a doctor.
2ndly. That is a hard questions to answer for anyone on here as we do not know your physiology. You would need a comparison of your own data to determine what is and what isn’t normal - for you. And that’s the important factor is ‘is this normal for you’.
That said, there are things that could elevate your HR as you probably know. Caffeine intake, Riding inside without effective cooling - the list goes on and on.
Also, just a bulk lack of fitness could also cause your HR to rise as you haven’t developed the base fitness to handle anything above Z2 yet? All of this is, is of course specific to your personal physiology once again.
You are very young so don’t be in too much of rush. Develop good training habits. Learn how your body adapts to training stimulus as you get older and you’ll find out what is normal.
FWIW i’m 46 and anything above Z2 and my HR sits between 155-185 max depending on what type of riding I am doing. Threshold, VO2 etc. I have a friend whos mx HR is 160 and we are the same age. So for him he is screaming at 160 and I’m only getting ready for work.
Learn what is normal or abnormal for you. Speak to your parents and get their guidance and keep them informed and if you’re concerned they can help with guidance from a doctor.
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Its normal for some people.
As mentioned above, it could be normal as HR varies from person to person.
If you can hold 170-180bpm for 2-3 hours, it sounds like it’s probably normal for you – but, that said, we don’t really know here on the Internet!
Speaking to your parents/doctor would be a good idea if your HR is a concern.
I was about 45 yo when I started riding again, and I wasn’t didn’t have good fitness. It took me a while of riding and building a good base fitness before I had the base fitness before most of my outside mtb rides sent my HR into upper zone 3 and zone 4. I had some decent speed, and I got to where I could ride like that for a couple hours, but the first hill would always get my HR up there and it was very reluctant to come back down until I stopped. I could only stay in zone 2 on the flattest of roads (and to be honest, I didn’t find zone 2 very much fun). It was frustrating because the people I was trying to do z2, and everything I was reading on TR said just ride a bunch of zone 2 to build your base, it’s ez.
I finally decided that I’d put in some time doing some consistent zone 2 work on the trainer, in addition to the more intense rides (but I needed to reduce how much intensity I was doing for a while). It took a while, but it has made a huge difference, and now I’m the one on the group rides (bunch of old guys, like me) who is having an easy time on the hills or endurance rides, and I can ride a long time in low zone 3 if I want.
eta: the above is responding to what seems like the issue you’re asking about being that your HR seems like it’s z2 or z4, and you can’t hold anything in between. If you’re just concerned that you’re riding at that high of a HR for that long (when you’re riding at a corresponding RPE or watts), as said below, that’s normal. I did a 2:08 ride last weekend and spent 1:50 in zone 4 HR (and 40 minutes were above threshold)…but I did it on purpose, trying to set a PR for the combined loops (and I beat my previous PR by almost 3 mins). I felt pretty good at the end, too.
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If you are holding it for hours thats perfectly normal, if you’re really concerned though ask your doctor. FWIW I am 49 and have a max around 196bpm and my mate a year younger than me has a max of 200bpm+ and practically every ride he does will be 180bpm+; Ive got to have a good TT and I probably couldn’t keep it up for more than 35mins now.
That would be a very high Z2 heart rate for a teenager. Sort of like if you were 6’7" tall…unusual but not unprecedented. For most people in your age group, if I put them through a maximal endurance/cardiovascular test I’d expect to see (on average) 200 to 210 bpm maximum observed HR. So a Z2 steady state would be around 140bpm, 145bpm, something like that. And then average HR through a night of sleep would be around 50bpm or maybe a little less.
@natebiker1234 what is your resting heart rate? What is your peak observed HR?