ask: Is it normal for my heart rate to reach 200bpm while working out?

The American Heart Association (AHA) has set target heart rates, as well as maximum heart rates, that we should strive to obtain while exercising.

For a 25 year old, the target zone working at 85% (the maximum you want to train at) is 166 bpm. For a 30 year old, it is 162 bpm. If you are working at 200 bpm, it means you are working too hard, at the maximum heart rate (100%) for a 20-year old. You can see the complete chart at AHA: Target Heart Rate.

The quick calculation is 220-your age for the maximum heart rate (100%). Your 200 bpm is over this maximum (192 bpm).

This is one gauge to know if you are working/training too hard, and also can be a test for your level of fitness. Another gauge is your resting heart rate. Do you know what your RHR is?

"AHA: Resting Heart Rate:
This is a person's heart rate at rest. The best time to find out your resting heart rate is in the morning, after a good night's sleep, and before you get out of bed.

The heart beats about 60 to 80 times a minute when we're at rest. Resting heart rate usually rises with age, and it's generally lower in physically fit people. Resting heart rate is used to determine one's training target heart rate. Athletes sometimes measure their resting heart rate as one way to find out if they're overtrained. The heart rate adapts to changes in the body's need for oxygen, such as during exercise or sleep."

Your RHR is a measure of fitness, and may be more important number to you. "Your MHR is genetically predetermined, and has basically nothing to do with your level of fitness. Some athletes have had MHR's in the 160 BPM-range, while others have rates that exceed 200 beats per minutes. The sole variation in your MHR is a decrease of approximately 1 BPM a year, a process that accompanies aging." (from marathonguide.com).

What's most important: how are you feeling during the times you run? Many marathoners DO walk and run throughout the course. If your body is being taxed by running, it sounds like you have tried many alternatives, but you may just try walking a mile, and see what your heart rate is. Then, walk 1 minute, jog 1 minute (12 minute pace or slower). Monitor your heart rate through this time as well.

You want to train smarter, and use the heart rate monitor as your guide. (You probably already know this?!). When you train at your maximum, you are working anaerobically, and can tax your body if at this level for more than a few minutes, leading to possible injury. You want to make sure you train aerobically, within 50-85% of your target heart rate. Whatever that exercise is...cycling, walking a mile, etc.

Did this information help? Are you able to start slower with your goal of running a mile....and walk a mile first, monitoring your heart rate? You can increase your pace by 30 seconds every-other week, until you are jogging, then running. Or, just mix in a 1-minute jog with walking. You still gain all of the benefits of going a mile, and many athletes walk/jog/run!

You might find this article interesting as well: Duathlon: Heart Rate Training by Mark Allen

Your heartbeat getting up to 200 during exercise could be an indication of a heart issue. I wonder if you could be having "exercise-induced" fast heartbeats, which doctors call tachycardias. If your heartbeat is fast and irregular (feels like butterflies in your chest, or a flopping fish), that could be atrial fibrillation (afib).

Afib "fakes out" heart rate monitors, so your heart rate could actually be faster (or slower) than what is recorded, but since afib decreases the oxygen that gets distributed to the body, it makes you feel tired or exhausted.

If your doctor did your EKG while you were stationary, it wouldn't have picked up an exercise-induced heartbeat issue. You may want to ask about a treadmill stress test or to wear a Holter monitor for a day or two to capture what happens when you work out, especially if your heart seems to race out of control.

If this is a heartbeat problem, it needs to be diagnosed and treated since heartbeat issues (such as atrial fibrillation) can be very serious stuff.

Here's where to learn more about afib - especially check out the section on Why is afib a problem: Get Started Learning About Atrial Fibrillation: http://stopafib.org/newsitem.cfm/NEWSID/277

Mellanie True Hills

What did your doctor say about this high heart rate and the nausea and wanting to vomit? That sounds a bit extreme, and pushing through it doesn't sound healthy. Atrial fibrillation is very common in competitive athletes, both young and older, because of the stress placed on the heart. In fact, most young people with afib got it from running and other high-intensity sports such as rowing and basketball. I'm surprised the doctor hasn't suggested having you wear a Holter monitor for 24-48 hours to record the heart, especially during exercise.

While not being a medical expert, I can share some of my thoughts regarding the natural urge to avoid finding out that you have a serious health problem. Although I wasn't as active as you have described, I was usually short of breath while exercising and I was feeling tired most of the time. I always thought that I wasn't exercising enough or at times that I needed to loose weight. I went to see a cardiologist after serious preassure from my wife (thanks to her). Luckily my doctor didn't send me after listening to the heart beat and the EKG. He also performed an echo (the ultrasound like machine). He found out that I had severe mitral valve prolapse which is a serious heart condition. Finding out that you have a heart condition at the age of 31 was initially devastating but in a couple of days I got used to the idea and accepted fact that I needed to go through heart surgery to get it fixed. I got the surgery in a month and now it's almost been six months and I am back at the gym feeling better than ever. I am verry happy that I saw the doctor and didn't just waive the symptoms off. I suggest that you also see your doctor one more time and get a holter or stress test as the experts have already suggested. So pls don't just believe that you are ok and cut back on running unless the doctors check every possibility. Otherwise you may regret it someday.

Anonymous (w/ mitral valve issues),

Thanks for sharing about your mitral valve issue. It's not easy to accept that you could have a heart issue at a young age, but as you wisely pointed out, it's so much better to know than to not know.

Anonymous (w/ high heartbeat),

I hope you'll take your doctor up on the Holter monitor. It will be very easy to let it capture any abnormalities by simply working out and running to replicate what normally happens. For many people, it takes a year or two (and sometimes a stroke or two) before their doctors finally diagnose them with atrial fibrillation. Sometimes it is because the doctor really doesn't take their symptoms seriously, and other times it's because they don't have an afib episode during the EKG or Holter monitoring. But you know exactly what brings it on and can easily replicate the conditions.

I don't want to scare you, but if it is afib, or even atrial flutter, that is something to take very seriously. Next week, in celebration of National Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Month (September), we at StopAfib.org are launching a video to raise awareness. A few significant facts from it include:

1) About 35% of those with atrial fibrillation will have a stroke
2) Atrial fibrillation strokes are fatal 3 times as often as other strokes
3) Risk of death is double for those with atrial fibrillation than for those without it

Younger folks without heart disease have lower risk than older folks with it, but even so, you can always be the exception. Having almost died twice in 2003, at the age of 51, I know that I was an exception as well, so it can happen to anyone. Please at least find out.

Good luck.

Mellanie

My guess would be anemia and she should have blood determinations and if correct start eating steak reggularly and taking iron, folate and B12 supplements

I have the exact same problem, I had cardiopulmonary stress test thats showed basically I go to anerobic mode within 4 minutes starting excercise, also had stress echo ,it was completely normal, I have to basically slow my pace and very gradually increase , my HR goes to 180 with 3-4 minutes of run and I have stop to rest