Question from G. GeorgeI am 53 years old and have been involved in competitive sports (rowing, running and cycling) since my youth. Now I have the following problem: on some days I just can't get up to speed on the bike - I can hardly get my pulse above 125 beats per minute. What could be the reason for this? I have normal blood pressure and am not taking any medication. Should I do more interval training? (I don't do this yet), am I training too much? (around 5,000 kilometres a year), am I too "vagotonic"?
Expert advice from Dr EiflerThere can be many reasons why your heart rate simply doesn't get up to speed on some days: The pulse rate amplitude - i.e. the range between maximum pulse and resting pulse - decreases with each year. As a result, over the years you reach your maximum performance at lower and lower pulse rates. In the case of training-induced vagotonus, as you are referring to - in this state, the autonomic nervous system regulates the pulse and blood pressure downwards even at rest - the organism needs a longer start-up time to reach its full performance capacity.
To counter this, it helps to warm up slowly. Short, high-intensity intervals, for example over distances of 100 to 200 metres, can also improve the reaction time of the circulatory system. However, the cause of a slow pulse can also be found in your diet: If the muscles have insufficient carbohydrate stores, they cannot utilise their full capacity, which also limits the pulse rate. The same applies if the muscles are fatigued from a previous intensive training session. The form of the day can also play a role. It is determined by a variety of influences: sleep, temperature, nutritional behaviour and fluctuations in motivation over the course of the day. Training in the morning, for example, is easier than after a day at work, when fluid has built up in the muscles after a long period of sitting or standing, causing them to harden. In this case, you only really get up to speed with your heart rate after a long run-in.
Overtraining syndrome, in which the maximum heart rate cannot be reached, should also be considered. However, I cannot judge from a distance whether this is the case. A seemingly low pulse value on the watch could ultimately also be caused by cardiac arrhythmia: To rule this out as a cause, you should have an exercise or long-term ECG performed.
