On-track heart rate data

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:15 pm

Check out my blog (sig) for an entry about my heart rate during a track session. I thought it was kind of interesting. Anyone else here got any heartrate data while on track?

For reference, my heartrate sees VERY occasional spikes to the low 180's when running. I usually try to maintain around the mid 150's while running for distance. Same when mountain biking. I can't get more than around 132 while paddling a kayak HARD. I wouldn't have thought it would hang around near 140 while running on track. That wasn't even a race and was my third session of the day. I like to think I stay very calm in the car, and that session wasn't particularly exciting other than the mock race start.

--Donnie

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:46 am

It's ironic that I've thought I'd like to do something like this several times. Would one of those wrist watch type deals work for just getting an overall average during a session? I consider myself to be very relaxed and comfortable on track and even during the 24 Hours of Lemons race. I'm probably more amped up than I realize though and it would cool to have some data to confirm or deny that.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:13 am

Yeah, any HRM should work. I got a Garmin 405 because I'm training for a triathlon and wanted all the wizzy features, so I decided to try it in the race car. Having the track map made looking at the data a little easier, but for what we care for in this case, yeah, just some basic averages would probably be fine, especially if you can access it to "start" and "stop" once you're out on track and before you hit the paddock. I found my HR does go way up just while on track, so you wouldn't want that before and after time skewing the results.

And yeah, I *really* thought I was calm in the car. 140's ain't really calm, however. I'm planning to do a 2.5 hour single stint in the 13 hour, and that's a LONG time to have your HR that high!

--Donnie

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:35 am

Donnie Barnes wrote:

And yeah, I *really* thought I was calm in the car. 140's ain't really calm, however. I'm planning to do a 2.5 hour single stint in the 13 hour, and that's a LONG time to have your HR that high!

If your HR is 140, mine would be 200! I'm not in any kind of shape so it would interesting to see what mine really is.

I did two 2 hour stints in the Lemons race and didn't seem any worse for wear so I'm sure a man with your conditioning will be fine.

clinehall · **Posted:** Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:49 am

Moral of the story, I need to quit riding my bicycle for cardio and go to the track more. I like!

Kevin Harvey · **Posted:** Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:26 pm

I agree with Cline. This is justification for more track days!!! A true cardio workout for me and the car.

I'd like to see what mine is... I am pretty certain I can get my heartrate up to 180 by thinking really hard. Much less reaching for the remote.

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Wed Sep 30, 2009 1:48 pm

Interesting, but not all that surprising - I heard several years ago that F1 drivers' heart rates are really high when racing - apparently this is mostly due to the brain requiring a tremendous amount of bloodflow to process all the inputs and outputs. According to info posted at F1Technical.net (based on testing done in 2005):
"David Coulthard (Red Bull Racing Team) has a resting heart rate of 40 beats/minute, rising to 198 beats/minute during a two hour race, a figure - approximately the same as that of a marathon runner crossing the finishing line - which initially stunned medical researchers."

I've never tried monitoring my heartrate on track or autocross, but I always do when mountain biking, and it's always between 165 and 175 bpm average over my usual 1-1/2 hour ride. Unfortunately, my HRM doesn't capture peak heartrate, only average and time in each zone.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:03 pm

Good stuff. I've looked for some kind of generic HRM that could be connected to the car data system rather than being standalone and came up with nada. Wonder what the F1 guys used...I'm sure it was something unobtanium, but it still makes me wonder. I also don't really care for using it MUCH in the race car...if you were in a fire that Nomex wouldn't prevent the heat from melting the chest strap to you. I'm not sure there's ANY way to avoid that possibility, though, unless you could just put some electrodes in your helmet instead.

I've found a few bluetooth sensors on web pages, but nothing that made me think anything was actually available to a consumer (and not that bluetooth helps me tremendously anyway).

Oh, and I'm not *as* worried about sticking those little button sensors on my chest with a couple tiny wires running out of my suit. Those would just leave annoying little wounds in a fire. I just don't like the big hunk of plastic all the way around my torso.

--Donnie

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On-track heart rate data

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