I recently (a few months ago) purchased a Garmin 305 with the heart rate monitor. I am excited to use both of these devices to help monitor my heart rate and to track my training routines.

I have used both devices several times. I preset the watch to monitor my hear rate. When the rate is too high/low, the monitor will beep at me to slow down or speed up. I purchased the watch after training for a few months so my cardio system should have been in good shape.

Today while working on the elliptical, the watch was continually beeping for high heart rate. I had barely started when it started beeping. I hadn't even broke a sweat. I noticed that it would do this when I was running in the past few months. I figured that it was not working correctly, but after working with both pieces for some time, I believe it may be telling the truth. If this is the case, I will never get to the point where I feel like I am getting a good cardio workout.

So, I today, I signed up for this forum to help me get some answers. Why is my heart rate so high with such little exercising? How do I slow down my heart rate? Will I hurt myself if I go over my rate?

I have the rate monitor at 165 BPM. I have seen it as high as 180, then I slow down.

Thanks for the help.

it depends on a lot of things, your health and fitness before, did you warm up, have you used a elliptical trainer before because if you havent then your body wont be used to it and your heart rate will probably be higher than you expect. To give you a proper answer we'll need some more details like your age and previous fitness

Your HR monitor is probably set at a specific HR range, so that if you go outside that range it beeps. Do you know what the range is? Because you need to adjust the range according to your goal. If you want to do high intensity intervals then you can't expect to be within for example 130-160bpm..

What is your goal with your cardio training? Also, how do you usually run? Short and intense or long distance with low intensity?

Depending on your age and other factors, 165 may not be that high. How old are you? How long did it take for your heart rate to get to 165?

It is also possible that your chest strap was not getting a good signal or the hrm was getting false signals from another hrm.

I have a Garmin 305 Forerunner and use mine extensively.

Here is a bit more information about myself and history.

- 37 years old
- height 5'9" weight 175
- workout history - I have done some of work on the elliptical and running over the past year. When running last summer, I had severe tendinitis of my achillies. So I slowed down on all exercising. I have not worked out for about 3-4 months.
- I purchased my Garmin 305 at the first part of May. I had been running a bit before the purchase. On my first run with the system, my monitor started beeping (165 BPM) after approximately 3 minutes of a slow jog. So I slowed down a basic fast walk (not wanting to hurt my heart). I ran several times after that point with about the same results. Again, after a few more runs, my tendinitis was too much the bare. I stopped exercising for a few months.
-I really want to get in good shape to start running long runs, but obviously, I don't want to hurt myself. I know it is going to take time to get to that point.

My range is set to 130-165. My goal is cardio training, but I really want to be able to run a few races. According to my monitor, I would have to basically walk to keep my rate down. As soon as I get up to a good pace (elliptical or running) the monitor starts to beep. Will my heart rate slow down so I can increase my intensity of a workout?

As you train the heart rate you have at a specific absolute (absolute meaning it's not relative you your max, so for example running one mile in 6 minutes, no matter what your max is) intensity will decrease. So eventually, you'll be able to run without your HR going up as much as it is now.

What kind of races do you want to participate in? If I were you, I wouldn't focus too much at the HR zones and just try to see how fast you can run the distance you need for the races you want to participate in. If you don't really have any specific idea of how far you want to run, etc, then I'd just increase the zone a bit so that you can run. If you want to get better at running, you should run. How long can you keep on running without having to stop? If you can run for a very long time at a HR that is higher than your range, then your range is probably too low for you.

"Level of perceived exertion" is a much simpler, easier way to gauge your exertion level, and is as accurate as you need. If you want to go "comfortably hard", then go comfortably hard. If it starts to feel too hard, slow down. If it starts to feel too easy, speed up. I know it sounds "too simple", but it works.

Change the setting on your HRM. Depending on your goal. find out the statistics and set it accordingly

When I found out I was pregnant, I was going to adjust my HRM to beep when I reach 140bpm. Well that never happened but don't forget you can change it