Dealing With SuppRessed Heart Rates

With Fall in full swing we are all training more hard intensity these days. Have you ever gone out for an interval session and realized that your heart rate says one thing, but the pace just feels a little harder than normal? Maybe you are trying to train race pace L4 but you feel like your heart rate and body are stuck in threshold? Your heart rate feels sluggish and unresponsive? 

These are all classic signs of suppressed heart rates, another form of Cardiovascular Drift ( See Tom Cuddy’s entry Cardiovascular Drift) 

Suppressed heart rates can be a strange phenomenon for an athlete because we always associate low heart rates with being fit, in good shape, and recovered. However, when it comes to doing race pace intensity having an abnormally low heart rate can be a sign of fatigue and actually compromise the workout you are trying to accomplish.  

This can obviously be frustrating and confusing for an athlete.  We often don’t feel super tired but having a suppressed heart rate during a race or intervals can lead to sub-par results because we are unable to truly access our capacity and fitness. Low heart rates at race pace can be a sure sign of residual fatigue and can even be an early sign of over training if not addressed, but how do we fix the problem? 

Unfortunately the answer might be different for individuals but I can offer some advice and potential solutions:

First, if an athlete is out for some L4 or race pace intervals and their heart rate feels “stuck” in L3 or threshold it’s probably best to stop the intervals. This can be REALLY tough for an athlete, and I can relate from personal experience.  The bottom line is if an athletes HRs are suppressed when they should be going hard it’s not that they are suddenly out of shape, they likely need more rest and will only be adding to the problem by pushing through the session. 

Take a few days off from training. An unplanned off day never hurt anybody. If heartrates seem suppressed during a hard effort it’s time for take at least two- three easy days before returning to hard training. 

Make sure the easy distance is EASY. Athletes who get antsy during their distance training can sometime push the pace out of L1. Doing your distance training too hard can have a negative impact on a skier’s ability to max out their capacity and heart rates. If an athlete is experiencing some HR suppression make sure their easy distance pace returned to low L1 pace fro several days. Walk the dog, we like to say. 

Carbo-load up. Having low max heart rates can be a sign of not enough fuel in the tank. This can mean being low on total calories, but also the jet fuel of all celeries, carbohydrates.  Despite what you might read from an ultra or marathon runner, ski racing is a carbo burning sport. Our races are shorter and incredibly demanding and skiers need to burn carbohydrates in order to max out their capacity. Take a few days off from training and eat up. 

Plan B. This wouldn’t be ski training if things were so black and white. Athlete’s bodies respond in different ways and one remedy for suppressed heart rates might not work for everyone. Plan B consists of doing short, very hard intervals. My advice would be to do this only after taking several days easy, and if there is no change in heart rate suppression sometimes what the body needs is a bout of short, hard intervals. 

The best way I can explain this is that lactate, despite getting a bad rap, is needed by our body as a source of fuel. Especially at race pace. So essentially the body can sometimes get a little lazy (or suppressed) and it needs to be reminded to generate lactate and for your muscles to use that lactate as fuel to go hard. 

This can be achieved by doing a set of 1 minute intervals at max pace. Start with a good warm up and start the first 1 minute interval at race pace. Then ramp up the pace each time trying to go faster and faster. Take 3 minutes recovery between each interval and try 5-8 intervals. This is a form of Lactate Tolerance intervals and many athletes use them to kick start the anaerobic system.  They do take a lot out of an athlete though and should be used sparingly. 

For any questions on dealing with heart rate suppression please feel free to contact us directly!