Sarah,

HRM training can provide a lot of good information/feedback but it isn't always as simple as it might seem. I would recommend that you do a lot of web searching on HRM training to make sure you have as much info as possible. That being said...

Some things to consider:

1. As your conditioning improves, it SHOULD take a little more effort to get your HR up.

2. Make sure that you have a good feeling for your max HR. The "down and dirty" estimate is 220 - (your age). However, that is just an estimate.

3. Make sure that you determine your resting HR. The best way to do that is do strap on the HRM or manually take your pulse right after you wake up in the morning. To be most correct, it should be a morning after a previous day where you didn't push yourself too hard.

4. With your max and resting HR data, you can determine the % of your max HR that you are using/targeting to exercise in. To do this, first subtract your resting HR from your max HR. Then, multiply the difference times your HR target, then add that back to your resting HR. So, say you want to exercise at 60% of your max, your max is 170 and your resting is 70, it would look like this: ((170-70)*.6)+70=130 bpm. From your research on the internet, you can get some good information on how to determine what zone you want to work in.

5. HRM training can help you avoid over training or pushing to hard when illness is setting in. As an example, if I find that my HR either rises very rapidly or seems to take a long time to rise, I will be prepared to limit or even scrap a workout. Now, don't get me wrong, there are times where the HR changed in ways that didn't seem normal and I worked through it and even found that particular workout to go extremely well. I just use that information to prepare myself.

6. Different kinds of exercise will have slightly different max HRs. It has to do with the amount of exersion and numbers of large muscle groups a particular exercise uses. In general, running is considered the standard. It uses large muscle groups and is weight bearing. So, for me, my max HR on the bike is around 182 but on my eliptical trainer it is only around 178. That is getting very techical in deed. LOL

7. Now, here is a tricky concept. In most cases, you won't see peak HRs until you back off. As an example, I can be hammering away on my back, huffing and puffing and my HR might sit at say 160-170. As long as I am able to maintain that level of exertion that HR will stay within that area. However, as soon as I back off, say to coast down hill or get my breath, the HR will then rise to its max or even above max. That is normal. BTW, I said my "max hr" on the bike is about 184 however, after such a scenerio, it can get as high as 198 for very short periods of time. The concept of max HR is more so under stress and not during recovery.

I just tossed a lot of "stuff" at you. It is all food for thought. YMMV. Others might have different perspectives. The key, just like working with your eating plan, is to experiment and find what works for you and find how your body best works.