Heart Rate Strap issues - help!
The last few months, I've gone back to paying more attention to HR again. That, of course, means getting out the old strap itself. Everything was going fine, and then things started to fall apart... lost signal, weird signals, chafing.... Gotten to the point that I'm a little desperate and am asking for suggestions. A few details:
- HR strap = 2010 or 2011 Garmin soft strap. It looks like the current one on the Garmin web site (plastic module snaps off of strap, but the hook is to the side).
- The strap cuts into my chest and leaves these raw lines/scabs, especially on longer runs. If I use body glide, that does seem to help
- I started getting strange numbers and then drop outs. (This peaked at my race...grrrrr.) I changed the battery. I ran the strap (without the module) through my high efficiency (low moisture) washer
- Since changing the battery and washing, I'm not getting drop outs any more, but I'm still getting weird numbers.
- (I am using it with a 910xt if that makes any difference.)
This file (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/228934902) shows an early 160-170 region that isn't right and then some very odd oscillation in the middle of the file that I don't believe either.
This file shows this morning's really crappy run. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/229563620 ; There is a dip in the middle when I probably stopped at a light or something...but otherwise shows me running the whole time around 170 bpm...which I absolutely guarantee is probably 30 beats too high. Didn't feel very good today for some reason and just cruised.
Has anyone else had this kind of problem? How did you solve it? Or do I have to write this strap off and replace it? Is there a better strap out there that won't slice my chest? Or how do you make it so they don't do that? (I really can't wear the big plastic ones very well either.)
Thanks!
Comments
I had the exact same issues with the soft strap 2 yrs ago. I was doing z2-3 runs and my HR would spike to 210 - 220 bpm when I should have been seeing mid 140's-150, max. I thought I was either going crazy or in need of a good cardiologist, so I started taking my HR manually and realized it was the strap. Did a little research and found out that this is a common issue with the soft strap (at least those from ~2 yrs ago - mine is a 2010 also). Check out a post from DCRainmaker: http://tinyurl.com/9mcfw74
I ended up switching to the regular/"hard" strap, and have had absolutely no issues since. It works perfectly. Not sure what to tell you if you can't wear the harder plastic comfortably (I have no issue with it - maybe the sports bra holding it in place helps!) - I don't think they're that expensive, so might be worth a shot, and if it doesn't work out, you're not out that much $$$
Oddly, John has no issues at all with the soft strap. ??? Maybe because he is a heavier sweater than I am (going on the low moisture=low conductivity thing!)
Good luck!!!
***EDITING this to add that I've had cutting in/chafing issues with a Polar monitor but NOT the Garmin hard strap... just a thought in case you haven't tried the Garmin hard strap but have had issues with other HRM's!
I love that guy!
It looks just like this one: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313&_nkw=Ant++hr+strap&_sacat=0&_from=R40
That band-aid tip is terrific. I'm definitely giving that a try. I also ordered a $5 bottle of gel to see if that takes care of the conductivity problem. (I figured if I slop a bunch of goo in some other, more intimate part of my body every time I ride, I shouldn't be squeamish about trying it...)
Also got out an old plastic-style Garmin strap and bought a new battery for it (like JW's) .... hopefully I'll get a solution worked out!
It seems like the EN hivemind is in full effect recently. I too had largely abandoned HR-based training for some time and have began to more seriously incorporate it back into my power and pace based training, and I've seen a few other discussions on this topic.
Likewise, HR largely fell out of favor for the same reasons you described above. It was simply giving me what I felt were wildly inaccurate readings (HR in the 200s consistently). When I start to get bizarre readings on my HR strap my first thought is usually low battery, but a ways back I had changed my strap battery and was still getting pretty bad readings. Coming back to it now, I was prepared to try the conductivity gel or other techniques I recall from various DCR articles, however popping yet another new battery in there I seem to be getting better readings out of my soft strap. Will continue to monitor it however and see if I need to try and other tricks, I likewise probably have 3 or 4 of the older style hard HR straps sitting around that I could also experiment with.
Over the years I have had 5 Garmin HRMs of various types. At some point all of them experienced periodic spiking then consistently running 60-70 points too high – up in the 220 range. . I’d clean them, change the battery and that would eliminate drops but not the spikes or the 220’s.
The first 2 were the ridged plastic kind. Next 2 were the first-gen soft straps (transponder snaps to strap ends) and they were great. Those were much more comfortable and seemed to read better too. But again, after a while, fluky data would show up. Now I have the 2nd gen soft strap (hook on the side closure). By far the most comfortable but recently the bottom edge has been chaffing my sternum area on some runs. It still seems to read fine and I have had no bad data yet, but I’ve had it less than a year. I’m willing to bet it will be toast by Boston next spring.
I think the straps work great for a while then start spiking or reading consistently high in the 220 range. I don’t understand why but it has happened this way for all 4 of my previous HRMs. It has never been a skin contact issue because I use electro-gel most of the time. I’ve cleaned them, changed batteries, used gel but after a while they just go bad. I never actually kept track but my guess is that between 2000 and 3000 miles of running does them in. When you start to see spikes, long patches of high readings are not far away.
I have used the HR monitor for years and don't think I will discontinue anytime soon. I use it as bit of a motivator and generally place HR ZONE on the main page of my garmin right next to 3's Watts and Cadence. When I am really pushing like to know where I am in Z5 and understand if I can push harder....
Should I assume my old garmin strap will survive the swim? would like to wear it for the whole race.
Over the winter I started to have trouble with my soft strap, after an hour or so the strap would start to spike data and other than taking my shirt off I could not fix it. New battery, wash the strap, try every combination of bandaids on skin and strap to no avail. Eventually I took it off and didn't use it for several months (had some severe withdrawl symptoms from no HR!)
Then I got this idea.... athletic tape. From the very first time I used it, no chafing and no data spikes - at all! I have been using the tape method for the past 6 weeks and have perfect HR data and no scabs or sores. From bone dry to dripping wet tech shirts on runs up to 3:20 long, perfect data every time.
What I've been doing is putting a 6" long piece of tape (1.5" wide) cross wise centered on the chafe line. Not long enough to interfere with the contacts but close. Stays stuck tight until I peal it off. No chafe and no data spikes.
I also use flexible fabric bandaids on my nips for any runs longer than 60 minutes - not a fan of raw bloody nips.
Both solutions are simple and inexpensive. So far the athletic tape has been working perfectly.
What I've been doing is taping across my chest, not the strap.
It helped (but did not solve) the chafing problem for me. I agree it would do nothing for spikes. I think the spikes have more to do with deterioration of the internal wiring of the strap and wouldn't be fixed so much by that.
So, as long as tape gives reliable results, no new strap for me. I'm a happy runner!