Heart rate of 220+ and slow recovery question

[Goldylocks]

Hi,
I am a 25yr old male 6'1" and 210lbs.  When I run my heart rate can go as high as 230 but normally stays around the 205 mark.  My heart rate recovery is poor in that 30 mins after running it is still above 100bpm.  I was checked out a couple years ago and diagnosed with stress induced tachycardia but I they were unwilling to put me on beta blockers becuase my sleeping HR is around 45-50bpm.  

What can I do about this high heart rate?  I recently went to a doctor for another stress test and he said it was high because I was out of shape.  I am in better shape than a lot of people so if that was the case wouldn't this be a more common problem?

I feel like this is a fairly serious problem but I am not sure.  Are there any other tests I should do to determine why my heart is beating so fast?  

Is there anything I should ask him next time I see him?

Thank you for your help,
Brian

[itdood]

Hi Brian, Personally I think you should keep your exercise HR in a target zone, I found a good calculator here

http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm

1.  are you sure the equipment you are using to track the HR is accurate?

2.  if it is, Have you had an echo yet?  If it were me an echo would give me the most peace-of-mind.

3.  What is your BP resting and when your heart rate is in the 200+ range?

4.  Sans pain, shortness of breath, and/or edema your doctors won't worry too much about you.  That + your age put you in a low risk category.

Remember that you should maintain your rate during exercise as:   max HR=220-age

For my age (42) I'm not supposed to go above 142 which pretty much limits me to a brisk walk up hill or slow jog down hill :-(, and I used to be a nut about physical conditioning, in great shape.  Endurance athletes like myself are 5x more likely to develop arrhythmias and this happened to me when I hit my 40s.  I took my HR well above my 85% target and went into v-tach which self terminated thankfully but I want to avoid that again....

I've had every test under the sun including a full cardiac MRI, everything is normal so what I'm told is, "in a structurally normal heart, NSVT is benign".  That hasn't given me a warm fuzzy.

My advise, don't take the training over board.  I wish I could turn back the clock and just have been sensible about it.

It's good that you're getting checked out.  Don't get too wrapped up in trying to be in top physical shape all the time.  I haven't trained like that in years and I still look like I do and feel fine, it's better to look good :-)

[Goldylocks]

Thanks for your comments, I'll list the answers to your questions below.

1) Yes, the stress test corroborated the results
2)  No Echo yet but that might be the next step
3)  BP is slightly above normal but I cant recall exact numbers

I thought max heart rate is the physical max your heart can pump.  I guess I was wrong about that.

I recently came back from a hiking trip where I monitored my HR often and noticed that when hiking up the hilly trail my HR would go as high as 195.  Thats just walking with a 10lb pack.  I felt great but I thought that it was odd that I was able to reach my max HR just from walking.  I hike a lot for my job so I am in pretty good hiking shape.  I can hike for 8 hours with my HR above 180 the enitre time but running a quarter mile puts my HR in the 230 range instantly.