Should I be concerned by high resting rate/irregular rhythm?

[dzrose]

I have a "regularly irregular heart beat", meaning it goes from a slower rhythm to a faster rhythm at a pretty regular pattern, and has never bothered me.  I was overweight for most of my life, and now, at 23, I've gotten down to a healthy weight through proper diet and exercise.  My blood pressure ranges between 108-69 to 120/76 (I'm only 5', so this is considered a good blood pressure) but my heart rate is incredibly high.  I keep seeing that it should be under 80bpm, especially considering that I do regular endurance training (40-60 minutes moderate to high intensity cardio 3-4x/week, with moderate intensity of at least 30 minutes the rest of the week).
My current resting heart rate tends to average out at about 88-89bpm, and my maxHR has gotten up to 192 to almost 200.  When I start running at the higher intensity, while my body feels fine, I sometimes start coughing or feel like my chest is congested, and it's hard to breathe.  I've always thought it was possibly just damage to my lungs (I had a severe illness when I was kid that lasted a few months, and it's lingering affect can manifest in exercise induced asthma, especially during the spring time).  When I'm stressed, I have gotten dizzy before, but I've never passed out.

Should I be concerned with my heart rate being so high?  I'm still young (23), female, and I consider myself to be in very good condition with the combination of cardio and strength training I do.

I had an EKG a few months ago and things appeared fine, but it was for an overall physical.  Is there anything I should be concerned about?  Or what do you recommend I should do?  Should I see a doctor to find out if there could be damage by the high heart rate, especially going so high during my running?

Thanks!

[ks1982]

A resting heart rate of 88-89 is still within the normal range. Ideally, yes, you would be under 80bpm but you are still in a perfectly normal arena.  Your maxHR (I'm assuming this is when you are exercising and not that it just jumps that high while resting) is also normal but you should aim for your target heart rate (60-80% of your max heart rate + your resting heart rate) and try to stay around that limit.  

Your blood pressure is good.  Even on the low side at times.  As long as your heart rate doesn't jump up above 100bpm for no reason while you are resting (ie. not related to stress/exercise/fever etc) and as long as you don't feel alot of irregular heart beats (a lot of thumping, fluttering, etc) then I would say you are probably fine, actually in really good shape.   If you do get a lot of palpitations or a heart rate over 100bpm while resting with no anxiety and no illness then you would need to see a doctor to rule out the small chance of a potentially serious arrythmia.  

[Jerry_NJ]

The good EKG suggests no atrial fibrillation problems, even though that could cause an irregular high resting HR.  You age also makes AFib unlikely.

Does you HR "sound" regular, an equal time between pulses?  I'd guess if it is regular you have no problems, just a higher than "average" HR.  Was you resting HR high before  you lost the weight?

You should get some additional input, just sending my thoughts as I get ready to call it "a day".