Heart Rate and Conditioning

Former Member
Former Member
I'm curious, how many of you use, and how often do you use it, taking your heart rate to judge your aerobic conditioning? Last winter when I was not in good swimming shape, my heart rate for a medium effort swim would run 160 beats per minute (I'm 59, not a good heart rate number). As my aerobics came into play, it would drop week by week, a good thing. Today, I am swimming 10,000 yds every other day and on off-days do a little mile or two with a half-mile of sprints. At the end of my 10,736 yds yesterday, my heart rate was 110. Also, I took my resting heart rate yesterday morning and it was 40. The thing I notice is the better condition I am in, the faster my elevated heart rate falls and I have heard this is a good sign. Now, I take my heart rate each and every day before, during, and after swimming. It gives me a lot of information. How about you? Are you doing this often enough?