Athletes should not use heart rate as a guide during racing because the body perceives race arousal as stress similar to a predator threat (like a zebra fleeing a lion), so pre-race heart rate is already elevated and unreliable for intensity guidance.
normativepending
Evidence Quote
“it's very much why we we don't uh suggest that you use heart rates during racing because you're going to start in an already elevated heart rate states and this is a normal response right so we just see it as positive because we love running and and uh and racing is great and fun but the body sees it as a stress in the same way I'm sure that a zebra is standing and watching a lion staring at it uh it's heart rate response is also going to be up”
Created: 8/13/2026, 10:26:22 AM
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