From what Ive read my max heart rate is 185... However on several runs I have hit 194 and thats over the course of a several mile run, so I imagine that if I were doing HIIT properely, Id probably exceed that (no?) So what does this all mean? Am I exceeding my Max or is that just not my Max??

If you exceeded your supposed max... your supposed max isn't your true max.... right?

How did you calculate your max?

How did you track your heart rate during activity?

I went to wikipedia and found these:
HRmax = 220 − age (caution: can vary significantly!)

This is attributed to various sources, often "Fox and Haskell". While the most common (and easy to remember and calculate), this particular formula is not considered by some to be a good predictor of HRmax.

A 2002 study [4] of 43 different formulae for HRmax (including the one above) concluded the following:

1) No "acceptable" formula currently existed, (they used the term "acceptable" to mean acceptable for both prediction of V_{\mathrm{O}_2 max}, and prescription of exercise training HR ranges)

2) The most accurate formula of those examined was:

HRmax = 205.8 − (0.685 * age)

This was found to have a Standard Deviation that, although large (6.4 bpm), was still deemed to be acceptable for the use of prescribing exercise training HR ranges.

Other often cited formulae are:

HRmax = 206.3 − (0.711 × age)

(Often attributed to "Londeree and Moeschberger from the University of Missouri–Columbia")

HRmax = 217 − (0.85 × age)

(Often attributed to "Miller et al. from Indiana University")


They results ranged from about 283 to 289.

I am measure my heart rate with a HRM, The forerunner 305 (which is pretty cool i might add)

btw: I am 32....

Everything you're using to plot max HR and track exercise HR has standard or errors attached. There will be outlayers on the bell curve without a doubt, so don't take things as gospel.

My max heart rate is really high compared to those charts. I used to do cycling classes all the time. The instructor would ask us what are heart rate was every once in awhile. I would say 200 and she would freak. Then she had me do some test runs and found that I could still carry on a conversation when my HR was 200. Once I hit 210, it was coming out in single words. She said I should use that for my "max" so that I could calculate when I was 85%, 75%, etc. According to the formulas, mine should be 185.